^feS;; 


EDITORIALS 

AND 

EDITORIAL -WRITING 

BY 

ROBERT  WILSON    NEAL,   A.    M. 


FORMERLY  OF  THE  WORLD'S  WORK. 
BOSTON  SUNDAY  AMERICAN,  SPRING- 
FIELD UNION,  ETC.  AUTHOR  OF  SHORT 
STORIES  IN  THE  MAKING,  TODAY'S 
SHORT  STORIES  ANALYZED.  ETC.,  AND 
SOMETIME  OF  THE  ENGLISH  FACULTY, 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CINCINNATI  AND  RUT- 
GER'S  COLLEGE,  AND  DIRECTOR  OF  THE 
MAJOR  COURSE  IN  JOURNALISM,  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS      AGRICULCTURAL       COLLEGE 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION  BY 

HENRY  J.  HASKELL, 

Associate  Editor,  The  Kansas  City  Star 


SPRINGFIELD,  MASS. 
THE    HOME    CORRESPONDENCE    SCHOOL,    Inc. 

1921 


TO  THE  EDITORIAL  WRITERS  OF  THE 
ENGLISH-THINKING  WORLD 


ON   THEM   IN   LARGE  PART   DEPEND    FOR   DE- 
FENSE AND  PERPETUATION  THE  HIGH  IDEALS 
OF    A    THOUSAND    YEARS     OF    ANGLO-SAXON 
CirXLIZATION 


/^GRIC.  DEPl.     ^^i^'^^ 


4^, 


Copyright,  1921 
By  The  Home  Correspondence  School,  Inc. 
All  Rights  Reserred 


INTRODUCTION 


THE    EDITORIAL   IMPERATIVE 


The  newspaper,  it  is  widely  believed,  is  merely  a  billboard  on  which  the 
news  of  the  day  is  displayed  in  flaring  type.  The  figure  is  inadequate.  In 
spite  of  many  attempts,  the  newspaper  never  has  succeeded  in  being  simply  a 
common  carrier  of  news. 

The  news  itself  is  not  a  commodity,  like  soap,  to  be  packed  in  cartons  and 
standardized  for  sale.  It  is  a  matter  of  selection.  Stevenson  said  he  could 
make  an  Iliad  of  a  daily  newspaper  by  blotting.  Extensive  blotting  already  has 
been  done  in  the  production  of  the  news.  So  much  depends  on  the  point  of 
view.  To  be  sure,  a  vast  amount  of  news  in  standardized  form  is  furnished  by 
the  press  associations.  But  the  individual  side  of  the  newspaper,  the  thingf 
that  distinguishes  one  newspaper  from  another  in  its  presentation  of  news,  ^8 
determined  by  the  standpoint.  It  may  be  the  standpoint  of  the  conservative, 
the  progressive,  the  radical,  the  financier,  the  sporting  man,  the  worker,  the 
intellectual.  On  this  depends  the  value  and  proportion  accorded  what  we 
call  news. 

In  the  second  place  publishers  long  ago  discovered  that  their  customers 
desired  more  than  the  tale  of  the  day.  They  desired  news  of  the  stores,  adver- 
tising, pictures,  entertaining  reading  of  every  sort.  And  they  desired  inter- 
pretation and  comment.  A  man  from  Mars  might  be  surprised  to  find  a  carrier 
of  news  offering  advice  to  its  readers.  Sometimes  it  does  seem  presumption  to 
the  editorial  writer  himself.  The  justification  must  be  on  the  ground  of 
noblesse  oblige.  Questions  are  constantly  arising  in  which  all  of  us  are  vitally 
interested.  Primarily,  we  form  our  opinions  on  the  basis  of  the  news.  James 
Parton  once  argued  with  Horace  Greeley  that  the  editorial  is  merely  a  man 
speaking  to  men,  while  news  is  Providence  speaking  to  men.  He  was  right. 
Nevertheless,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  we  haven't  time  to  investigate, 
and  we  life  to  form  our  opinions  in  the  light  of  intelligent  discussion.  We  may 
not  agree  with  the  editorial.  But  it  formulates  the  arguments  and  helps  us  to 
see  more  clearly  the  two  sides.  The  writer  of  the  editorial  may  not  be  an  expert 
or  a  genius.  At  least  he  is  in  the  habit  of  thinking  about  public  questions.  He 
is  presumed  to  have  some  gift  for  public  affairs.  He  has  more  time  to  investi- 
gate and  more  sources  of  information  than  the  average  busy  person. 

A  daily  medium  meeting  these  requirements  is  not  a  billboard.  It  is 
essentially  a  personality.  The  headlines,  the  general  arrangement  of  material, 
are  merely  an  outward  sign.  They  constitute  the  habiliments  in  which  the 
personality  is  clothed.  The  dress  may  be  flashy,  loud,  vulgar.  It  may  be 
sedate,  or  lively,  but  in  good  taste.  In  general,  the  dress  is  an  index  to  the 
personality  behind  it.  In  the  long  run,  people  take  this  newspaper  rather  than 
that  because  they  prefer  on  the  whole  one  type  of  personality  rather  than 
the  other. 

Modem  psychology,  which  finds  the  human  personality  a  unified  whole 
instead  of  a  bundle  of  independent  traits,  would  discover  a  unity  in  the  news- 


iv.  INTRODUCTION 

paper;  in  the  news,  editorials,  typography,  and  the  other  features.  But  the 
fundamental  character  of  the  publication  is  expressed  more  directly  in  the 
editorial  comment.  Here  is  the  soul  of  the  newspaper.  Here  is  its  interpreta- 
tion of  the  human  comedy  given  in  a  thousand  different  forms  and  moods, 
whether  in  a  discussion  of  scrapple  or  of  the  League  of  Nations,  whether  in 
comment  on  baseball,  the  conduct  of  organized  labor,  or  the  methods  of  unde- 
sirable citizens  of  great  wealth.  From  the  editorial  expressions  in  a  year  it 
ought  to  be  possible  to  construct  the  newspaper's  system  of  ethics  and  its 
general  philosophy  of  life. 

The  editorial,  then,  is  not  simply  or  chiefly  a  source  of  political  advice 
and  admonition.  It  is  a  narrow  misconception  to  assume  that  its  function  is 
merely  to  tell  people  what  to  do  in  a  given  political  situation  and  to  infer  that 
it  is  a  failure  if  the  advice  given  is  not  followed  at  the  polls.  There  is  no  more 
reason  to  insist  that  a  newspaper,  to  be  successful,  must  carry  a  particular 
election,  than  that  any  other  agency,  the  church,  for  instance,  or  the  school, 
must  carry  it.  The  newspaper  is  only  one  of  the  numerous  cultural  instru- 
ments of  society. 

If  the  newspaper  by  virtue  of  its  accumulated  functions,  has  taken  on 
personality,  the  fundamental  qualities  of  the  editorial  comment  through  which 
the  personality  finds  expression,  are  fairly  obvious.  They  must  be  those  of  a 
gentleman.  This  likeness  is  to  be  traced  in  accordance  with  the  rule  of  reason. 
The  editorial  goes  to  every  class  of  readers.  The  printed  page  is  unobtrusive, 
and  the  reader  sometimes  lacks  imagination.  Often  the  editor  must  bear  in 
mind  Roosevelt's  dictum  that  he  must  work  with  a  poster  and  not  with  a  zinc 
etching. 

But  with  the  adaptations  evidently  necessary,  it  is  easy  to  see  the  parallel 
that  the  newspaper  must  bear  to  the  welcome  visitor  in  the  home.  The  visitor, 
of  course,  should  have  good  manners ;  the  boor  doesn't  wear.  He  should  be  well 
informed,  sane,  enterprising,  entertaining.  He  should  have  the  socialized 
attitude.  That  is,  his  fundamental  motive,  though  often  implied  rather  than 
expressed,  should  be  to  promote  the  common  good.  He  should  not  be  long 
faced,  or  oppressively  pious.  He  ought  to  be  tolerant,  yet  ready  to  fight  for  his 
convictions  if  the  need  should  arise.  Cardinal  Newman's  definition  of  a  gen- 
tleman as  one  who  never  willingly  gives  pain,  we  all  recognize  as  applying 
merely  to  the  amenities  of  social  intercourse  and  not  to  times  when  moral  issues 
are  involved.  He  should  be  a  cheerful  companion  at  a  dinner  table,  yet  a  man 
who  could  be  depended  on  in  the  supreme  hour.  Above  all,  he  must  be  sincere. 
Smartness  can  never  take  the  place  of  sincerity.  The  reader  is  entitled  to  have 
confidence  in  the  integrity  of  his  newspaper,  just  as  he  is  of  his  doctor  or 
minister. 

These  are  the  standards  that  the  editorial  day  by  day  should  meet.  That 
it  fails  in  varying  degree  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  human  factor  in  its 
production.  It  succeeds  to  the  extent  that  it  embodies  the  fundamental  traits 
of  honesty,  intelligence,  and  the  passion  for  that  complete  humanization  of 
man  in  society  that  Matthew  Arnold  said  was  civilization. 

Henry  J.  Haskell. 
Editorial  Rooms, 
The  Kansas  City  Star. 


ERRATA 
P.  179,  col.  2,  11.  2-3:     read  imitative,  not  initiative. 
P.  359:     Transpose  heading,  "A  Journalist's  Testament, 
the  large  type.  • 

P.  363,  col.  2,  bottom:    read  Villard,  not  Willard. 


to  follow 


CONTENTS 


Part  I:    Theory  and  Practice 

^                                                                Page  Page 

Chapter  I.    Editorial  manner  and  style  3    ^  Chapter  VI.    Editorial  of  interpretation    68 

The    distinctive    editorial    manner—  Instruction  through  interpretation — 

Simplicity     and     directness— Clarity  Modern     interpretive     spirit— News- 

of  idea     and     expression— Imperson-  storv    as      a   parallel— Varied     plan 

alism — Authoritative    manner  —  R^-  though  one  purpose — Plans  that  can 

sponsibility  of  editorial-writer —  ^  utilized 

ilerdse'T^'^.l  .!^.^!'!'!^^.^.    '. '. '. '. '.  *. '.  *. '. '. '.  13      Representative  editorilTs ,     70 

Exercises ,     88 

Chapter  II.    Peg-hung  editorial 15 

Peg  as  text  or  starting-point — Time-  ^  Chapter  VII.     Controversial  editorial  - .     90 

liness  and  interest — Individual  page  Editorials  to  influence  reader's  atti- 
standards — Misleading  the  reader —  tude — Foundation  of  reason,  not  pas- 
Art  of  the  timely  slant — Unindicated  sion — Range  of  debatable  subjects — 
pegs.  Dependence  on  statable  proposition — 

Editorial     of     formal       argument — 

Representative  editorials 18          Modifying    the    formal    argument — 

Exercises    26         Argument  without  its  form — Satire, 

i^L     *      TTT      rriu              *■    A'*  .;  1  oT          sarcHsm ,  aud  irouy — Invective  and  de- 
Chapter  III.     Three-part  editorial 27          Tinnpintinn 

Editorial  variety  and  range— Instruc-  nunciaiion              

tional    function    of    the    editorial —  _              ^  i.-        j-i.    •  i                                 oo 

1  hree-part  prepositional  plan—  Representative  editorials 93 

.  Exercises 106 

Representative  editorials    28                                        ^                      ,...,.«„ 

Exercises 37      Chapter  VIII.     Serious  essay-editorial.  108 

_-      ^       _--      -,           J-.     .  1        J      J-  Essay  in  journalistic  garb — Adapting 
Chapter    IV.     News-editorial    and    edi-  ^^^  essay-Definition  of  essay-Brit- 
tonal  of  news  summary    . .  38         .^  j  ^^           essays-American  tend- 
Lack  of  structural  categories-Three-  ency-Kinds  of  serious     essay-edito^ 
part  structure  not  enough-News  edi-  ^.J,   conspectus;   criticism-Subjects 
tonal   defined-Kmds   of   news-edito.  treatment-Essays  of  contro- 
r^al-News-editorial   <>f     ^^^J^^ry—  ^^^^.^^  trend-Essays   of  reflection- 
News  summary-and-comment-  Position    assigned    such    editorials- 
Representative  editorials    40          Free  composition  processes- 

Representative  editorials    Ill 

Chapter  V.     Summarizing  editorial  of  Exerci<=;es                              127 

survfey  and  review    51 

Non-news    editorials    of    summary—  Chapter  IX.     Casual  essay-editorial   . .   129 
From  news  to  review  and  survey—  Casual  ("familiar")  essay  character- 
Need  of  reading— Information  from  ized  —  Eighteenth-century     models— 
non-printed     sources— Distance     be-  Twentieth-century  dress— Free  form 

tween  news-summary  and  summaries  ^^  editorial 

of  review — Scope  of  survey-editorials  

Representative  edit^riSs    53      Representative  editorials    129 

Exercises 65      Exercises J^^u 


v»-  CONTENTS 

habitol  moTd^n'edtelVag^^Fitf  a^'*'r^n^S^^  implication  or  sly 

ting  mood  to  purpose-  */T;Apt  --'og-AjPhonsm,  satire 

fct?s*"''r^''!'°.""^: ::::::;::::  111  f-<='-^ ~ iw 

Chapter  XI.    Home-subject  editorial  . .  154    M^^P^^^  XIII.     Writer  of  editorials. . .  170 

Home-community  spirit— Past  neglect  if  Editorial  type  of  mind— Demands  of 
of  home  news— Growth  of  interest  in  m  editorial-writing— Philosophical  mind 
home  news— Growth  of  the  home-in-  M  —Scientific  attitude— Interpretive  in- 
terest editorial— Home  subjects  in  ff  stinct — Leanings  of  the  litterateur- 
metropolitan  papers— Available  home  i|  Practicality— Educational  needs  of 
subjects— Business— Community  wel-  I    the  editorial-writer— Two  chief  edu- 

fare— Country    and    farm — Problems  eating  influences — The  cultural  aim 

of  self-government  — Manner  and  .  Disciplinary  studies— Subjects  that  de- 
mood  m  the  home  editorial— Contro-  ^  velop  ideals— Pursuit  of  general  ed- 
versial  editorials  for  home  readers—  ucation— Studies  for  general  educa- 
Avoidmg  ill  feeling—  tion— "Historical"  group— "Scientific' 

Representative  .m^U   158        l^^^'^^^^tA-^AfZ^'^^ 

Uixercises 164         fessional  training— Intensive     train- 

Chapter  XII     "Paragraph."  squib,  or  J^^hlol  ^'&taoct"-Kri 

smpmgr-shot   165         job—  vxcotmg 

Part  II:    Additional  Specimens 

Editorials  for  analysis  and  criticism 177 

British  editorial  articles    • 331 

Part  III:    Supplementary  Theory  and  Study 

1.    Ideals,  sidelights  and  hints. 
-^11.    Outline  for  study. 
III.     Representative  editorial  pages. 


Part  I 
Theory  and  Practice 


s 
le 


CHAPTER   I 


STYLE  AND  MANNER 


Distinctive    tone    and    manner. — 

When  one  opens  a  treatise  upon 
science  after  reading  one  upon  history 
(let  us  say),  he  is  immediately  aware 
of  its  different  tone  and  manner.  If 
he  then  take  up  a  book  of  essays,  he 
finds  that  the  tone  and  manner  of 
the  essay-collection  are  unlike  those 
either  of  the  historical  or  the  scien- 
tific works. 

He  will  find  corresponding  differ- 
ences if  he  turn  to  a  narrative  of 
travels,  from  that  to  a  volume  of  ser- 
mons, and  from  the  serm.ons  to  a  col- 
lection of  decisions  by  the  courts-of- 
law.  Every  category  of  writing  is 
thus  characterized  by  a  standard  tone 
and  manner,  distinguishably  its  own 
in  treatment  and  expression. 

This  distinguishing  standard  is  de- 
termined partly  by  the  kind  of  sub- 
ject-matter treated  by  that  class  of 
writing,  and  the  attitude  of  mind  de- 
manded thereby;  partly  by  the  pur- 
pose of  the  writing ;  and  partly  by  the 
class  of  persons  to  be  addressed. 

Editorial-writing  is  no  exception  to 
this  rule;  for  though  it  deals  with 
many  kinds  of  subjects,  and  though 
the  individual  editorials  often  differ 
widely  from  one  another  in  method 
and  in  manner,  yet  they  observe  cer- 
tain general  requirements  that  are 
fundamental  and  unmistakable.  Hence 
they  reveal  a  characteristic  general 
tone  and  manner  sufficiently  peculiar 
to  their  class  to  distinguish  them 
clearly  from  other  kinds  of  writing. 

Simplicity  and  directness. — The 
first  characterizing  quality  of  good 
editorial-writing  is  simplicity  and  di- 
rectness of  diction.  The  long  sentence 
is  used  sparingly.    The  congested  and 


the  complicated  sentence  are  scrupu- 
lously excluded.  The  more  artificial 
forms  (such  as  the  periodic  and  the 
balanced  sentence,  especially  the  rhe- 
torical sentence  of  carefully-balanced 
parallel  constructions)  are  introduced 
only  after  the  effect  they  will  have 
has  been  carefully  estimated. 

An  easy,  finished,  informal  and  yet 
dignified  colloquial  sentence  is  the  fa- 
vorite, such  as  may  be  met  with  in 
the  conversation  of  educated  persons 
without  taint  of  pedantry  or  affecta- 
tion, or  in  careful  and  self-respecting 
business  correspondence. 

The  vocabulary  likewise  is  direct 
and  simple.  Words  are  chosen  for 
clearness,  for  precision,  to  a  consider- 
able extent  for  brevity  and  vigor,  and 
never  for  mere  ornamentation  or  dis- 
play. 

The  editorial-article,  indeed,  repre- 
sents one  of  the  most  effective  appli- 
cations of  Herbert  Spencer's  prin- 
ciples of  "economy,"  formulated  in 
his  "Philosophy  of  Style." 

Clarity. — Owing  to  its  directness 
and  simplicity  of  diction,  the  edito- 
rial-article is  characterized  by  notable 
clarity,  not  only  of  treatment,  but  of 
idea  and  of  thought.  Direct  and 
simple  expression  is  not  possible  be- 
fore the  thought  itself  is  clear  in  the 
v/riter's  mind. 

Impersonalism. — Another  charac- 
teristic quality  of  the  present-day  edi- 
torial is  impersonalism.  The  edito- 
rial-article, like  the  news-story,  usual- 
ly excludes  outward  suggestion  of  the 
person  who  writes  it;  in  authorship 
and  approach,  it  often  is  almost  as 
impersonal  as  the  formulas  in  the 
pharmacopeia. 


EDITOEIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Time  v/as  wh«n  ^  ihe :  contrary  of 
this  was  true.  The  editorial  Columns 
reeked  with  a  kind  of  personaHsm, 
often  expressed  in  the  worst  kind  of 
personalities.  Those  were  the  days 
of  "personal  journalism,"  in  which 
the  paper  was  regarded  as  the  organ 
of  its  editor,  and  not  infrequently 
was  prostituted  to  the  carrying  on  of 
his  individual  or  party  feuds. 

But  when  our  journals  discovered 
not  only  the  educative,  but  also  the 
commercial  value  of  news,  and  be- 
came purveyors  of  timely  informa- 
tion, the  editorial  columns  had  to 
change  likewise.  There  was  a  de- 
mand for  impersonal  discussion  of 
what  appeared  in  the  news-columns, 
and  the  editorial-writers  were  obliged 
to  supply  it.  The  now  less  com- 
mon ^'impersonal  editorial  We*'  at  one 
time  represented  a  stage  in  the  tran- 
sition to  the  present  manner,  which 
ordinarily  sanctions  no  nearer  ap- 
proach to  indicating  the  source  of  the 
article  than  the  insertion  of  the  name 
of  the  paper  itself  (as  in  "The  Star 
has  always  urged    .     .     .").* 

*In  other  words  as  the  changes  went  on  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  writer  was  submerged  by  and  merged 
in  the  individuality  of  the  paper  itself.  There  is  now 
a  tendency  to  print  signed  e<]itorials.  The  signed 
articles,  however,  are  usually  written  by  men  of  great 
prominence,  and  are  so  published  just  for  that  rea- 
son. Mr.  Roosevelt,  after  his  retirement  from  the 
presidency,  became  one  of  the  editors  of  The  Outlook, 
and  a  contributing  editor  to  The  Metropolitan  Maga- 
zine;  Mr.  Taft  writes  articles  to  be  syndicated  to  the 
press  under  his  name.  Writers  like  these  must  be  re- 
garded as  exceptions  to  the  rule. 

Anthoritative  manner. — Again,  the 
editorial  article  is  characterized  by  a 
sort  of  judicial  manner;  it  "speaks  as 
one  having  authority,"  though  not 
dictatorially  nor  presumptuously.  The 
reason  for  this  attitude  and  tone  is 
apparent.  The  paper,  and  not  any 
one  person  engaged  in  producing  it,  is 
now  the  power  behind  the  editorial, 
and  the  article  represents  the  paper, 
not  the  person.  Representing  the 
views  and  wisdom  of  the  journal  it- 
self, it  not  only  must  be  impersonal  in 


tone ;  it  must  assume  also  the  attitude 
of  assured  authority.  Written  other- 
wise, it  would  lose  much  of  its  im- 
pressiveness  and  influence. 

Responsibility  of  the  editorial- 
writer. — This  fact  imposes  a  great 
responsibility  and  obligation  on  the 
editorial-writer.  What  is  printed  as 
the  view  of  the  journal  for  which  he 
works  has  far  more  weight  than  it 
would  have  were  it  printed  as  the 
view  merely  of  the  individual. 

By  every  consideration  of  honesty, 
therefore,  the  editorial-writer  is 
bound  to  be  fair,  just,  accurate,  truth- 
ful, and  conscientious  alike  in  his  in- 
formation, in  his  premises,  in  his  as- 
sertions, in  his  conclusions,  and  in  the 
teachings  and  appeals  he  bases  on 
them. 

There  is  no  worse  offender  against 
the  individual  or  the  nation  than  a 
slovenly,  lazy,  indifferent,  low-idealed, 
loose-thinking,  or  dishonest  writer  of 
published  editorials. 

Schema. — The  characteristics  of 
the  editorial  style  and  manner  are : 

1.  Simplicity  and  directness  of 
diction. 

2.  Clarity  of  idea  and  clarity  of 
treatment. 

3.  Non-personal  tone. 

4.  Authoritative  attitude. 
Representative     editorials. — ^These 

four  qualities — directness  and  sim- 
plicity of  diction ;  clarity  of  treatment 
and  of  idea;  impersonalism ;  authori- 
tative manner — are  to  be  aimed  at  in 
far  the  greater  part  of  editorial-writ- 
ing. They  can  be  studied  in  the  edi- 
torials that  here  follow. 

DEACON  WILL  H.  HAYS 

Omaha    Bee 

1.  Will  H.  Hays,  chairman  of  the  Na- 
tional Republican  Committee,  has  been  elect- 
ed and  installed  a  deacon  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  his  home  town  in  Indiana.  He 
succeeds  his  father  in  that  church  office, 
which  is  subordinate  to  the  minister  and 
elders  and  has  to  do  with  the  communion 
services  and  charitable  activities. 


STYLE  AND  MANNER 


5 


2.  It  is  good  to  know  this.  Men  in  high 
tlace  who  deserve  and  accept  service  in 
hurch  organizations  are  shining  examples 
o  their  countrymen,  too  many  of  whom  are 
trangers  to  all  direct  religious  influences, 
ind  go  through  life  content  with  material 
uccesses  alone. 

1.  Is  there  a  good  reason  why  the  first  sentence 
hould  not  be  two  sentences,  thus? — "Will  H.  Hays, 
hairman  of  the  National  Republican  Committee,  is 
.  deacon.  He  has  been  elected  and  installed  by  the 
'resbyterian  Church  in  his  home  town  in  Indiana." 
)iscuss  the  two  openings.  Wherein  does  the  au- 
horitative  attitude  of  this  editorial  reveal   itself? 

CURSES  NOT  LOUD,  BUT  DEEP 

Kansas    City    Times. 

1.  A  writer  in  an  agricultural  paper  who 
;elt  inclined  to  ruminate  a  little  at  the 
>reakfast  table  one  morning,  figured  on  the 
;ost,  original  and  otherwise,  of  a  certain 
^puffed"  article  which  he  was  eating.  The 
irticle,  "increased  to  eight  times  its  orig- 
nal  size,"  according  to  the  label  on  the  box, 
•etailed  for  15  cents  per  4-ounce  box. 

2.  Now,  from  a  bushel  of  wheat  which 
jost  the  manufacturer  $2.26,  just  $36  worth 
Df  the  puffed  commodity  was  made.  The 
farmer  tempted  into  buying  some  of  the 
final  product  of  his  $2  a  bushel  wheat,  paid 
a  final  retail  price  of  $36. 

3.  A  Florida  grower,  according  to  the 
same  writer,  sold  his  grapefruit  at  3  cents 
each  and  then  made  a  little  trip  on  which 
he  found  that  he  had  to  pay  20  cents  for 
half  a  grapefruit  on  the  train. 

4.  Obviously,  there  is  something  deep 
and  strange  about  all  this  if  one  could  just 
find  it  out.  But  he  can't  fathom  it,  so  he 
just  says  things  to  himself,  as  we  all  do. 

Decide  what  in  this  editorial  gives  it  the  effect  of 
being  authoritative.  Is  it  the  array  of  definite 
figures  ? 

Can  t4  here  be  tenned  impersonal  in  expression  at 
the  end?  Is  an  editorial  always  impliedly  an  address 
to  the  reader,  which  may  occasionally  lapse  into  direct 
discourse?  Or  are  these  four  words  merely  a  col- 
loquial way  of  saying,  "It  is  a  situation  that  has  pro- 
duced universal  resentment"  ? 

NEW  TIMES,  NEW  MEASURES 

New   York  Evening  Post 

1.  After  the  Irish  Home  Rule  bill  passed 
the  second  reading  in  the  Commons  by  a 
tremendous  majority,  one  Unionist  was 
heard  saying  to  another  in  the  lobby:  "I 
little  thought  that  I  should  live  to  vote  for 
Home  Rule  for  Ireland."  The  other's  reply 
was:  "Times  have  changed."  They  surely 
have.  One  of  the  Unionists  who  voted  for 
the  bill  was  Austen  Chamberlain,  son  of 
Joseph.  What  would  the  father's  feelings 
have  been  if  he  could  have  revisited  the  pale 
glimpses  of  the  House  of  Commons  ? 


2.  Joseph  Chamberlain's  life  is  about  to 
be  written.  The  task  has  been  confided  by 
the  family  to  Mr.  J.  L.  Garvin.  An  Irish 
biographer,  he  will  undoubtedly  throw  full 
light  upon  Chamberlain's  break  with  Glad- 
stone over  Irish  Home  Rule.  It  was  dis- 
creetly treated  by  John  Morley  in  his  "Life 
of  Gladstone,"  less  so  by  Barry  O'Brien  in 
his  "Life  of  Parnell."  Joseph  Chamberlain, 
by  the  way,  was  a  warm  friend  and  ad- 
mirer of  John  Morley,  despite  their  sharp 
political  differences.  He  once  told  Morley 
that  he  usually  carried  a  volume  of  his  when 
he  went  off  on  a  speaking  tour.  What  was 
the  book?     Probably,  "On  Compromise." 

Editorials  such  as  this  will  repay  the  study  neces- 
sary to  appreciate  their  compactness  of  thought  and 
expression.  The  ability,  in  phrasing  thought,  to  pack 
much  into  a  few  words,  and  yet  to  keep  all  clear,  is 
tbe^re  evidence  of  a  disciplined  mind. 

V  J      FINANCING  THE  BONUS 

\J^  New   York   Times 

1.  Aside  from  the  question  of  whether 
the  sound  in  body  and  the  employed  should 
be  presented  with  substantial  sums  of 
money,  or  be  otherwise  rewarded  for  mil- 
itary service  to  save  America  from  a  power- 
ful and  predatory  enemy,  it  is  plain  to  the 
simplest  understanding  that  no  plan  of  tax- 
ation that  has  been  proposed  to  find  the 
money  for  bonuses  is  free  from  grave  objec- 
tions. Sixty-eight  republican  members  have 
signed  a  "round  robin"  protesting  against  a 
tax  on  sales,  because  it  would  bear  too 
heavily  upon  the  consumers.  The  proposal 
to  increase  income  surtaxes  also  encounters 
opposition,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  money 
required  could  be  raised  in  that  way.  A 
new  excess  profits  tax  working  retroactively 
is  altogether  impracticable.  Moreover,  if 
authorized,  it  would  prove  a  "knockout"  for 
business,  which  is  now  slowly  getting  to  its 
feet. 

2.  So  far  no  practical  method  of  raising 
a  sufficiency  of  revenue  to  pay  the  bonuses 
has  been  conceived,  none  will  stand  the  test 
of  analysis  by  treasury  experts.  The  repub- 
licans who  gayly  promised  the  ex-service 
men  the  legislation  they  wanted  now  find 
that  politics  does  not  always  mix  well  with 
revenue  finance,  and  their  dilemma  would  be 
diverting  if  the  matter  were  not  so  serious. 

HI.  Try  breaking  up  the  first  sentence  into  two  or 
three.  Is  there  a  gain  in  clarity?  Are  the  items  of 
argrument  made  more  distinct  to  the  reader?  la  there 
a  loss   in  close-connectedness  of  thought? 

JAPAN'S  BIGGEST  CORPORATION 

Columbus    Dispatch 

1.  We  in  this  country  suppose  that  we 
have  some  pretty  fair-sized  corporations;  in- 
deed, most  of  us  have  been  supposing  all 
along  that  we  had  the  biggest  corporations 


6 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


in  the  world.  But,  nothing  of  the  kind! 
Here  comes  an  article  concerning  a  Jap- 
anese corporation  that  causes  our  own  great 
aggregations  or  associations  of  capital  to 
seem  small  by  comparison. 

2.  The  Japanese  corporation  is  called  the 
Mitsui  Busan  Kaisha.  It  comes  as  nearly 
dealing  in  everything  as  any  other  corpora- 
tion on  earth.  It  makes  and  buys  and  sells 
silks  and  steel  products — and  everything  in 
between.  It  owns  railroads  and  steamships 
and  mills  and  mines  and  farms  and  banks 
and  stores  and  hotels.  It  transacts  business 
in  every  country  under  the  sun  and  has  em- 
ployees that  speak  every  known  language. 

3.  The  main  offices  of  the  corporation  are 
like  a  great  international  court,  with  experts 
from  every  land,  familiar  with  the  people  of 
all  nations,  and  reports  from  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  earth  pour  in  to  the  general 
managers  daily. 

4.  All  of  which  is  here  mentioned  simply 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  do  not 
possess  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  a  copyright 
of  organization  nor  a  patent  of  greatness. 

^1.  Does  the  "we"  mean  the  editor,  or  is  it  used 
merely  as  a  more  intimate  way  of  saying  "the  people 
of  the  United  States"?  Can  it  he  accurately  said 
that  editorials  may  be  intimate  in  manner  without 
becominR  personal?  (The  truth  of  this  distinction 
can  be  tested  by  considering  the  jokes  in  a  humorous 
journal  like  Life ;  they  are  intimate  in  tone,  but  not 
personal — on  the  contrary,  very  impersonal — in  tone 
and   expression. 

TO  INDIA'S  CORAL  STRAND 

The  Delineator 

1.  Comes  now  to  our  desk  a  little  mag- 
azine, The  Woman  Missionary's  Friend,  pub- 
lished in  Waltham,  Massachusetts.  It 
doesn't  sound  thrilling,  does  it?  Yet,  do 
you  remember  how  Kipling's  Kim  intrigued 
your  fancy?  Do  you  recall  how  Kipling 
brought  to  the  very  door-step  of  your 
imagination  the  sound  and  scents  and  sights 
of  India? 

2.  Here,  then,  is  a  little  monthly  that 
brings  word  in  intimate,  homely  detail  of  the 
Christian  missionaries  in  Kim's  country. 
Somebody  writes  from  Lucknow  of  the  in- 
fluenza plague  that  burned  as  fiercely  there 
as  here.  Another  tells  the  pathetic  story  of 
a  little  low-caste  Hindu  girl  named  Chan- 
darmani.  Chandarmani,  little  and  neglected, 
who  lives  in  Cawnpore,  India!  Some  one 
else  tells  of  a  trip  through  the  Ichang 
Gorge  on  the  way  to  Chungking  in  western 
China. 

3.  V/onderful  women,  these  missionaries, 
who  give  their  lives  to  carrying  the  Chris- 
tian God  to  far  places;  brave  beyond  our 
stay-at-home  understanding;  wise,  we  sur- 
mise, beyond  our  limited  conceptions;  un- 
sung  except  for  casual   mention  in  casual 


report.  We  are  yet  very  sure  that  the  world 
has  marched  upward  on  the  sacrifices  of  such 
as  they. 

Another  editorial  that  is  intimate,  yet  non-personal. 

HE  HUGHES  TO  THE  LINE  NOW 

Chicago  Evening  Post 

1.  Charles  E.  Hughes  may  not  have  as- 
sayed 100  per  cent  as  a  presidential  candi- 
date back  in  1916,  but  as  a  lawyer  and  as  a 
money-getter  in  the  legal  field  it  doesn't 
seem  he  has  any  serious  competitors. 

2.  Friends  of  the  former  Republican  can- 
didate say  his  income  is  $1,000,000  a  year. 
If  he  really  makes  that  $1,000,000,  Hughes 
is  making  more  out  of  strictly  legal  work 
than  any  other  lawyer  in  this  country. 

3.  Hughes'  present  income  is  in  striking 
contrast  to  what  he  received  as  a  justice  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  That 
position  pays  $14,500  a  year.  When  Hughes 
was  defeated  for  the  presidency  some  said 
he  made  a  mistake  in  resigning  from  the 
Supreme  Court  in  order  to  run.    But  did  he  ? 

4.  What  really  happened  in  November, 
1916,  was  that  the  voters  of  this  country — 
and  particularly  the  voters  of  California 
— kicked  Hughes  upstairs  into  a  position 
about  sixty  times  what  his  former  one  had 
yielded. 

5.  So  busy  is  Hughes'  law  office  on  lower 
Broadway  that  attorneys  say  he  has  enough 
work  on  hand  and  offered  him  to  keep  him 
busy  for  a  hundred  years. 

^"5s,     He'll  be  very  lucky  if  he  gets  to  finish 
it.    He  was  58  years  old  on  April  11. 

This  editorial  probably  takes  its  tone  of  half-cyni- 
cal, half-contemptuous  colloquialism  from  the  fact 
that  it  deals  v;ith  merely  material  success.  Tlte  com- 
piler makes  a  guess  that  the  Post  writer  respects  Mr. 
Hughes's  ability  and  has  _  a  kindly  feeling  for  Mr. 
Hughes  personally,  but  that  he  is  "shy"  of  en- 
thusiasm for  Mr.  Hughes's  career  "as  a  money-getter 
in  the  legal  field."  Observe,  however,  that  this  im- 
pression has  to  be  gathered  by  inference  from  the 
undertone  of  the  editorial.  In  expression  and  all 
other  externals,  the  editorial  is  thoroughly  impersonal 

in  method  and  manner.  An  example  of  reversed 

newspeg    position    (see    Chapter    II)  ;    the    news    item 
suggesting  the  editorial  is  mentioned  in  116,  not  in  f  1. 

WOOD  THE  CAMPAIGNER 

Minneapolis  Journal 

1.  General  Wood  is  a  plain,  blunt  sol- 
dier who  talks  in  short,  jolty  sentences. 
Every  sentence  packs  an  idea.  He  holds  his 
audiences  without  any  of  the  usual  arts  of 
the  platform  orator.  He  stands  up  and  in 
a  clear,  carrying  voice  clips  out  his  remarks 
without  a  gesture,  his  hands  generally  be- 
hind his  back,  occasionally  his  right  punch- 
ing an  idea  home.  Men  who  have  been  with 
him  throughout  his  trips  say  never  in  an 
audience  is  there  coughing  or  scuffling  of 
feet,  nothing  but  keen-edged  attention  to  a 
speaker  who  seems  to  be  in  deadly  earnest. 


STYLE  AND  MANNER 


2.  In  conversation  his  utterance  is  the 
same — short,  crisp,  pithy,  no  excess  baggage 
on  any  of  his  sentences.  He  has  a  chest  like 
a  barrel,  a  massive  face,  and  a  steel  blue 
eye.  His  endurance  is  remarkable.  On  one 
of  his  Dakota  trips  he  went  seventy-two 
hours  with  only  nine  hours  sleep,  and  at  the 
end  made  an  appointment  by  d];jving  through 
a  blizzard  on  a  handcar.  On  his  trips  he 
exercises  sitting  down. 

3.  On  the  train  he  goes  through  muscle 
flexing  exercises  without  moving  in  his  seat. 
And  he  is  "mentally  ambidextrous,"  to  use 
the  phrase  of  a  newspaper  correspondent 
who  traveled  with  him  for  six  weeks — he 
can  dictate  to  a  stenographer  and  talk  to  a 
visitor  at  the  same  time  without  getting  his 
correspondence  and  his  conversation  mixed 
up.  Eighteen  hours  a  day  at  his  desk  is- a 
usual  thing  with  him. 

Here  the  first  two  sentences  describe  the  editorial 
itself.      Study   its   diction   and  style  throughout. 

RECOGNIZING  THE  NEW  ERA 

St.   Louis  Globe-Democrat 

1.  Chile  voluntarily  proposes  to  let  Bo- 
livia come  again  into  possession  of  a  strip 
of  territory  that  gives  access  to  the  sea. 
Some  years  ago,  by  hostile  operations,  Chile 
wrested  this  land  from  Bolivia  and  Peru,  and 
the  main  purpose  was  to  take  control  of  rich 
nitrate  deposits.  By  treaty  Chile  agreed  to 
submit  the  territorial  dispute  to  a  vote  of 
the  inhabitants,  but  by  tactics  of  delay  and 
evasion  this  test  has  not  been  made. 

2.  It  is  gratifying  to  note  that  Chile  sees 
a  new  light  in  the  settlement  of  such  con- 
troversies. This  one  originated  in  the 
predatory  use  of  force  and  in  the  old  system 
of  crooked  diplomatic  schemes.  The  nitrate 
beds  are  valuable.  Money  profits  in  con- 
trolling them  was  the  allurement  in  one  of 
the  little  wars.  Another  armed  struggle 
was  likely  to  grow  out  of  it.  At  all  events, 
there  was  a  sense  of  injury,  a  dangerous 
difference  among  adjoining  nations.  A 
despoiler  is  not  easily  forgiven  by  those 
whom  he  wrongs. 

3.  How  completely  Chile  is  converted  to 
the  idea  of  a  fair  deal  for  Bolivia  and  Peru 
remains  to  be  seen,  but  the  step  taken  is 
hopeful  and  cheering.  An  error  confessed  is 
indicated  in  the  readjustment.  Putting  up 
predatory  jobs  on  other  countries  has  gone 
out  of  fashion.  The  game  was  prominent 
among  the  causes  of  the  war.  Its  practice 
was  even  lauded  as  a  controlling  principle 
of  government  and  international  custom. 

4.  How  easy  it  is  for  nations  to  heal  a 
dispute  when  all  are  willing  to  be  just! 

11111-2.  Note  how  simply  and  clearly  the  situation  is 
explained ;  the  essential  facts  in  the  plainest  lan- 
guage. Especially  observe  the  compressed  philosophy 
at  the  end  of  112. 


THE  FIUME  QUESTION  SETTLED 

Springfield  Republican 

1.  It  is  gratifying  news  that  Italy  and 
Jugoslavia  have  privately  reached  an  agree- 
ment in  regard  to  Fiume,  and  there  is  no 
little  interest  in  the  fact  that  left  to  them- 
selves they  have  fallen  back  upon  President 
Wilson's  plan,  including  the  setting  up  of  a 
buffer  state.  That  neither  country  liked  the 
plan  is  not  necessarily  a  condemnation;  in 
such  cases  neither  disputant  is  likely  to  be 
very  cordial  to  any.  plan  which  the  other 
side  can  be  brought  to  accept.  For  both 
sides  to  be  somewhat  dissatisfied  is  more 
hopeful  than  for  one  side  to  be  pleased  and 
the  other  side  to  be  discontented  to  the  point 
of  chronic  hostility. 

2.  The  Wilson  plan  gives  Italy  ample 
security  and  at  the  same  time  affords,  a 
basis  for  amicable  relations.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  the  settlement  shows  among 
other  things  that  both  countries,  in  view  of 
the  way  things  are  going  in  the  near  East, 
feel  the  necessity  of  patching  up  their  dis- 
pute and  acting  together  in  matters  of  com- 
mon interest. 

3.  There  are  some  signs  that  Italy  is 
coming  to  be  even  more  concerned  over  the 
Turkish  question  than  over  the  Adriatic; 
Premier  Nitti  is  predicting  a  war  in  Asia 
Minor  for  which  "Italy  will  not  send  a  single 
soldier."  But  Greece  will  and  no  doubt  the 
prosperity  of  Greek  imperialism  contributes 
to  the  eminently  satisfactory  settlement  of 
the  Fiume  question. 

111.  Suppose  sentence  1  to  be  rewritten  thus:  "Italy 
and  Jugoslavia  have  reached  an  agreement  about 
Fiume.  Left  to  themselves  they  have  fallen  back 
upon  President  Wilson's  plan,  including  the  setting 
up  of  a  buffer  state.'!  Is  something  gained,  or  some- 
thing lost?  As  a  general  principle,  would  you  judge 
long  sentences  or  short  ones  to  be  better  at  the 
opening  ?  Compare  the  editorials  Wood  the  Cam- 
paigner, The  Lesson  of  Frank  Wermke,  Routine  Kills. 
With  Everybody's,  The  American  Language,  and  that 
on  Mr.  Howells. 

THE  FARMER'S  SALARY 

Louisville  Courier-Journal 

1.  The  Federal  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture makes  a  clear  statement,  which  should 
be  pondered  in  industrial  centers,  when  it 
says  its  investigations  show  that  the  average 
profit  of  an  Iowa  farmer;  1918,  was  $1124, 
above  interest  at  5  per  cent  upon  the  invest- 
ment in  land  and  equipment. 

2.  In  other  words,  the  farmer's  salary  in 
one  of  the  best  farming  States  in  the  Union 
is,  upon  the  average,  about  $21  a  week.  This 
does  not  indicate  a  state  of  hardship  to  the 
farmer  who,  let  us  say,  has  $10,000  invested, 
owes  nothing  and  works  his  own  land.  But 
it  shows  why  a  little  expansion  of  the  wages 
of  farm  labor  where  two  men  or  more  are 
employed   upon    wages,   would    reduce   the 


8 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


owner's  return  upon  his  own  effort  to  a  point 
below  the  wages  of  his  own  farmhands.  It 
shows  also  that  a  farmer  with  $10,000  in- 
vested, if  he  is  a  young  man  confident  of  his 
ability  to  adapt  himself  to  new  duties,  may 
see  greater  opportunity  in  a  city,  and  why 
the  farmhand  is  tempted  to  leave  an  occupa- 
tion if  the  road  to  proprietorship  is  not  a 
royal  one,  and  in  which  the  proprietor  does 
not  earn  a  large  income.  It  shows  why  a 
farmer  with  200  acres  employed  in  extensive 
agriculture  is  inclined  to  reduce  tillage  rather 
than  feed  an  extra  team,  house  and  pay 
an  extra  man,  competing  for  labor  with  in- 
dustrial centers  upon  the  basis  of  wages  now 
paid. 

3.  The  figures  published  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  are  designed  to  show 
that  the  farmer  is  not  gouging  the  con- 
sumer. Inasmuch  as  the  agricultural  pro- 
ducer cannot  tag  his  produce  and  sell  it  at 
his  figures,  must  sell  in  a  market  over  which 
he  exercises  no  control,  he  cannot  gouge 
anybody,  but  the  prices  he  receives  may  be 
increased  by  creation  of  conditions  in  in- 
dustrial centers  under  which  it  grows  harder 
and  harder  to  persuade  intelligent  men, 
landed  or  landless,  to  regard  farming  as  a 
profitable  calling.  The  nonproducing  city 
population  gouges  itself. 

Ifl.     Try  the  effect  of  making  a  new  sentence  at  "It 
says." 

THE  LESSON  OF  FRANK  WERMKE 

Kansas  City  Star 

1.  Prevention  of  the  making  of  Frank 
Wermkes  is  one  of  the  problems  presented 
by  the  I.  W.  W.  trial  at  Kansas  City,  Kas. 

2.  Wermke's  is  an  old,  old  story.  Mother 
dead  and  deserted  by  father  at  the  age  of 
5  years  a  state  orphanage  becomes  his  home. 
Then  follow  periods  of  indenture  to  one 
farmer  and  another,  rebellion  against  his 
treatment,  the  industrial  school,  and  then 
the  reform  school.  Free  from  the  institu- 
tions, without  home  tie  or  friends,  this  "foot- 
ball of  society"  drifts  from  an  individual 
migratory  worker  to  a  position  as  an  I.  W.  W. 
organization  leader,  and  conducts  a  cam- 
paign of  sabotage  and  terror  through  the 
wheat  belt  when  the  nation  is  calling  for 
increased  production. 

3.  A  kindly  North  Dakota  judge  gives 
Wermke  an  opportunity  to  escape  a  jail  sen- 
tence and  enter  the  army.  He  takes  it,  and 
with  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  other  American  boys  sails  for  France  to 
fight  for  the  government  he  would  have  over- 
thrown. And  this  soldier — a  mere  accident 
in  the  army  from  out  of  the  ranks  of  the 
I.  W.  W.  "jungle"  camps — returns  home 
with  the  courage  of  a  new-found  patriotism 
and  joins  with  the  government's  legal  ma- 


chinery to  expose  the  reds  in  order  that  the 
nation  for  which  he  had  crossed  the  seas  to 
fight  might  cease  to  be  menaced  from  within. 
4.  America  is  answering  the  challenge  of 
reds  and  radicals,  speaking  through  organ- 
izations largely  composed  of  foreigners.  But 
Americanism  must  respond  to  Wermke's 
story  and  give  closer  heed  to  prevent  her 
homeless  boys  and  girls  from  falling  victims 
to  agitators  and  red  card  revolutionists. 

Note  the  direct,  rapid  language.  (Are  there  any 
grammatical  misconstructions,  the  result  of  extreme 
condensation  ?) 

MARSHALL  AND  TAGGART 

Indianapolis  News 

1.  In  discussing  the  intimation  that  there 
was  a  deal  on  between  former  Senator  Tag- 
gart  and  Boss  Murphy,  of  New  York,  to 
nominate  Vice-President  Marshall  for  the 
presidency,  Mr.  Marshall  yesterday  spoke 
with  great  frankness,  and,  as  those  familiar 
with  conditions  know,  told  the  exact  truth. 
Here  is  his  statement: 

I  think  Tom  Taggart  made  a  good, 
clean,  competent  senator.    He  is  a  busi- 
ness man  and  believes  in  business  meth- 
ods and  if  we  had  had  him  here  during 
the  war,  he  would  have  done  a  great 
deal  to  see  that  things  were  run  on  a 
business  basis.     He  likes  to  boss  and 
name  candidates,  and  all  that,  but  he  is 
not  a  candidate  for  office  for  the  money 
he  will  get  out  of  it.     I  can  say  that 
without  hesitation.     But  as  far  as  pol- 
itics goes,   we   have   never  played   the 
same  game  and  I  have  never  followed 
his  leadership.     I  do  not  believe  in  the 
kind  of  politics  that  he  believes  in. 
2.    This  was  not  intended  to  be  a  reflec- 
tion on  Mr.  Taggart.    It  is  simply  a  pointing 
out  of  the  differences  between  the  two  men, 
one   of  whom  trusts  in  politics  largely  to 
ideas,  while  the  other  relies  largely  on  man- 
agement.   Yet  during  his  brief  term  in  the 
senate   Mr.   Taggart   showed   that   he   was 
something  more  than  a  mere  manager,  and 
it  may  be  that  as  a  result  of  that  experience 
ne  has  got  the  larger  view.     If  so,  the  two 
men  are  not  after  all  so  far  apart.    As  to 
the  story  of  the  supposed  deal,  the  Vice- 
President  said:    "It  is  all  bosh."     If  New 
York  decides  to  support  Mr.  Marshall  there 
is  no  way  in  which  he  can  prevent  it  from 
doing  so.    It  is  the  simple  truth  to  say  that 
he  has  not  turned  a  hand  to  get  the  nomina- 
tion.    He  refused  to  allow  his  name  to  go 
before  the  primary  in  his  own  state,  and  gen- 
erally speaking  has  seemed  more  interested 
in  repelling  than  in  seeking  support.    Some- 
times this  is  the  kind  of  a  man  a  party  likes 
to  nominate. 


J 


STYLE  AND  MANNER 


h2.  Count  the  words  in  each  sentence,  setting  down 
;the  numbers  in  a  row.  Draw  one  line  over  each  one 
tstanding  for  a  short  sentence,  three  lines  over  each 
indicating  a  long  sentence,  and  two  lines  over  the 
medium-length  numbers.  Is  there  anything  of  a  reg- 
iilar  alternation  of  shorter  with  longer  sentences  ? 
Try  the  test  on  other  smooth-reading   editorials. 

ROUTINE  KILLS! 

The  Etude 

1.  Once  in  awhile  we  gently  purloin  an 
editorial  which  is  too  good  to  pass.  Here  is 
one  that  is  particularly  good  for  music 
teachers — who  are  often  far  too  prone  to 
fall  into  a  rut.  It  is  from  Prof.  Edgar 
James  Swift's  excellent  new  book,  "Psychol- 
ogy and  the  Day's  Work"  (Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons). 

2.  "Routine  kills.  If  it  does  not  kill  the 
body  it  blunts  its  sensory  edge.  Response 
to  stimulation,  both  external  and  internal, 
is  slower  and  less  efficient  and  it  kills  the 
mind.  The  distinction  from  bodily  death  is 
that  he  who  is  mentally  dead  thinks  that  he 
is  alive.  A  man  who  never  or  rarely  takes  a 
vacation  does  things  mechanically,  does  the 
'next  thing'  mechanically  and  his  digestion 
works  mechanically.  The  writer  once  saw  a 
motto  on  a  business  man's  desk  which  read, 
'Do  the  next  thing.'  Now,  one  who  does  the 
'next  thing'  never  gets  anywhere.  There  is 
no  selection,  no  discrimination  of  values.  A 
startling  change  of  environment,  with  its 
necessary  alteration  of  habits,  throws  one 
out  of  gear  for  the  moment.  That  is  its 
value  both  bodily  and  mentally.  The  things 
that  one  has  been  doing  are  no  longer  a 
part  of  oneself  because  one  can  no  longer  do 
them.  So  a  man  is  able  to  view  them  objec- 
tively. He  has  a  better  perspective.  He 
sees  proportions  more  clearly.  The  worries 
of  business  are  not  as  troublesome,  since  he 
sees  that  some  of  the  matters  are  not  so 
important  as  he  thought  when  he  stood 
facing  them.  Their  magnitude  diminishes 
with  distance.  Other  things  settle  them- 
selves; this  mental  composure  acts  benefi- 
cially upon  digestion.  Change  of  scene  ani- 
mates the  mind  by  relieving  it  of  the  weari- 
ness of  'the  same  old  things;'  and  the  mental 
refreshment  puts  one  into  condition  to  an- 
ticipate one's  meals.  Later,  on  returning, 
the  old  takes  on  a  new  look,  and  the  man 
begins  his  work  with  more  alert  judgment 
because  his  metabolism  is  improved.  William 
James  once  shocked  certain  Puritanic,  naive 
people,  devoid  of  humor,  by  saying  that  even 
a  spree  has  its  value.  Any  break  in  routine 
is  refreshing,  and  the  sharper  the  break  the 
better." 

3.  Why  not  plan  now  for  a  vacation  (if 
even  but  one  day  in  length)  that  will  be  a 
very  marked  change.  You  will  never  re- 
gret it. 


t2.     Try  here  the  test  explained  in  the  note  oa  Mar- 
shall  and   Taggart. 

16-TO-l  REALIZED 

Pittsburgh   Gazette-Times 

1.  In  London  the  market  value  of  silver 
bullion  has  advanced  to  a  premium  over  the 
Engish  mint  price,  and  it  is  now  profitable 
to  melt  coin  and  convert  it  into  bullion. 
Fractional  silver  currency  has  become  so 
scarce  in  France  that  Paris  shopkeepers  are 
resorting  to  postage  stamps  and  scrip  in 
making  change.  In  New  York  the  price  of 
the  metal  is  about  $1.28  an  ounce,  and  it 
would  have  to  advance  only  a  cent  and  a 
quarter  to  raise  the  value  of  the  bullion  in 
a  silver  dollar  to  the  gold-dollar  basis,  thus 
restoring  the  16-to-l  parity  of  the  metals. 
The  price  of  the  bullion  in  subsidiary  coins, 
however,  would  have  to  advance  to  $1.38  be- 
fore it  would  be  profitable  to  throw  the 
dimes,  quarters  and  halves  into  the  melting 
pot.  In  that  event  our  Government  would 
probably  be  compelled  to  issue  fractional 
paper  currency — known  in  the  old  days  as 
"shinplasters" — in  order  to  supply  the  de- 
mand for  "change." 

2.  Since  April,  1918,  the  supply  of  silver 
dollars  held  in  the  Federal  Treasury  against 
silver  certificates  has  decreased  280,000,000, 
representing  silver  dollars  melted  down  to 
produce  bullion  to  send  to  the  silver-using 
countries  of  Europe.  The  price  of  silver 
has  more  than  doubled  since  the  outbreak 
of  the  war,  due  first  to  the  greater  demand 
and  second  to  the  reduction  in  supply  of 
American  mines  on  account  of  labor  strikes 
and  curtailment  of  operations  at  copper 
mines  whose  ores  carry  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  the  white  metal. 

3.  Many  middle-aged  and  elderly  men 
can  recall  their  first  experience  with  the  use 
of  silver  coin  as  money.  That  was  in  1879, 
when  specie  payments  were  resumed  in  the 
United  States.  "Hard"  money  had  disap- 
peared during  the  Civil  War,  and  a  week  or 
so  before  the  date  fixed  for  the  resumption 
of  specie  payments,  stores,  barber  shops  and 
saloons  in  Pittsburg  and  other  cities  dis- 
played signs  in  their  windows  stating  that 
on  the  designated  date  customers  presenting 
a  paper  dollar  in  payment  of  a  purchase 
would  receive  a  certain  part  of  the  change 
in  silver.  By  the  way,  that  was  a  time  when 
a  dollar  had  some  purchasing  power,  and 
change  naturally  attended  its  use.  Now- 
adays a  different  sign  is  posted,  at  least  by 
retail  grocers — namely,  that  with  the  pur- 
chase of  a  dollar's  worth  of  goods  which  you 
have  no  immediate  use  for,  you  may  gain 
the  privilege  of  buying  a  pound  of  sugar. 


10 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


The  easy  manner  of  the  educated  man  dealing 
colloquially  with  a  subject  of  interest  about  which 
he  is  well  informed.  In  ^3,  the  writer  is  probably 
depending  on  his  own  remembrance;  but  observe  how 
he  avoids  the  appearance  of  personal  reminiscence 
and  conveys  the  impression  of  historical  statement 
(authority). 

ECONOMY  IN  CLOTHING 

San   Francisco   Bulletin 

1.  If  we  are  out  after  the  high  cost  of 
living,  why  be  content  to  bind  his  body  with 
overalls,  to  kick  him  in  the  shins  with 
wooden  shoes,  or  to  get  his  scalp  with  an 
old  rag  hat?  Why  not  get  him  around  the 
neck  and  strangle  him  with  a  paper  collar? 

2.  The  high  cost  of  high  linen  and  cotton 
collars  is  not  the  least  of  our  burdens,  and 
then  think  of  the  soaring  charges  of  the 
laundry  men.  It  takes  almost  as  much  to 
ransom  our  collars  from  the  laundry  as  to 
ransom  a  rich  American  in  Mexico.  In  fact, 
only  the  rich  can  afford  to  pay  for  the  return 
of  their  collars. 

3.  All  this  might  be  solved  if  some  enter- 
prising manufacturer,  taking  his  cue  from 
the  return  to  overalls  and  wooden  shoes, 
were  to  put  a  paper  collar  on  the  market. 
We  wouldn't  laugh  at  the  wearer  as  we  did 
in  the  old  days  at  the  "masher," 

With  his  penny  paper  collar  round  his 

neck, 
La  de  da. 

4.  On  the  contrary,  we  would  welcome 
him  as  a  leader  of  the  overallists.  And  what 
might  an  advertising  age  not  do  with  the 
paper  collar.  If  we  are  to  go  in  for  econ- 
omy, why  not  let  out  the  back  of  our  neck 
as  a  paper  billboard?  The  nickel-nursers 
who  refuse  to  buy  a  paper  and  insist  upon 
looking  over  our  shoulder  might  be  content 
to  read  the  back  of  our  neck  and  spare  us 
the  wish  for  a  gas-mask. 

5.  But  on  second  thoughts  the  paper- 
collar  maker  might  also  become  a  profiteer 
and  in  apology  for  piratical  prices  tell  us 
about  the  high  cost  of  paper.  It's  a  sad 
story,  mates. 

Endeavor  to  find  why  this  editorial  has  the  non- 
personal  tone.  Is  it — or  is  it  not — explained  by  say- 
ing that  the  editorial  shows  detachment?  In  50 
words,  settle  the  inquiry. 

HIGH   PRICES  AND  PROFITEERING 

The  Country  Gentleman 

1.  Most  of  the  newspaper  reports  and 
most  of  the  news  about  prospective  govern- 
mental operations  seem  to  assume  that  our 
high  prices  are  due  wholly  to  illegitimate 
practices  in  trade  and  to  conscious  profiteer- 
ing. 

2.  That  there  is  profiteering  no  sane  man 
will  deny,  but  there  are  other  causes  for 
high  prices  which  ought  to  be  understood; 
and  not  all  trade  practices  that  tend  to  in- 


crease costs  can  be  called  profiteering.    Foi 
example,  prices  are  high  everjnvh^e  noW>_ 
as  they  always  are  after  a  war;  a  fafet  that 
is  due  largely  to  reduced  production  and  in- 
sufiicient  supply.     The  only  wonder  now  is; 
that  prices  are  not  higher  than  they  are  i>nd^ 
that  supplies  are  as  nearly  sufficient  as  thej' ' 
seem  to  be.  | 

3.  Again,  prices  are  high  and  will  con-' 
tinue  high  while  this  war  debt  hangs  over 
our  heads  unpaid — unless  temporarily  we  go 
through  a  period  of  depression,  and  if  we  do 
that  we  shall  likely  starve  and  freeze  like 
the  rest  of  the  world — for  this  debt  must  be 
paid  out  of  our  savings  or  else  out  of  our 
extra  earnings,  and  nobody  seems  inclined 
just  now  toward  extra  earnings. 

4.  A  few  months  ago  an  agent  of  a  pop- 
ular but  standard  watch  visited  a  retail 
jeweler.  "Nothing  in  your  line  today,"  re- 
marked the  retailer.  "Did  I  ask  to  sell  any- 
thing?" replied  the  traveling  representative 
of  the  company.  "I  am  here  to  buy.  I  will 
give  you  the  retail  price  for  any  watch  you 
have  in  stock.  We  cannot  fill  our  war  order.s 
and  price  is  no  consideration. 

5.  Let  us  analyze  this  transaction.  The 
company  was  out  picking  up  stock.  It  must 
pay  the  salary  and  traveling  expenses  of 
the  one  it  sent  to  find  the  watches.  The  re- 
tailer upon  the  other  hand  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  part  with  his  stock,  which  was 
also  in  demand — for  everybody  bought  free- 
ly during  the  war — unless  he  would  get  his 
usual  profits  or  nearly  so  at  least,  for  he 
not  only  had  his  gains  to  look  after,  but  his 
customers  to  serve  lest  he  lose  them  to  his 
competitors. 

6.  Here  now  is  a  transaction  perfectly 
natural  and  legitimate,  but  which  was  bound 
to  add  five  or  ten  dollars  to  the  cost  of  every 
watch.    Yet  there  was  no  profiteering. 

7.  The  same  principle  applies  to  food  but, 
as  with  watches,  only  when  the  supply  is 
low.  For  example,  a  retail  grocer  in  the 
same  town  with  the  jeweler  was  offered  a 
twenty-five  per  cent  advance  if  he  would 
cancel  an  order  for  canned  goods.  Here  was 
his  opportunity  to  get  his  profits  without 
handling  the  goods.  He  refused  just  as  the 
jeweler  did,  and  for  the  same  reason — in 
order  to  serve  his  customers. 

8.  We  cannot  get  away  from  the  old  and 
fundamental  fact  that  when  the  seller  seeks 
the  buyer  prices  tend  downward,  but  when 
the  buyer  seeks  the  seller  they  will  go  up 
as  sure  as  heated  air  rises  over  a  fire,  and 
no  power  on  the  earth  or  under  the  earth  or 
above  the  earth  can  prevent  it. 

9.  Another  fact  is  fundamental,  too. 
When  the  supply  is  short  the  buyer  will  seek 
the  seller,  and  if  the  buyer  is  hungry  enough 


STYLE  AND  MANNER 


11 


he  will  go  the  length  of  his  pocketbook  in 
closing  a  deal. 

10.  Of  course,  let  clear  cases  of  profiteer- 
ing be  prosecuted.  Nothing  is  too  bad  for 
any  man  who  deliberately  holds  up  supplies 
and  business  now,  but  even  this  will  have 
little  and  only  temporary  effect  upon  high 
prices.  It  may  keep  them  from  soaring  to 
impossible  heights  at  any  given  moment,  but 
the  only  final  remedy  for  high  prices  is  the 
one  The  Country  Gentleman  has  so  often 
emphasized,  namely,  increased  production. 

11.  Even  so,  we  may  not  expect  prewar 
prices  in  food  any  more  than  we  may  expect 
prewar  prices  in  clothing  or  other  commodi- 
ties. Not  only  that,  but  we  must  be  pre- 
pared for  relatively  high  prices  at  least  until 
our  war  debt  is  paid.  In  the  meantime,  let's 
all  go  to  work  and  be  as  sensible  as  possible 
under  the  irritating  conditions  that  always 
follow  war. 

This  editorial  has  the  manner  of  authority.  It  dis- 
cusses its  theme  with  quiet  assuredness,  such  as  would 
be  produced  by  clear  understanding  of  the  subject, 
adequate  command  of  data  to  make  the  matter  plain, 
and  confidence  in   the  soundness  of  one's  position, 

WITH  EVERYBODY'S  PUBLISHERS 

Everybody's    Magazine 

1.  How  seldom  we  read  the  names  Smith, 
Brown,  Robinson,  among  those  of  speakers 
at  a  Madison  Square  Garden  or  Central  Hall 
meeting  of  "radicals!"  Plain  Americans  are 
not  in  demand  at  such  meetings  either  as 
speakers  or  as  audience. 

2.  They  persist  in  a  disheartening  con- 
tentment with  American  institutions  and  the 
American  Constitution,  as  is. 

3.  And  yet — we  were  informed  a  few 
mornings  ago  by  our  newspapers  that  Madi- 
son Square  Garden  rocked  with  the  applause 
that  followed  reference  by  a  speaker  of 
Germanic  descent,  using  broken  English,  to 
the  privileges  "won  by  our  forefathers  at 
Bunker  Hill  and  Trenton." 

4.  Perhaps  the  speaker  was  a  Hessian 
and  the  privilege  his  forefather  won  was 
that  of  contemplating  the  rest  of  the  Revo- 
lution as  a  guest  of  the  Continentals. 

5.  The  Garden  must  at  times  suffer 
slightly  from  vertigo  because  of  the  amazing 
variety  of  the  forces  which  rock  it.  No 
sooner  had  it  attained  a  state  of  equilibrium 
from  the  Revolutionary-forefather  rocking, 
than  along  came  another  speaker — oddly 
enough  also  of  German  extraction — ^who,  ac- 
cording to  the  newspapers,  set  it  swaying 
again:  "6,000  in  frenzy  as  Blank  prophesies 
a  Red  Sea  drowning  for  forces  of  Capi- 
talism." 

6.  If  the  Smiths,  Browns,  et  al.,  an^  poor 
material  for  either  speakers  or  audiences  at 
these  meetings,  it  ought  to  follow  that  they 

3 


are  not  much  good  as  timely  and  judicious 
distributors  of  high  explosives  on  the  door- 
steps of  judges  and  other  backward  Ameri- 
cans in  high  places. 

7.  And  so  it  proves.  For  almost  never 
do  we  read  these  names  among  the  elite  in 
this  branch  of  elevating  both  the  standard 
of  citizenship  and  citizens  themselves.  The 
police,  piecing  together  the  fragments  in 
cases  of  poor  timing  by  the  distributor, 
usually  report  him  to  have  been  "of  a  dis- 
tinctly foreign  tjrpe." 

8.  On  the  whole,  then,  it  is  a  safe  as- 
sumption that  the  plain,  ordinary  American 
is  not  liked  by  the  alien  agitator  who 
strives  earnestly  to  make  obvious  his  dis- 
taste. How  earnestly  is  evident  from  the 
risks  which  the  agitator  runs  in  transport- 
ing explosives  here  and  there  where  dem- 
onstrations seem  to  him  imperative. 

9.  Under  these  circumstances  and  in  the 
face  of  such  convincing  proof  of  distaste  on 
the  part  of  the  agitator,  it  is  striking  testi- 
mony of  the  forgiving  spirit  of  the  plain 
American  that  he  refuses  to  return  distaste 
for  distaste,  refuses  to  rock  Madison  Square 
Garden  with  prophecies  of  Red  Seas  for 
alien  agitators,  and  never  by  any  chance 
enters  seriously  into  the  method  of  demon- 
stration by  high  explosives. 

10.  And  until  we  see  on  the  law  books 
an  immigration  act  which  shall  proportion 
the  admission  of  aliens  of  any  European 
race  to  the  number  of  that  race  already 
become  American  citizens,  and  until  we  shall 
see  the  deportation  of  the  highly  paid  Bol- 
shevist propagandists  who  are  now  domiciled 
comfortably  off  Fifth  Avenue,  while  the  sons 
of  mothers  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  are 
fighting  and  dying  in  northern  Russia  and 
Siberia,  we  shall  not  lose  faith  in  the  vaunted 
good  nature  of  these  plain  Americans. 

The  characteristics  of  the  editorial  tone  and  style 
are: 

Simplicity  and  directness  of  diction. 
Clarity  of  thought   and  treatment. 
Non-personal  attitude. 
Authoritative  manner. 
Test  this   editorial  for  the  presence,  separately,  of 
each  of  these  qualities.     Is  it  a  good   example  of  the 

editorial    tone    and    style?    (This    editorial    was 

printed  as  a  whole  page,  in  display,  with  typelines  set 
to  page  width,  in  the  Publishers'  Department,  preced- 
ing the  magazine  pages  proper.) 

THE  AMERICAN  LANGUAGE 

Fargo  Courier-News 

1.  Some  of  our  literati  are  worried  over 
the  remarkable  expressions  used  in  news- 
paper accounts  of  sports.  A  contemporary 
quotes  the  following: 

2.  "He  banged  the  sphere  on  the  nose  for 
a  complete  circuit  of  the  bags."  Then  he 
asks:  "What  would  Ben  Franklin  make  of 
that?" 


12 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


3.  The  answer  is  easy:  Baseball  was  not 
in  Franklin's  day.  He  would  not  understand 
either  the  game  or  the  description;  how 
could  he  ? 

4.  Other  instances  are  giyen,  usually 
from  the  sport  writers.  But  "we  should 
worry."  The  sport  writers  are  not  seriously 
creating  that  modification  of  English  which 
is  fast  forming  into  the  American  language. 
Most  of  these  writers  are  smart  young  men 
who  try  to  see  what  unique  and  expressive 
terms  they  can  utilize,  under  the  impression 
that  they  are  becoming  great  writers.  And 
like  the  summer  girls  or  the  shark  epidemic, 
they  pass  with  the  season. 

5.  Meanwhile,  did  you  ever  think  that 
language  grows  by  slang?  All  nations  and 
all  times  have  their  slang.  It  can  be  de- 
tected even  in  the  scriptures  and  in  the 
classics  of  most  ancient  times.  We  hold  no 
brief  for  slang,  but  it  is  almost  always  born 
in  the  effort  to  express  graphically  and 
sententiously  some  striking  fact.  And  after 
its  picturesqueness  has  brought  it  into  gen- 
eral use,  it  will  be  found  creeping  into  "good 
writing"  and  finally  in  the  dictionaries. 
Then  you  may  use  it  without  fear  and  silence 
all  objectors. 

6.  If  language  stuck  to  the  classics  it 
would  die — and  that's  exactly  what  ancient 
tongues  did,  and  so  they  are  classics. 

7.  A  robust,  vigorous  people  will  invent 
slang  which  describes  as  no  literary  term 
can  possibly  do.  And  as  ours  is  a  language 
which,  in  accord  with  the  piratical  instincts 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  appropriated  foreign 
terms  whenever  and  wherever  the  users  of 
it  chose,  it  ill  becomes  us  to  excoriate  those 
who  create  rather  than  steal. 

Comment  that  is  judicious  and  intelligent  always  has 
weight,  for  what  seems  sensible  carries  authority. 

THE  CHARM  OF  POE 

Oklahoma    City    Oklahoma 

1.  The  death  of  James  Whitcomb  Riley 
reminded  the  world  that  the  Hoosier  poet 
was  born  on  the  same  day  that  Edgar  Allan 
Poe  died;  and  that,  together  with  the  fact 
that  Riley  first  attracted  general  attention 
by  palming  off  some  verses  he  had  written, 
as  a  Poe  manuscript,  has  reawakened  in- 
terest in  the  tragic  bard. 

2.  A  strange  character,  Poe.  Sometimes 
it  seems  as  if  he  never  really  lived,  but  just 
played  a  grand  and  gloomy  part.  He  is 
recognized  as  the  father  of  the  American 
short  story,  yet  his  detective  tales,  after  all, 
are  just  detective  tales.  He  has  written 
some  of  the  best  known  poems  in  our  lan- 
guage, but,  despite  that,  his  verse,  if  musical, 
is  mostly  meaningless.  His  fame  rests  on 
the  bizarre  and  curious.  He  has  no  place  in 
the  cosmopolitan  fellowship  of  letters.     He 


does  not  compare  with  Whitman  or  Long- 
fellow as  a  poet,  nor  with  Hawthorne  as  a 
writer  of  fiction.  Nevertheless,  he  exercised 
a  greater  influence  on  literature  than  any  of 
them.  Browning,  Tennyson,  Swinburne,  all 
fell  under  his  spell,  as  did  also  Baudelaire. 

3.  It  seems  to  us  that  Poe  is  a  good  deal 
like  the  measles  or  whooping-cough,  without 
which  no  childhood  was  complete.  He  was, 
of  course,  an  adolescent  malady.  We  all  had 
to  have  our  attack  of  Poe  in  those  strange, 
longing  days  of  moods  and  mysteries. 
Those  days  are  gone.  "Nevermore"  can  the 
"Raven"  thrill  us  from  "that  pallid  bust  of 
Pallas."  We  sigh  no  longer  for  the  "lost 
Lenore."  But  once  we  did  thrill  and  once 
we  did  sigh;  and  for  those  memories  and  for 
all  the  mighty  host  of  Poe's  purple  dream- 
ing, we  *  recall  him  gratefully,  not  as  a 
writer,  but  as  a  wonderful  companion  when 
the  world  was  young. 

Another  w^ay  in  which  to  describe  what  we  mean 
by  the  term  "authoritative"  is  this:  Evidencing  a 
right  to  speak  by  displaying  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject and  ability  to  deal   instructively  with    it. 

YOUTH  AND  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

Portland   Oregonian 

1.  It  would  be  informative,  and  other- 
wise interesting,  if  we  might  have  an  in- 
quiry to  determine  the  reasons  why  the 
young  people  do  not  turn  out  to  Sunday- 
school  as  they  used  to  do.  It  is  not  many 
years  since  every  child  who  regarded  him- 
self as  anybody  in  the  community  of  chil- 
dren was  dressed  in  his  best  on  Sunday 
morning  and  posted  off  to  Sunday-school  as 
a  matter  of  course.  Quite  often  he  was 
fortified  in  advance  by  certain  parental  aid 
in  mastering  central  truths  and  golden  texts, 
to  say  nothing  of  Bible  verses  committed 
to  memory  in  the  spirit  of  competition  when 
not  of  reverence.  The  foundation  of  whole- 
some taste  for  Bible  literature,  and  in  par- 
ticular facility  in  Bible  quotation.  Was 
usually  laid  in  the  Sunday-school  of  bygone 
days.  It  is  not  surprising,  after  reading  the 
figures  just  revealed,  that  a  college  examiner 
should  have  discovered  a  few  months  ago 
that  out  of  twenty-five  Biblical  allusions  in 
Tennyson's  poems  submitted  to  a  class  of 
sophomores,  not  a  single  student  was  able 
to  identify  as  many  as  50  per  cent.  Famil- 
iarity with  the  Bible  is  on  the  decline  be- 
cause the  Sunday-school  is  on  the  decline. 
No  one  but  a  hidebound  atheist  will  contend 
for  a  moment  that  this  is  a  good  sign. 

2.  No  doubt  the  church  will  attack  the 
problem  and  solve  it  in  due  time.  It  will 
not  find  the  job  easy.  There  are  counter- 
attractions  innumerable  where  a  generation 
ago  the  Sunday-school,  at  least  in  the 
smaller  town,  had  the   field  practically  to 


STYLE  AND  MANNER 


13 


itself.  And  parental  authority  seems  to  be 
on  the  decline,  too.  Half  a  generation  of 
holding  the  public  school  teacher  responsible 
for  everything  that  happens  to  little  Willie 
begins  to  show  its  effects  in  other  places.  It 
is  up  to  the  adult  church-goers,  who  have 
just  swelled  the  membership  totals  for  1920, 
to  line  up  the  young  folks,  or  the  church 
will  be  in  a  bad  way,  statistically  and  other- 
wise, along  about  1935. 

Would  such  a  discussion  gain  or  lose  were  it  given 
a  personal  tone?  In  the  answer,  you  have  the 
reason  for  a  great  deal  of  the  influence  exercised  by 
editorial  writing.  We  instinctively  discount  what  is 
too  strongly  personal,  knowing  from  experience  that 
the  purely  personal  view  is  likely  to  be  narrow  if  not 
warped. 

Dallas   Morning  NeAvs 

1.  Literature's  debt  to  William  Dean 
Howells  is  manifold.  As  poet,  novelist,  es- 
sayist, critic  and  editor,  he  rendered  a 
service  of  indubitable  distinction.  Through- 
out more  than  half  a  century  he  maintained 
allegiance  to  the  lettered  arts  with  such 
jealous  fidelity  and  such  creative  power  that 
it  was  given  him  to  wear  from  his  noonday 
to  his  sunset  honors  that  have  been  con- 
ferred upon  few  men  of  letters  in  their  life- 
time. One  of  the  illustrious  few  who  held 
their  gift  as  a  trust,  Howells  wrought  with 
consistent  fineness.  Now  that  death  has  ad- 
mitted him  to  the  larger  company  whose 
labors  are  finished,  his  work  is  submitted  to 
the  testing  years  for  their  true  appraisal. 
It  is  the  novelist  who  will  exact  the  more 
serious  consideration,  who  will  command  the 
approval  of  students  and  lovers  of  literature. 
A  realist,  after  the  manner  of  the  modern 
Russian  masters,  he  wrote  with  a  clarity  of 
diction,  a  simplicity  of  style,  a  conscientious 
delineation  of  types,  a  keen  and  sympathetic 
insight  into  the  lives  of  the  common  people. 
It  may  be  too  early  to  accredit  him  with 
having  written  "the  great  American  novel." 
But  many  contemporary  critics  are  agreed 
that  "The  Rise  of  Silas  Lapham"  more 
nearly  measures  up  to  that  classification 
than  any  other  fictional  achievement  of  the 
long  day  in  which  Howells  labored.  To  his 
discriminative  judgment  as  an  editor,  first  of 
the  Atlantic  Monthly,  later  of  Harper's,  has 
been  due  the  rise  of  many  geniuses,  the 
enrichment  of  American  literature,  and  the 
maintenance  of  high  literary  standards  in  a 
day  when  a  flood  of  inconsequential  and 
sheerly  clever  things  threatened  to  obliter- 
ate them.  As  creator  and  critic,  his  impress 
upon  American  letters  will  endure.  Regret 
at  his  passing  is  for  loss  of  a  leader,  not  for 
what  he  might  still  have  written,  for 
Howells  was  prolific,  though  deliberate.  His 
was  a  finished  work,  a  finely  rounded 
achievement. 


To  attain  to  directness  and  clarity,  to  make  itself 
readily  comprehensible,  to  achieve  colloquial  ease  of 
expression,  must  an  editorial  descend  to  the  crude 
(even  though  picturesque  and  forceful)  language  of 
the  pavement  level?  This  simple,  cultured  interpre- 
tation of  Mr.  Howells  shows  us  that  "pep"  and  slang, 
excellent  as  they  are  when  kept  in  bounds,  and  in 
their  proper  place,  are  not  the  best  that  language 
offers,  and  cannot  express  the  best  there  is  in  thought. 

Chapter  I.     Exercises. 

1.  Examine  the  editorial  page  of  at  least 
five  newspapers  of  good  repute.  Note  (a) 
how  much  space  in  each  is  devoted  to  edi- 
torials, strictly  so  called;  and  (b)  with  what 
kind  or  kinds  of  matter  the  remaining  part 
of  the  page  is  filled. 

2.  Omitting  the  editorial  articles,  make 
a  list  of  the  classes,  or  kinds,  of  material 
found  on  the  editorial  page  of  each  of  the 
papers,  and  estimate  the  proportion  of  the 
total  space  of  the  page  that  it  occupies. 
(Included  in  this  may  be  letters  to  the 
editor;  verse;  cartoons;  the  humorous  "col- 
yum,"  such  as  that  of  "B.  L.  T."  and  of 
"F.  P.  A.";  other  department  stuff,  or 
regular  feature-department  articles;  special 
articles,  articles  of  editorial-correspondence, 
etc.  Study  the  entire  page  thus,  to  discover 
the  kinds  of  material  that  its  editors  deem 
closely  related  with  the  editorial  character 
of  the  page,  and  therefore  group  in  com- 
pany with  the  editorial  articles.) 

3.  Seek  the  probable  reason  why  each 
kind  of  article  has  been  thus  classified  as 
being  related  to  the  editorials  and  belonging 
on  the  page  with  them. 

4.  Estimate  the  length  of  the  longest 
editorial  on  each  page.  How  many  of  these 
contain  not  more  than  250  words?  than  500 
words?  How  many  run  to  1000  words? 
to  1500? 

5.  About  how  many  words  does  the 
representative  editorial  run  on  each  of  the 
pages  ? 

6.  Are  any  of  the  editorials  emphasized 
by  being  printed  in  type  different  from  that 
of  the  others?  by  being  leaded  out  (wider 
space  between  lines)  ?  Are  the  editorial 
columns  the  same  width  as  the  other  columns 
on  the  page?  as  the  columns  in  the  news 
pages?  In  what  other  ways  are  the  edi- 
torials given  "display,"  or  emphasis  to  the 
eye? 

7.  In  what  part  of  the  paper  is  the 
editorial  page? — the'  front,  the  middle  or 
beyond  it,  or  the  last  page?  Upon  con- 
sideration, which  of  these  positions  would 
you  pronounce  as  most  appropriate?  most 
desirable?  most  expedient  from  the  view- 
point of  making  news-stand  sales,  or  other- 
wise  increasing   the   circulation?      (Will   a 


14 


EDITOHIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


front  page  of  news  stories,  or  one  of 
editorial  content,  attract  the  larger  number 
of  buyers  at  the  news  stands  ? ) 

8.  What  difference  do  you  note  between 
the  editorial  page  in  the  Sunday  (or  Satur- 
day afternoon)  edition,  and  that  of  the 
same  paper  on  other  days?  How  do  you 
account  for  the  difference? 

9.  In  the  editorials,  how  many  sentences 
do  you  come  across  that  run  more  than 
25  words?  more  than  30,  40,  50?  Do  any 
of  the  papers  show  a  tendency  to  long  or 
otherwise   difficult   sentences? 

10.  Do  any  of  them  show  a  noticeable 
preference  for  short,  jerky  sentences? 
Examine  a  dozen  or  so  paragraphs,  and 
decide  whether  there  is  a  monotonous  ad- 
herence to  sentences  of  similar  form  and 
length,  or  an  agreeable  variation? 

11.  Run  down  one  column  of  editorials 
in  each  paper,  marking  all  the  words  that 
are  unknown  to  you,  or  that  appear  un- 
common. Can  simpler,  more  familiar  ex- 
pressions be  substituted  with  better  effect, 
or  without  spoiling  the  mood,  tone,  or 
manner  of  the  editorial? 

12.  What  are  the  ten  longest  Words 
that  you  notice?  Mark  the  words  and 
phrasings  that  lack  vitality,  vividness,  and 


force,   or  those  which  are  conventional   or 
worn-out. 

13.  What  are  the  most  effective  passages 
(one  sentence  or  a  few  sentences)  that  you 
note? 

14.  About  how  many  lines  (type)  do  the 
paragraphs  run?  How  short  are  the  short- 
est ones?  how  long  the  longest?  What 
difference  do  you  observe  between  the 
length  of  paragraphs  in  editorials  and  the 
length  of  those  in  books?  of  those  in  the 
news  columns?  How  do  you  account  for 
the  differences? 

15.  Compare  the  editorials  found  in 
weekly  journals  of  news  or  review,  of  na- 
tional circulation,  with  those  found  in 
daily  newspapers.  Jot  down  a  list  of  the 
differences  you  detect  between  the  editorials 
of  the  former  and  the  latter.  How  do  you 
account  for  them? 

16.  Write  a  compact  article,  in  the 
editorial  manner,  presenting  or  discussing 
these  differences. 

17.  If  your  material  is  too  much  for 
presentation  in  a  single  article  of  400-500 
words,  confine  the  first  article  to  differences 
of  mood  and  manner,  and  write  a  second 
concerning  differences  in  class  and  character 
of  the  subject-matter. 


CHAPTER    II 
THE  PEG-HUNG  EDITORIAL 


The  peg  as  text  or  as  starting-point. 

— Most  sermons,  even  of  the  ultra 
modern  type,  require — or  employ — a 
text.  Most  editorials  employ  what  is 
loosely  named  "the  news-peg."  The 
purpose  of  the  text  is  to  connect  the 
sermon  with  the  eternal  interest  of 
men  in  spiritual  truth.  The  purpose 
of  the  "news-peg"  is  to  connect  the 
editorial  with  the  current  interest  of 
readers  in  some  subject  of  contempo- 
rary prominence.  The  peg  usually  is 
indicated  at  or  near  the  beginning, 
though  a  different  plan  of  develop- 
ment may  lead  to  its  appearance 
somewhere  in  the  body,  or  even  at 
the  end,  of  the  editorial. 

Either  text  or  peg  may  be  the 
theme,  or  topic ;  but  often  they  serve 
merely  as  the  starting-point  for  the 
discussion — are  the  fact  or  idea  that 
serves  as  the  excuse,  or  better,  as  the 
justifying  reason,  for  saying  what  is 
to  be  said.  Hence  the  expression, 
"hanging  the  editorial  on  a  news- 
peg." 

The  interest  of  timeliness. — In  the 
designation  "the  news-peg,"  the  word 
"news"  is  meant  to  be  the  equivalent 
of  "timely." 

We  must  remember  that  the  vast 
majority  of  periodicals  wherein  edi- 
torial articles  will  be  used  at  all  are 
periodicals  concerned  largely  with 
subjects  of  the  day — with  current 
topics — topics  running  with  the  pres- 
ent. The  interest  of  these  periodi- 
cals to  the  reader  lies  largely,  some- 
times wholly,  in  their  present  timeli- 
ness; he  reads  them  because  they 
deal  with  matters  that  belong  to  the 
immediate  now.  Timeliness,  current 
"nowness,"  is  felt  to  be  almost  indis- 


pensable, at  least  in  their  news  col- 
umns— so  much  so  that  there  is  con- 
stant effort  to  make  even  technical- 
subject  articles  seem  to  have  current 
timeliness  by  hanging  them  on  a 
"news-peg"  or  writing  them  in 
"newsy"  form  and  manner.  This 
tendency  is  affecting  even  journals  of 
highly  specialized  sciences,  arts,  pro- 
fessions, and  industries. 

Need  of  timeliness  in  editorials. — 

The  demand  for  present  timeliness  in 
the  contents  of  the  news  columns  ex- 
tends likewise  to  the  editorial  col- 
umns. To  the  editorial  columns  read- 
ers turn  for  opinion,  discussion,  and 
interpretation  covering  those  matters 
which  are  for  the  day  or  the  hour  at- 
tracting attention ;  and  if  they  do  not 
find  there  what  they  seek — ^treatment 
of  the  current  topics — ^they  lose  in- 
terest in  that  part  of  the  journal,  and 
may  discard  the  journal  itself  for  an- 
other that  deals  in  more  "up-to-date" 
editorial  subjects. 

The  principle  of  practice  dictating 
that  the  editorial  shall  be  hung  upon 
a  peg  of  timeliness  is,  therefore, 
founded  firmly  on  accurate  psycholog- 
ical observation — on  a  study  of  the 
way  the  mind  of  the  reading  public 
reacts  toward  editorial  articles  that 
disregard  present  timeliness  in  their 
subjects  and  comment. 

Timeliness  the  chief  restriction  on 
editorial  ranging. — Readers  perhaps 
expect  eight  out  of  every  ten  edi- 
torials to  arise  out  of  and  be  closely 
associated  with  matters  of  current 
attention.  But  beyond  demanding 
this,  they  do  not  go  far  in  demands 
concerning  the  materials  out  of  which 
the  editorial  shall  be  built  up. 


16 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Once  assured  that  the  editorial  in 
some  way  deals  with  a  matter  that  is 
commanding  present  attention,  they 
incline  to  let  the  editorial  writer  de- 
cide for  himself  what  he  shall  give 
them  to  think  about  concerning  this 
subject — always  provided  that  he 
does  give  them  something  to  think 
about,  that  he  does  write  interesting- 
ly, and  that  he  does  not  offend  their 
taste — or  perhaps,  their  principles  or 
prejudice. 

Standards  peculiar  to  the  individual 
page. — The  assertion  just  above  is 
subject  to  one  important  qualifica- 
tion. Each  paper  has  its  individual 
standards,  in  accordance  with  which 
there  will  be  limitations  upon  the 
form,  the  manner,  and  the  range  of 
subjects  in  its  editorial  columns. 
Thus  the  editorial  page  of  the  paper 
gains  a  distinct  individuality.  No  one 
(for  illustration)  could  mistake  that 
of  The  New  York  World  for  that  of 
The  New  York  Times.  The  editorial- 
writer  must  learn  the  standards  pe- 
culiar to  his  paper,  and  conform  to 
them. 

Betraying  the  reader's  confidence. 
— There  is  something  a  bit  ludicrous 
and  a  bit  pathetic  in  the  way  in  which 
readers — even  the  well  educated — un- 
consciously accept  the  editorial-writer 
as  a  sort  of  superior  intellect,  a  man 
of  universal  knowledge,  an  infallible 
teacher,  a  human  encyclopedia  and  a 
seer  and  prophet  all  in  one.  It  is  this 
pathetic  confidence  of  the  public  in 
his  learning  and  judgment  that  at 
once  gives  the  editorial-writer  his  op- 
portunity for  good,  and  imposes  on 
him  the  sobering  obligation  of  an  ex- 
treme responsibility. 

A  misleading  assertion,  an  unsound 
conclusion,  on  his  part,  may  deceive 
and  mislead  hundreds.  The  circula- 
tion of  the  New  York  Times  is  be- 
tween 300,000  and  400,000  daily.  If 
but  one  reader  out  of  twenty  reads 
and  is  deceived  by  a  mistaken  edi- 


torial, 15,000  persons  are  that  day 
misled.  Certain  papers  sell,  or  say 
they  sell,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
million  copies  daily;  an  unsound  edi- 
torial in  such  a  paper,  if  read  and  be- 
lieved by  only  one-twentieth  of  its 
daily  purchasers,  may  mislead  50,000 
persons.  And  it  is  no  small  offense 
for  the  editor  of  a  country  weekly, 
with  a  circulation  of  800,  to  mislead 
forty  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  a  single 
week. 

The  art  of  the  timely  "slant."— 
Owing  to  the  demand  for  timeliness, 
an  important  part  of  the  skill  which 
the  editorial-writer  must  cultivate  is 
the  art  of  giving  what  he  writes  a 
timely  slant — of  making  the  reader 
perceive  that,  no  matter  what  the  na- 
ture or  content  of  the  editorial  be, 
the  editorial  itself  arises  out  of,  and 
at  some  point  or  angle  touches,  a 
matter  of  present  interest. 

Another,  and  perhaps  quite  as  sig- 
nificant, way  of  putting  this  assertion 
is,  that  the  writer  should  cultivate 
the  power  of  seeing  in  every  timely 
subject  a  variety  of  possibilities.     A 
few  illustrations  will  make  both  state- 
ments of  the  principle  more  clear. 
"^  1.  Current    trade-news    reports 
mention  a  decrease  in  the  amount 
of  dressgoods  manufactured.  Hang-  v 
ing  his  editorial  upon  this  peg,  the 
writer  may  discuss  the  conditions 
of  cotton  or  of  woolen  manufactur- 
ing; or  he  may  choose  to  be  hu- 
morous or  satirical,  and  take  a  shy 
at  some  contemporary  fashion  that 
dictates   short  skirts   and   narrow 
for  women;  or  he  may  elect  to  be 
didactic  in  a  moralizing  sort  of  way, 
and  point  out  how  "fashion"  reacts 
disastrously    on    industrial    condi- 
tions, and  thus  on  the  income  and 
welfare  of  the  laboring  classes. 

2.  Local  news  tells  that  the  men 
students  of  a  certain  university  are 
making  a  fad  of  collecting  hairpins 
picked  up  in  the  corridors  and  class- 


PEG-HUNG  EDITORIALS 


17 


rooms  and  on  the  campus  walks. 
The  editorial-writer  may  hang  on 
this  peg  an  editorial  considering 
the  psychology  of  "collecting," 
touching  on  such  objects  of  the  col- 
lector's fancy  as  "antiques,"  pipes, 
stamps,  old  or  curious  editions  of 
books,  weapons,  etc.;  or  he  may 
hang  on  the  same  peg  an  editorial 
ridiculing  the  silliness  of  such  a  fad 
on  the  part  of  young  men  who 
should  have  serious  interests;  or 
he  may  grow  reminiscent,  and  re- 
count instances  of  other  college- 
student  fads,  drawing  on  the  his- 
tory of  student  life  in  the  colleges 
for  his  material;  or  he  may  wax 
irate,  and  produce  an  editorial  de- 
nouncing the  flippancy  and  lack  of 
responsibility  in  the  present  gener- 
ation, as  compared  with  the  good 
old  times. 

3.  The  literary  news  reports  the 
publication  of  a  dictionary  of  new 
slang  and  other  terms  produced  by 
a  recent  war.  Either  this  news- 
report  itself,  or  the  mere  fact  that 
such  expressions  have  attracted 
general  attention  in  the  war-news, 
war-literature,  and  soldiers'  letters 
and  conversation,  is  enough  to  af- 
ford a  peg  of  timeliness.  On  this 
peg  may  be  hung  an  editorial  mere- 
ly enumerating  some  of  the  more 
interesting  instances  of  these  coin- 
ages; or  an  editorial  pointing  out 
how  other  crises  in  history  have 
produced  similar  important  addi- 
tions to  the  vocabulary  of  a  people ; 
or  an  editorial  yet  more  strictly  in 
the  way  of  linguistic  history,  dis- 
cussing the  enrichment  of  thought 
and  speech  through  new  develop- 
ments in  industry,  science,  and  the 
arts ;  or  an  editorial  on  the  univer- 
sality of  slang,  illustrated  by  ref- 
erences to  George  Ade,  Shakespere, 
and  perhaps  the  Ancients;  or  an 
editorial   on   the   imitativeness   of 


the  human  monkey,  or  the  speech- 
habits  of  the  human  parrot,  exem- 
plified in  the  way  we  seize  on  strik- 
ing and  novel  expressions,  and  use 
them  on  every  possible  and  impos- 
sible occasion. 

Unindicated  and  omitted  pegs. — 
Now  and  then  editorials  can  be  and 
are,  written  without  employment  of 
the  peg  of  timeliness  to  assure  that 
they  will  be  of  current  interest.  A 
good  many  of  these,  however,  have  to 
do  with  themes  of  perennial  interest 
to  mankind,  needing  no  extraneous 
fact  to  give  them  appeal — ^themes 
that  are  always  timely,  such  as  the 
rights  of  man,  problems  of  life  and 
conduct,  and  the  like.  Nevertheless, 
examination  will  show  that  many  edi- 
torials apparently  pegless,  in  reality 
have  a  peg  in  the  fact  that  the  public 
is  at  the  moment  especially  interested 
in  the  subject  they  discuss. 

A  few  make  their  own  interest,  by 
reason  of  their  own  vitality,  view- 
point, novelty,  humor,  or  other  qual- 
ity adequate  to  command  attention 
regardless  of  immediate  timeliness  in 
the  subject. 

Nevertheless,  even  though  an  edi- 
torial concern  The  Ice-Box  Moses 
Didn't  Have,  or  Woman  Fair  Woman, 
or  Why  Is  a  Joke  a  Joke,  it  will  gain 
in  its  power  to  command  attention  if 
it  be  linked  up  logically  (or  sometimes 
illogically)  with  an  aspect  of  current 
news,  current  thought  or  current 
feeling,  and  if  the  linking  be  plainly 
indicated.  Similarly,  when  the  edi- 
torial discusses  current  events,  it 
usually  gains  from  specific  reference 
to  the  particular  happening  or  fact 
that  suggested  it;  for  in  most  cases 
this  happening  or  fact  will  add  perti- 
nence to  an  editorial  even  of  broad 
and  general  discussion.  Indeed,  the' 
news-peg  may  be  indispensable,  as  in 
the  two  editorials  that  follow. 


18 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


NATURAL  LAW  IN  THE  PRINTING 
TRADES 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

1.  The  logic  of  facts  is  asserting  itself  in 
at  least  one  conspicuous  instance  among  the 
many  confused  and  confusing  industrial 
phenomena  of  the  day.  Sixty  magazines 
have  quit  printing  in  New  York,  and  many 
of  them  will  stay  away  for  good.  Their  de- 
termination is  the  immediate  result  of  the 
recent  "outlaw"  strikes  in  the  printing 
trades,  but,  no  doubt,  it  has  deeper  and  more 
continuous  causation.  Owing  to  labor  condi- 
tions for  some  years  past,  the  proprietors 
have  found  it  too  expensive  and  too  irksome 
to  carry  on  their  work  here. 

2.  By  their  exit,  the  morning  papers  say, 
some  three  thousand  men  are  deprived  of 
permanent  work  here.  They  must  either  go 
into  other  trades,  or  accept  partial  employ- 
ment where  they  can  get  it,  or  else  migrate 
to  other  cities.  The  alternatives  are  sad  for 
men  who  recently  had  fine  situations  at 
good  pay  with  easy  hours.  But  they  cannot 
complain.  They  are  simply  reaping  the 
fruits  of  their  own  action. 

3.  The  magazines  will  have  to  employ 
printing-trades  workers  wherever  they  go, 
but  by  scattering  they  will  have  to  deal  with 
less  powerful  unions  than  those  of  New 
York.  Probably  some  of  them  will  take 
their  printing  to  small  towns  where  there 
are  no  unions.  It  is  not  impossible  that 
they  may  effect  considerable  economies  in 
cost  of  output.  But  it  is  likely  they  care 
less  about  this  phase  of  the  question  than 
about  gaining  peace  and  security  in  the  con- 
duct of  their  business. 

4.  Perhaps  the  principal  public  interest 
in  the  change  is  the  demonstration  that 
natural  law  does  work  inescapably  in  eco- 
nomics. Its  operation  may  be  postponed  or 
suspended,  but  in  the  long  run  it  only  strikes 
with  more  crushing  force. 

JOHNNY  APPLESEED 

Lynn    (Mass.)    Item 

1.  A  modern  Johnny  Appleseed  is  now 
going  up  and  down  the  country  urging  the 
planting  of  trees.  Charles  Lathrop  Pack, 
president  of  the  American  Forestry  Asso- 
ciation, hammers  day  and  night  on  the  need 
of  a  national  forest  policy.  He  has  called 
on  the  timberland  owners  and  the  foresters 
to  get  together  on  a  fire  protection  policy  as 
the  first  step. 

2.  This  modern  Johnny  Appleseed  is 
reaching  thousands  where  the  Johnny  Apple- 
seed  of  legend,  who  marched  from  town  to 
town,  and  planted  as  he  went,  reached  only 
the  few.  Memorial  Trees,  Roads  of  Remem- 
brance, Victory  Drives,  all  planted  with  trees 


in  honor  of  the  men  who  offered  their  lives 
to  their  country,  have  met  with  a  remarkable 
response.  Women's  clubs,  churches,  Rotary 
clubs,  Kiwanis  clubs  and  patriotic  organiza- 
tions, to  say  nothing  of  individuals,  are 
planting  trees  in  rows,  groups  and  groves. 

3.  With  thousands  more  interested  in 
trees,  thousands  more  will  be  interested  in 
the  whys  and  wherefores  of  a  national  forest 
policy. 

Representative  editorials.  —  Em- 
ployment of  the  newspeg  and  of  the 
principle  of  timeliness  can  be  studied 
in  various  aspects  in  the  editorials  re- 
printed below : 

WELL,  irS  A  BEGINNING 

Worcester  Telegram 

1.  Hurrah,  and  Hurrah,  and  Hurrah,  and 
a  Tiger!  Standard  flour  in  Minneapolis  has 
had  the  second  reduction  of  50  cents  a  barrel 
in  its  wholesale  price  within  the  space  of 
seven  days.  Flour  is  now  only  $15.25  whole- 
sale. 

2.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  only  a  meager  $2 
a  barrel  higher  than  it  was  three  months 
ago. 

3.  Who  says  deflation  and  price  reduc- 
tions haven't  begun? 

Tfl.     Newspeg    ironically    stated. 

112.     Ironical   comparison.  ' 

1f3.     Ironical    conclusion. 

This  neat  little  peghung  editorial  is  also  a  good 
example  of  the  three-part  structure  (Ch.  Ill)  and  an 
excellent  iyustration  of  both  the  effectiveness  and  the 
limitations  of  the  satirical  manner.  It  especially  de- 
serves study  for  its  compactness.  (Try  it  without  the 
opening  sentence,  and  decide  whether  or  not  that  sen- 
tence adds  to  its  effectiveness.) 

SILENT  TEAS  FOR  WOMEN 

Providence  Journal 

1.  A  dispatch  from  England  announces 
that  the  experiment  of  silent  teas  for  women 
is  being  tried  under  the  auspices  of  the  wife 
of  a  distinepaished  church  official  in  that 
country.  AF  these  teas,  it  appears,  there  is 
no  conversation,  but  sacred  music  is  played. 
The  results  are  understood  to  have  been  thus 
far  indifferent. 

2.  What  is  a  tea  party  for  if  not  to  af- 
ford the  opportunity  for  cheerful  loquacity  ? 
According  to  one  epigram-maker,  this  far- 
famed  afternoon  function  is  sufficiently  de- 
scribed by  the  four  words,  "giggle,  gabble 
and  git."  That  is  not  quite  fair;  the  tea 
drinking  itself  is  an  important  part  of  the 
ceremony;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  silent  J 
teas  will  not  become  generally  popular —  ' 
even  if  pieced  out  with  sacred  music  or  any 
other  kind. 

HI.     Newspeg.  1(2.     Light  sex-satire  or  badinage 

of  the  good-natured  sort  that  is  always  being  ex- 
changed. (This  H  shows  how  a  more  or  less  serious 
point  of  view  can  be  expressed  in  persiflage.) 


PEG-HUNG  EDITORIALS 


19 


VANGUARD  OF  A  WELCOME  ARMY 

St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch 

1.  A  thousand  Irish  girls  have  just  ar- 
rived at  Ellis  Island  to  engage  in  domestic 
service  in  this  country.  Because  of  her  lim- 
itations, some  types  of  the  fellow  country- 
women of  these  girls  who  used  to  come  here 
to  assist  us  in  our  household  tasks  figured 
as  a  part  of  the  dramatis  personse  of  the 
humorous  papers,  but  after  all  they  were 
wonderfully  satisfactory  as  a  whole.  We 
know  them  and  are  habituated  to  their  ways. 

2.  The  thousand  new  arrivals  will  not  go 
very  far  in  filling  the  clamorous  famine  de- 
mand from  a  million  American  households, 
but  these  are  said  to  be  only  the  first  of  a 
steady  stream  of  Irish  girls  that  is  to  pour 
in  to  assist  others  in  home-making  at  cur- 
rent high  rates  of  pay,  and  presently  to  be 
home-making  for  themselves,  after  the 
fashion  of  Irish  girls  since  the  first  immi- 
grant came  from  Ireland  to  America.  In 
the  minimum  of  requisite  time  they  will  be 
voters  and  leaders  of  their  enfranchised  sex 
in  politics. 

3.  Let  them  come.  We  need  'em.  Let 
further  contingents  be  met  on  arrival  with 
bands  and  welcomed  with  ovations.  If  nec- 
essary, suppress  the  humorists.  Only  seven 
of  the  thousand  failed  to  pass  the  literacy 
test.  The  glorified  new  type  has  all-around 
competency. 

111.  Newspeg  and  beginning  of  comment  (strikes  fa- 
vorable "keynote"). 

112.  Continues  comment  of  interpretive  effept. 

^3.  Reaches  a  concluding  application,  none  the  less 
genuine  for  the  good-humored  exaggeration  of  its 
raillery. 

CATCHING  DRIFTWOOD  ON  SHARES 

Kansas  City  Times 

1.  Herbert  Hoover,  who  wasn't  born  yes- 
terday, rises  to  protest  against  the  United 
States  accepting  the  mandate  for  Armenia. 
Armenia,  he  says,  is  a  poorhouse  surround- 
ed by  solvent  banks.  Other  nations  have 
accepted  mandates  for  the  cotton  fields  of 
Mesopotamia,  the  copper  mines  of  Syria  and 
the  oil  fields  of  the  Black  Sea  coast.  They 
wish  the  United  States  to  take  charge  of  the 
poorhouse. 

2.  Which  merely  indicates  the  difficulties 
growing  out  of  sitting  in  the  other  fellow's 
game.  The  United  States  hasn't  cut  its  eye 
teeth  yet  in  international  politics.  Once 
your  Uncle  Sam  walks  down  to  the  seashore, 
somebody  is  likely  to  come  along  and  offer 
to  let  him  catch  driftwood  on  shares.  And 
unless  somebody  looks  sharp,  he  will  be  apt 
to  jump  at  the  chance. 

1[1.     Newspeg    stated.      The    news    is    interpreted    by 

means  of  analogy. 

f2.     Application  of  these  facts   to  the  situation. 


^1 


XTHE  SWIMMING  SEASON  OPENS 

Providence   Journal 

1.  For  most  of  us  the  waters  of  the 
harbor  and  bay  do  not  yet  look  attractive 
enough  to  tempt  us  into  a  swimming  suit, 
but  fifteen  or  twenty  youngsters,  we  read, 
opened  the  season  on  Friday  at  a  dowji- 
town  wharf.  "Gee,  it's  great!"  shouted  the 
first  boy  overboard,  and  he  was  soon  sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  sputtering  and 
splashing  lads. 

2.  There  is  no  youthful  sport  more  fasci- 
nating than  this.  There  is  none  for  which 
American  boys  yearn  more  impatiently  as 
the  snow  melts  and  spring  comes  back  and 
the  suggestion  of  summer  gets  into  the  air. 
What,  indeed,  is  there  in  the  way  of  outdoor 
pastime  for  any  of  us  more  wholesome  and 
satisfying  than  a  plunge  in  salt  water,  with 
a  blue  sky  above  and  a  place  conveniently 
near  where  one  can  loll  for  a  while  on  wharf 
or  sand?  May  good  Mother  Nature  have 
many  bright  days  in  store  for  us  this  season, 
with  just  enough  strength  in  the  sun  to 
warm  the- water  to  an  agreeable  temperature 
without  taking  off  its  invigorating  tang. 

^1.     Peg  of  local  human-interest  news. 

112.     Casual    reflections    on    the   subject,    ending    in    a 

wish   of  human-interest   appeal. 

NOT  SO  FOOLISH  AS  IT  SEEMS 

New  York  World 

1.  By  nominating  a  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent who  is  serving  a  term  of  imprisonment 
in  the  Federal  Penitentiary  at  Atlanta,  the 
Socialists  will  have  established  a  political 
precedent  that  is  not  to  be  held  in  low 
esteem. 

2.  There  are  great  and  obvious  advan- 
tages in  having  a  presidential  candidate  in 
jail  until  after  election  at  least.  For  one 
thing,  the  party  will  always  know  where  to 
find  him.  It  will  know  who  goes  to  see  him 
and  can  be  sure  that  no  campaign  pledges 
will  be  made  except  in  the  presence  of  the 
warden.  There  can  be  no  secret  promises 
and  arrangements  under  such  a  system. 

3.  Moreover,  the  candidate  himself  is  re- 
moved from  much  mischievous  temptation. 
He  cannot  make  rear-platform  harangues 
that  have  to  be  explained  away  the  next  day 
by  the  party  managers.  He  cannot  be 
dragged  into  such  a  muddle  as  Mr.  Hughes 
fell  into  in  California  in  1916  when  his  visit 
cost  him  the  State.  Nor  is  he  subject  to 
any  of  the  vicissitudes  of  a  Rum-Romanism- 
and-Rebellion  speech  such  as  defeated  Mr. 
Blaine  in  1884  because  he  forgot  to  repudiate 
it  at  the  psychological  moment. 

4.  A  candidate  in  jail  is  bound  to  stay 
put.  He  cannot  get  out  and  the  office- 
seekers   cannot   get   to   him.     Nobody   can 


20 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


heckle  him,  and  if  the  campaign  goes  wrong 
he  has  a  complete  alibi,  which  would  be  ac- 
cepted in  any  court  of  record. 

Ifl.  Keynote  H,  with  newspeg  implied.  (The  news- 
facts  have  been  cai'ried  prominently  in  all  the  news- 
papers.) 

l1f2-4.  These  have  the  effect  of  ridicule  hecause  they 
refuse  to  regard  seriously  the  action  involved.  At 
thte  same  time  they  satirize  party  politics  by  the 
ironical  assumption  that  having  a  candidate  who  is  in 
prison  is  better  than  having  a  candidate  not  so  re- 
strained. The  editorial  is  therefore  double-edged, 
cutting  two  ways  with  a  more  or  less  direct  contro- 
versial  intent. 

PROPOSING  TO  RIVAL  ROCHDALE 

New  York  Times 

1.  Up  in  Schenectady  some  employees  of 
the  General  Electric  Company — a  thousand 
of  them  are  interested  in  the  plan — have 
undertaken  to  duplicate  the  success  of  the 
famous  Rochdale  weavers  in  co-operative 
buying  and  selling.  In  theory  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  not  do  this.  Indeed, 
there  are  reasons  why  they  should,  or  might, 
be  even  more  successful  than  the  most  nota- 
ble of  their  predecessors  in  the  elimination 
of  the  middleman  from  between  consumer 
and  producer. 

2.  The  Rochdale  weavers  were  few  and 
they  were  almost  desperately  poor.  The 
Schenectady  men  are  numerous,  their  work 
is  done  in  far  better  conditions,  their  wages 
are  high,  and  in  the  very  beginning  of  their 
experiment  they  can  command  an  amount  of 
capital  that  it  took  the  earlier  co-operators 
years  and  years  to  attain.  The  idea,  too,  is 
entirely  practicable,  as  has  been  proved 
when  carried  out  on  a  large  scale  in  most  of 
the  European  countries,  including  Russia 
under  the  Czar. 

3.  But  Europe  is  not  America  and  Euro- 
peans are  not  Americans.  Hitherto  co-oper- 
ation of  this  sort  has  always  been  a  failure 
here,  sooner  or  later,  and  of  the  many  at- 
tempts of  one  form  or  another  that  were 
made  by  American  communities  back  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  reduce 
living  costs  in  this  way,  as  an  incident  in  the 
carrying  out  of  other  purposes,  usually  re- 
ligious, the  great  majority  ended  in  speedy 
disaster,  while  of  the  others  only  two  or 
three  now  are  lingering  like  pallid  ghosts 
on  the  very  edge  of  final  disappearance. 

4.  The  Schenectady  proposal  is  much 
simpler  than  those  just  referred  to,  as  its 
aims  are  purely  economic,  but  that,  judging 
by  the  past,  by  no  means  makes  its  pros- 
pects brighter. 

111.  Newspeg,  and  introduction  of  the  discussion. 

T|2.  Continues  the  review  and  comparison  begun  in  Ijl. 

is.  Sets  oif  opposed  facts  in  American  experience. 

^4.  Concludes  that  success  is  doubtful. 


PROSTRATE  BOSTON 

Kansas  City  Star 

1.  We  felt  it  in  our  bones  that  we  should 
hear  something  more  from  the  unholy  doings 
in  Boston  during  the  police  strike.  A  city  is 
not  so  soon  quit  of  its  sins.  And  now  sure 
enough  the  people  of  that  town  have  voted  to 
lay  hands  on  the  Common  and  dedicate  part 
of  its  inviolate  soil  to  the  uses  of  Tremont 
and  Boylston  street  traffic. 

2.  It  shows  something  serious  has  fetched 
loose  in  Boston.  The  fires  of  rebellion  still 
smolder.  A  little  while  ago  and  the  project 
to  dig  a  subway  under  the  Common  was 
strenuously  withstood,  and  could  not  be  car- 
ried out  until  the  plans  were  changed  to 
make  the  subway  twist  and  turn  as  tortu- 
ously as  the  streets.  On  no  other  terms 
would  Boston  permit  traffic  even  under  the 
Common. 

3.  Now  we  see  how  shines  a  naughty  deed 
in  a  good  city.  Once  permitted  to  show  its 
head  the  spirit  of  destruction,  although 
driven  back  growling  to  its  lair,  stalks  forth 
again  at  the  first  opportunity.  Nothing  is 
safe  in  Boston  now.  The  hitherto  docile  cod- 
fish may  turn  at  any  moment  and  bite  the 
hand  that  molds  it  into  cakes  for  Sunday 
morning. 

111.  In  this  editorial,  the  newspeg  is  used  merely  as  a 
starting  point.  (Allusion  to  a  recent  and  widely- 
known  set  of  events,  to  catch  interest.  It  also  helps 
in  the  irony  of  the  editorial  as  a  whole,  by  setting 
the  key.)  The  true  peg,  introducing  the  real  subject 
of  the  editorial,  is  in  sentence  3.  The  analysis  by 
paragraphs  follows :  Ijl-  The  peg.  The  topic  indi- 
cated. —  1[2.  Preparatory  discussion.  US.  Applica- 
tion  of  topic   and  discussion. 

THE  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY 

Boston  Post 

1.  United  States  experts,  after  a  careful 
detailed  study  of  conditions  and  production 
in  standard  factories,  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  an  eight-hour  day  is  not  only 
as  efficient  as  the  10-hour  day  in  industrial 
plants,  but  is  more  economical.  This  con- 
clusion was  reached  after  a  comparison  of 
the  results  obtained  in  similar  factories  em- 
ploying a  large  number  of  hands.  The  ad- 
vantages in  favor  of  the  eight-hour  day  or 
shifts  as  compared  with  the  10-hour  day 
relate  to  maintenance  of  output,  to  lost  time 
and  to  industrial  accidents. 

2.  These  findings  should  have  a  special 
interest  to  every  employer  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  an  official  confirmation  and 
endorsement  of  the  practicality  and  of  the 
equal  division  of  the  day — eight  hours  work, 
eight  hours  sleep  and  eight  hours  play — 
showing  that  efficiency,  the  one  thing  most 
desired  by  employers,  is  promoted  and  in- 
creased under  such  allotment.  The  eight- 
hour  day  may  not  be  considered  so  much  a 


PEG-HUNG  EDITORIALS 


21 


concession  as  a  creation  of  economic  condi- 
tions that  are  now  being  recognized  and 
put  in  operation  for  the  profits  that  such  a 
day  brings  to  all.  The  steel  industry  was 
among  the  first  of  the  big  corporations  to 
realize  these  results  and  nothing  could  in- 
duce the  m.anagement  to  go  back  to  the  old 
working  time. 

3.  With  the  report  made  to  Washington 
it  would  seem  only  a  question  of  time  when 
the  whole  country  will  be  placed  on  an  eight- 
hour  basis. 

tl.     Newspeg,    in    a    condensed    statement   of   official 

findings. 

112.     Presentation   of  brief  arguments  in  favor. 

iz.     Forecasts    establishment    of    the    principle. 

AN  OBSOLETE  FORMALITY 

Boston    Globe 

1.  To  appoint  Miss  Mabel  Stinson  town 
clerk  of  Winchester  after  she  had  served 
13  years  as  assistant,  the  Selectmen  are 
obliged  to  go  to  the  Legislature  for  a  special 
bill.  Miss  Stinson  has  been  clerk  for  the 
assessors,  for  the  tax  collector,  for  the 
auditor,  for  the  town  treasurer  and  for  the 
overseers  of  the  poor,  in  addition  to  her  reg- 
ular work,  and  in  the  absence  of  these 
officers  she  has  unofficially  donned  the  toga. 
In  order  for  her  to  be  appointed  town  clerk 
to  finish  the  term  of  George  H.  Carter, 
deceased,  the  Selectmen  find  they  must  push 
an  act  through  the  House  and  Senate  and 
have  it  submitted  to  the  Governor. 

2.  In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  a  Salem 
woman  has  been  appointed  probation  officer 
in  Essex  County  for  the  first  time,  Yale  has 
added  a  woman  to  her  faculty,  and  a  girl  has 
presided  over  the  New  York  Legislature. 
Everywhere  women  are  coming  into  their 
own.  Legal  impediments  in  New  England, 
however,  have  in  most  cases  obstructed  their 
progress.  Recently  in  a  Wyoming  town 
women  were  elected  to  all  the  offices. 

3.  With  the  inevitable  ratification  of  the 
suffrage  amendment,  women  will  advance 
more  and  more  into  public  life. 

4.  Massachusetts  laws  should  be  liberal 
enough  to  allow  Selectmen  to  appoint  a 
woman  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  without 
going  seeking  permission  from  Beacon  Hill. 

11.     The  newspeg  and  its  explanation. 

t2.     Mention  of  other  recent  items  of  similar  bearing. 

tTI3-4.     Conclusion    stated. 

A  JURY  OF  REPORTERS 

Boston  Herald 

1.  Four  reporters,  representing  respec- 
tively the  Mexican  newspapers  named 
Universal,  Excelsior,  Heraldo  and  Demo- 
crata,  by  request  of  Gen.  Obregon  are  to 
investigate  and  make  a  formal  report  upon 
the  death  of  the  late  President  Carranza. 
Of  the  competency  of  the  reporters  of 
Mexico  for  such  a  task  we  have  no  informa- 


tion, but  of  the  value  of  the  services  of 
reporters  in  general  in  establishing  facts  in 
the  midst  of  conflicting  stories  those  in  a 
position  to  know  have  long  and  justly  held 
a  high  opinion.  The  trained  reporter  who 
sees  an  incident  will  narrate  the  facts  with 
closer  fidelity  to  truth  than  the  untrained 
observer,  however  honest  and  intelligent  the 
latter  may  be.  The  experienced  reporter 
who  has  many  times  followed  tangled  trails 
in  search  of  elusive  facts  is  harder  to  de- 
ceive and  makes  fewer  mistakes  than  any 
other  investigator  unless  it  be  the  profes- 
sional detective.  The  reporter  learns  in  the 
first  years  of  his  occupation  to  keep  his 
head,  to  trust  the  testimony  of  no  single 
observer,  to  verify  and  confirm  whatever  he 
hears,  to  endure  and  to  dare  whatever  may 
be  necessary  for  securing  the  truth,  and  all 
the  truth,  with  respect  to  any  event  of 
importance. 

111.  The  news-fact  is  here  used  as  a  peg  on  -which  to 
hang  an  estimate  and  appreciation  of  the  ability  and 
efficiency    of    skilled    reporters. 

THE  RUINED  FORTRESS 

New  York  Evening   Sun 

1.  The  fortress  of  Helgoland,  whose 
great  guns  and  solid  concrete  battlements 
held  the  allied  navies  at  bay  during  the  war, 
is  now  a  mass  of  harmless  ruins.  All  the 
batteries  have  been  dismantled  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  harbor  works  and  other 
fortifications  is  proceeding  rapidly. 

2.  This  Gibraltar  of  the  North  Sea  was 
built  at  a  cost  of  more  than  $175,000,000, 
and  was  considered  impregnable.  So  for- 
midable were  its  batteries  that  the  possi- 
bility of  an  assault  upon  them  by  a  battle 
fleet  was  never  even  considered.  Through- 
out the  war  they  afforded  not  only  a  safe 
barrier  for  the  approaches  to  the  Kiel  Canal, 
to  Hamburg  and  to  Bremen,  but  a  base 
from  which  cruisers  could  go  out  to  raid  the 
British  coast  and  submarines  to  war  upon 
the  merchant  marine  of  the  world.  Helgo- 
land has  not  inaptly  been  likened  to  a  pistol 
pointed  at  the  head  of  Great  Britain. 

3.  As  this  grim  fortress  was  symbolic  of 
the  German  policy  of  blood  and  iron,  so  will 
its  destruction  be  accepted  as  a  promise  that 
the  old  Germany  is  gone  forever.  Its  black, 
dreary  shores,  its  ruined  ramparts  stand  as 
a  warning  against  the  ambitions  of  princes 
and  the  folly  of  militarism.  As  the  mer- 
chant vessels  of  the  new  German  republic 
pass  the  island,  while  plying  back  and  forth 
in  their  efforts  to  build  up  the  shattered 
prosperity  of  their  country,  they  should  see 
in  its  desolate  ruins  not  only  the  inevitable 
fruits  of  the  old  imperial  policy,  but  a 
promise  that  that  policy  will  never  again  be 
revived. 


22 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


111.  Newspeg.  Note  the  tone  of  simple  yet  impres- 
sive seriousness  here  and  throughout. 

112.  Development;  review  and  summary  of  facts  per- 
tinent to  the  subject. 

1f3.  Concluding  comment  of  interpretation.  Observe 
the  increase  in  seriousness  of  tone,  descriptive  vigor, 
and  depth  of  feeling. 

WHEN  BARNEY  WRITES  HIS  BOOK 

Columbia  Record 

1.  Bernard  M.  Baruch  is  bidding  fare- 
well to  Wall  Street,  and  while  he  has  not 
disclosed  his  plans  for  the  future,  New  York 
gossip  has  it  that  he  will  devote  himself  dur- 
ing the  months  that  lie  immediately  ahead 
to  writing  a  book  on  economics — more  par- 
ticularly with  reference  to  the  economic 
aspects  of  the  peace  treaty.  Well,  Mr. 
Baruch  can  afford  to  become  an  author.  He 
has  been  eminently  successful  as  stock- 
broker and  financier.  But  this  former  South 
Carolinian  who  now  commands  millions,  and 
who  became  an  international  figure  during 
the  world  war,  the  loyal  friend  and  personal 
adviser  of  President  Wilson,  has  not  always 
walked  a  path  bestrewn  with  roses.  When 
he  first  went  to  New  York  from  his  boyhood 
home  at  Camden,  there  to  seek  his  fortune, 
he  ran  errands  for  a  downtown  firm  for  the 
magnificent  salary  of  $3  a  week. 

2.  Mr.  Baruch  recently  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  having  reached  the  "peak  of 
unproduction  and  scarcity,"  the  nation  is 
now  "beginning  to  dig  its  way  oi|^  of  its 
troubles."  Which,  coming  from  one  of  his 
broad  views  and  exceptional  facilities  for 
forming  an  opinion  based  upon  actual  condi- 
tions as  these  exist  in  the  industrial  world, 
is  encouraging.  We  hope  Mr.  Baruch  is 
right  about  it.  It  is  about  all  we  have  to 
tie  to.  But  we  should  remember  that  eco- 
nomic changes  are  necessarily  gradual. 
Neither  Mr.  Baruch  nor  any  other  student  of 
the  present  situation  expects  any  sudden 
drop  in  prices.  Only  the  demagogue  politi- 
cian holds  out  any  such  false  hope. 

3.  If  it  is  true  that  Mr.  Baruch  intends 
taking  up  the  pen  as  he  leaves  the  stock 
market  to  round  off  his  career  with  the  book 
he  is  supposed  to  have  in  mind,  he  is  in  posi- 
tion to  contribute  much  valuable  informa- 
tion on  this  highly  important  subject.  As 
chairman  of  the  War  Industries  Board  he 
had  extraordinary  powers  in  the  industrial 
field,  saw  at  first  hand  much  of  the  wreck 
and  ruin  in  which  more  than  four  years  of 
war  left  Europe,  and  helped  frame  the  eco- 
nomic and  reparation  clauses  of  the  pact  at 
Versailles.  His  book  will  be  distinctly  worth 
while. 

UNewspeg,  to  which  is  appended  interesting  biographi- 
cal comment. 

1|2.  Citation  of  a  recent  opinion  of  the  person  men- 
tioned, about  a  matter  of  universal  concern,  with 
consideration  of  it. 


113.     Forecast  of  the  value  of  the  work  that  the  news- 
peg  says  is  to  be  undertaken. 

Mr.  Baruch  being  from  South  Carolina,  this  edito- 
rial in  a  South  Carolina  paper  may  be  regarded  as 
one  of  state-interest.  This  local  interest  accounts  for 
the  way  in  which  the  subject  is  approached  and  the 
tone  of  the  treatment. 

REMEMBER  ALICE  GARY 

Cleveland  Plain  Dealer 

1.  April  brings  the  hundreth  birthday  an- 
niversary of  Alice  Cary,  born  April  20,  1820. 
She  was  the  elder  sister  of  Phoebe  Cary, 
born  four  years  later.  Both  of  the  Cary 
girls  had  literary  aspirations — ^both  wrote 
poems  and  stories,  and  Phoebe  was  con- 
sidered a  famous  wit. 

2.  Their  father  was  an  Ohio  pioneer,  and 
they  were  born  eight  miles  north  of  Cincin- 
nati, on  a  farm  which  was  afterward  known 
as  "Clovemook."  At  the  outset  of  their  lit- 
erary careers  they  had  to  do  their  writing 
at  night  because  of  a  press  of  household 
duties,  and  candles  being  an  extravagance 
they  wrote  by  the  light  of  a  burning  wick  or 
rag  floating  in  a  saucer  of  lard. 

3.  Alice  was  eighteen  when  her  first 
poems  were  published  in  a  Cincinnati  daily. 
Presently  recognition  came  to  the  sisters 
from  the  outside  world — from  John  G.  Whit- 
tier,  from  Edgar  Allan  Poe  and  others. 

4.  In  1849  a  great  event  stirred  the 
sisters'  quiet  lives.  Horace  Greeley  came  up 
from  Cincinnati  and  called  on  them.  It  was 
the  finest  form  of  advertising  they  could 
have  received.  In  1852  the  sisters,  greatly 
encouraged  by  the  reception  given  their  first 
book  of  poems,  removed  to  New  York,  where 
they  lived  in  simple  style  and  yet  drew  to 
their  modest  home  the  most  cultured  charac- 
ters of  the  metropolis. 

5.  One  of  the  poems  written  by  the  light 
of  the  tallow  dip — it  is  credited  to  Phoebe 
when  she  was  18 — is  the  popular  "Nearer 
Home,"  which  begins: 

One  sweetly  solemn  thought 
Comes  to  me  o'er  and  o'er: 

I'm  nearer  home  today 

Than  I  ever  have  been  before. 

6.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  one  of  the 
first  trees  planted  in  1882  in  the  grove  in 
Eden  park,  Cincinnati,  where  the  custom  of 
planting  and  dedicating  trees  to  authors, 
statesmen,  actors  and  other  noted  persons 
originated,  was  the  Cary  tree. 

7.  Who  reads  Alice  Cary  now?  Perhaps 
not  many  people;  but  the  impression  she 
left  endured  for  many  years.  One  of  her 
best  known  poems,  a  favorite  with  public 
readers  and  juvenile  declaimers  of  forty 
years  ago,  was  "An  Order  for  a  Picture." 
Many  will  recall  it.    It  began: 


PEG-HUNG  EDITORIALS 


23 


O,  good  painter,  tell  me  true, 

Have  your  hands  the  cunning  to  draw? 
Shapes  of  things  that  you  never  saw  ? 
Ay?     Well,  here  is  an  order  for  you. 

8.  Both  sisters  died  in  1871,  Alice  preced- 
ing Phoebe  by  a  few  months,  and  both  are 
buried  in  Greenwood  cemetery. 

111.     Newspeg  and  introductory  facts. 
if2-4.     Summary  of  personal  data. 
15.     Mention   of   what   will   immediately   give    numer- 
ous  readers  a  sense  of   personal   interest   in   the  two 
sisters,  because  so  many  are  familiar  with  the  lines, 
either  as  verse  or  as  set  to  music. 

116.     Additional    fact    indicative    of    the    contemporary 
popularity  of  the  sisters. 

1[7.     Completion  of  the  brief  biographical  and  critical 
review. 

Like  the  editorial  concerning  Mr.  Baruch,  this 
editorial  about  the  Gary  sisters  is  strong  in  the 
element  of  state-interest    (home-subject  interest). 

CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE 

Indianapolis    News 

1.  What  is  termed,  in  California,  the 
"Japanese  menace,"  seems,  according  to  re- 
ports from  such  newspapers  as  the  Sacra- 
mento Bee  and  the  Los  Angeles  Times,  to 
have  aroused  so  much  opposition  among  the 
Americans  in  California  that  Governor 
Stephens  has  been  obliged  to  consider  call- 
ing a  special  session  of  the  legislature  to 
deal  with  it.  Owing  to  the  somewhat  un- 
defined relations  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan  as  to  Japan's  rights  and  inten- 
tions in  the  far  east,  the  question  as  to  how 
far  the  Californians  will  go  assumes  na- 
tional importance. 

2.  The  California  Japanese  land  law,  once 
believed  to  be  adequate  as  a  means  of  check- 
ing the  invasion,  has  been  cleverly  evaded 
by  the  Japanese.  It  is  reported  that  thou- 
sands of  acres  are  now  held  in  the  names  of 
infants,  and  since  the  Japanese  families  in 
California  grow  very  rapidly,  a  farmer  is 
often  enabled  to  hold  much  more  land  than 
he  can  hold,  under  the  state  law,  in  his  own 
name.  The  "picture  bride"  industry  has 
been  taken  up  from  a  new  angle  by  Cali- 
fornia women,  who  have  discovered  that 
these  brides  work  long  hours  in  the  fields  to 
the  detriment  of  their  health  and  the  well- 
being  of  their  children. 

3.  The  American  farmers  in  the  Imperial 
valley  have  been  all  but  driven  out  of  the 
cantaloupe  industry  by  Japanese,  who  buy 
what  land  they  can  and  lease  many  acres  at 
as  much  as  $50  yearly  an  acre.  By  working 
the  entire  family  in  the  fields,  Japanese  labor 
cost  is  reduced  to  almost  nothing,  and  the 
American  farmer  cannot  compete  with  the 
Japanese  on  anything  like  a  fair  basis. 

4.  From  many  persons,  who  maintain 
that  Californians  can  immediately  stop  the 
invasion  by  refusing  to  lease  land  to  the 
Japanese,  California  gets  no   sympathy  in 


its  efforts  to  put  down  the  Japanese,  but 
the  problem  cannot  be  solved  by  an  appeal 
to  state  patriotism. 

Tfl.  Newspeg,  with  explanation  of  the  importance  of 
the    news. 

112.  Explanation  ;  how  the  present  situation  has  arisen. 
Ti3.  Summary ;  the  results  produced  by  the  situation. 
i[4.  Why  the  situation  is  unnecessary ;  it  could  be 
remedied  by  simple  means,  but  this  remedy  will  not 
be  adopted. 

COLLEGE  COOKS 

New  York  Herald 

1.  Smith  College  always  is  original.  So 
are  her  alumnae.  It  is  announced  that  the 
women  of  that  institution  propose  to  become 
professional  caterers  for  a  few  weeks  and 
thus  solve  a  domestic  problem  for  the 
woman  who  can  afford  to  hire  a  cook,  but 
cannot  find  one.  The  Publicity  Committee 
calls  it  a  "flying  corps."  Why  not  call  it  a 
cooking  corps  and  for  those  few  weeks 
descend  from  the  accustomed  angelic  plane 
which  a  "flying  corps"  of  young  women  sug- 
gests, thus  fitting  the  sobriquet  to  the  work  ? 

2.  These  Smith  College  "flying  corps" 
will  be  formed  of  squads  of  three  alumnae, 
with  two  maids  on  each  team,  who  will  pre- 
pare luncheons  and  dinners.  The  difficulty 
as  well  as  frequent  impossibility  of  obtain- 
ing servants  and  caterers  within  reasonable 
cost  these  Smith  College  corps  will,  it  is  ex- 
pected, meet,  and  the  servant  and  house- 
keepina  problem  will  be  'Solved.  These 
young  •w^omen  will  serve  meals  for  one  an- 
other, taking  turns  as  hostesses  and  as 
cooks. 

3.  There  is  intense  interest  in  the  work, 
and  the  results  will  be  watched  eagerly,  not 
only  by  the  Smith  College  alumnae,  but  by 
the  greater  number  of  alumnae  of  the  hard 
school  of  modern  servantless  housekeeping. 
The  idea  originated  with  Mrs.  Mary  Ormsbee 
Whitton,  a  Smith  College  alumna  of  New 
York  city.  If  the  "flying  corps"  of  Smith 
College  will  help  solve  the  domestic  and 
servant  problem  they  will  go  into  history  as 
the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  race — at 
least  that  portion  of  the  race  suffering  from 
the  ills  of  modern  civilization. 

4.  It  is  announced  that  the  entire  returns 
over  their  expenses  will  be  turned  over  to 
their  alma  mater  for  her  endowment  fund. 

1[1.     Newspeg.  1112-3-4.     The  news  amplified  and 

interpreted. 

BLUE  JEANS  AND  CALICO 

New  York  Tribune 

1.  Birmingham,  Ala.,  has  an  "overall 
club,"  with  2500  men  bound  together  in 
solemn  league  and  covenant  to  wear  denim 
of  the  most  iron  kind  until  the  price  of  other 
fabrics  comes  down. 

2.  Passing  over  the  question  of  whether 
this  is  a  conspiracy  in  restraint  of  trade, 


24 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


and  likewise  passing  over  the  failure  of  the 
women  to  take  a  corresponding  oath  in  be- 
half of  calico,  it  may  be  remarked  that  no 
serious  deprivation  is  proposed.  The  Re- 
public waxed  in  the  days  of  blue  jeans. 
The  virtuous  and  vigorous  age  lasted  down 
to  the  consulate  of  "Blue  Jeans"  Williams, 
Governor  of  Indiana,  who  conceded  to  fash- 
ion in  the  matter  of  silk  linings  and  was 
willing  to  endure  a  swallow-tail  cut,  but 
insisted  that  the  outside  layer  of  his  habili- 
ments be  of  twilled  cotton. 

3.  To  the  governor  the  cloth  represented 
more  than  economy.  It  was  a  symbol  of 
equality  and  democracy.  The  insignia,  of 
the  hired  hand,  the  good  man  was  fond  of 
exclaiming,  was  good  enough  for  him  or  for 
any  man.  He  rejected  the  crinkly  seer- 
sucker as  the  entering  wedge  of  corrup- 
tion. He  believed  in  standardization.  As 
Henry  Ford  has  held  his  customers  could 
have  any  color  of  car  they  wanted  provided 
they  wanted  it  black,  so  the  great  Hoosier 
was  for  any  hue  in  clothes  if  the  selection 
was  blue. 

4.  The  effectiveness  of  the  boycott  would 
be  certain  if  all  would  join  in  it.  But  will 
there  be  numerous  recruits?  Comrade 
Krassin,  of  Lenine's  Cabinet,  bewailing  the 
failure  of  Russian  Communism,  remarked 
the  other  day:  "Life  has  shown  itself 
stronger  than  Communist  doctrine." 

5.  We  kick  at  prices,  but  so  strong  is  the 
pull  of  vanity  and  habit  that  we  are  not 
willing  to  live  simply  for  even  a  week.  The 
apparel  still  doth  proclaim  the  man,  or  at 
least  the  degree  of  his  material  success,  and 
we  want  things  often  for  no  better  reason 
than  that  our  neighbor  can't  get  them. 
Never  were  the  millinery  shops  more  crowd- 
ed than  in  this  year  of  great  grumbling. 

HI.     Newspeg.  112.     Consideration  of  the  reported 

matter   in    perspective   with    the   past.      (Observe   the 

tone  and  method  of  the  transition  at  the  beginning  of 

the  V) 

1[3.     Continuation  of  the  topic  of  1(2,  but  generalized. 

(The  closing  sentence   completes  the  thought   lightly, 

and  yet  with  descriptive  thoroughness.) 

114.     Consideration    of   the   news-fact   directly,    raising 

the  question  answered  in  f5 — v/hether   human  nature 

is  not  too  strong,  or  too  weak,  for  such  attempts  to 

succeed. 

US.     Suggestion  of  answer  to  114. 

SUBSTITUTE  "YES"  FOR  "YEHR" 

St.   Louis  Post-Dispatch 

1.  Kansas  reports  a  new  and  appealing 
kind  of  "drive."  It  starts  at  Concordia  in 
that  State,  and  is  a  "drive"  for  correct 
speech.  The  zero  hour  has  already  been 
passed  for  those  doubtful,  slipshod  forms  of 
speech  that  lurk  in  no  man's  land  as  well  as 
for  those  more  hopeless  and  vicious  forms 
that  are  intrenched  beyond  as  a  part  of  the 
line  of  the  insurrectionary,  outlaw  enemy. 


2.  What  more  agreeable  accomplishment 
is  there  than  the  ability  to  use  and  the  habit 
of  using  one's  mother  tongue  correctly?  It 
does  not  mean  stilted  speech.  It  does  not 
mean  that  highly  expressive  word  forms  are 
to  be  discarded.  It  does  not  mean  even  that 
all  slang  phrases  are  to  be  avoided  and  put 
far  from  us,  when  the  metaphors  of  such 
phrases  are  in  good  taste  and  have  some  pre- 
cision in  meaning  and  following  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  language.  English  is  a  living, 
growing  language,  not  a  dead  language.  But 
it  does  mean  that  barbarities  are  to  be  elim- 
inated, that  certain  simple  usages  governing 
the  relations  of  words  and  sentences  are  to 
be  observed,  that  words  invested  with  mean- 
ings to  which  they  are  not  entitled  or  which 
are  under  the  condemnation  of  good  au- 
thority, are  to  be  denied  a  place  in  the  indi- 
vidual vocabulary.  Unlike  most  accomplish- 
ments that  predispose  one  in  the  favor  of 
others,  this  accomplishment  is  easily  ac- 
quired.   It  is  within  the  reach  of  us  all. 

3.  May  the  barrage  begun  at  Concordia 
have  an  extension  along  a  continent-wide 
line  and  may  it  prove  appallingly  destructive 
of  the  forces  that  war  against  the  vitality 
and  resources  and  structure  of  our  splendid 
tongue. 

111.     First    comes    the   newspeg.      This    is    followed    by 

an  informal,  urbane  indication  of  the  subject. 

1i2.     Interpretation  of  the  purpose  of  the  undertaking 

in  question. 

113.     Expression   of  editorial  sympathy. 

COLLEGE  COSTS  CLIMB 

Providence  Journal 

1.  Amherst  College  has  increased  its  an- 
nual tuition  fee  from  one  hundred  and  forty 
to  two  hundred  dollars.  Trinity  College  at 
Hartford  has  made  an  advance  from  one 
hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
with  a  ten-dollar  increase  in  so-called  inci- 
dental fees.  This  makes  the  total  cost  of 
tuition  equal  to  the  new  Amherst  rate. 
Moreover,  Trinity  announces  higher  require- 
ments for  both  admission  and  graduation. 

2.  One  might  think  that  this  combination 
of  higher  tuition  and  better  scholarship 
would  react  to  Trinity's  disadvantage.  But 
the  college  has  so  many  applicants  for  ad- 
mission that  it  can  afford  to  choose  among 
them.  And  this  is  true  of  most  of  its  con- 
temporaries. The  increasing  cost  of  getting 
an  education  is  not  deterring  young  men 
with  minds  fixed  upon  college.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  would  appear  that  the  determina- 
tion to  win  a  degree  is  more  prevalent  than 
ever.  Reports  from  colleges  throughout  the 
country  predict  unusually  large  enrollments 
in  the  class  of  1924. 

3.  Recently  the  Presidents  of  nine  uni- 
versities, including  Yale,  Harvard,  Columbia, 


PEG-HUNG  EDITORIALS 


25 


Princeton,  Syracuse  and  Ohio  State  gave 
nine  hundred  dollars  as  the  average  cost  of 
a  year  in  college.  President  Hadley  of  Yale 
put  the  minimum  at  seven  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  dollars.  President  Hibben  of 
Princeton  submitted  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  dollars  as  the  lowest  possible  figure, 
while  President  Lowell  said  that  by  strict 
economy  a  student  at  Harvard  could  pull 
through  on  seven  hundred  dollars  annually. 
Chancellor  Day  of  Syracuse  agreed  with 
President  Lowell. 

4.  These  figures  offer  interesting  contrast 
to  the  average  of  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  dollars  as  computed  for  Brown  by 
Dean  Randall  seven  years  ago.  The  average 
on  the  Hill  today  is  between  six  hundred  and 
seven  hundred  dollars,  with  the  higher  figure 
probably  predominating.  But  knowing  that 
a  good  education  is  necessary,  if  expensive, 
and  with  opportunities  to  earn  money  toward 
defraying  costs  many  and  varied,  youth  will 
not  be  denied.  What  a  shock,  though,  pres- 
ent bills  for  tuition  and  necessities  would 
give  to  the  Brown  student  of  the  early  days 
whose  record  shows  that  his  four  years  of 
college  cost  him  not  quite  two  hundred 
dollars! 

111.  Newspeg.  (Note  the  collected  items  used  as  a 
peg.  111I2-4.  Additional  news-information  intro- 
duced for  survey  purposes. 

This  news  editorial  might  also  be  classified  as  one 
of  news-summary  and  comment  (Ch.  IV)  or  of  re- 
view and  survey    (Ch.  V). 

GETTING  TO  THE  LIMITS 

Philadelphia    Public   Ledger 

1.  Two  remarkable  addresses  were  made 
to  labor  bodies  in  Massachusetts  in  the  last 
few  days.  One  of  them  was  by  Frederick 
W.  Mansfield,  who  not  only  has  been  the 
counsel  of  the  Massachusetts  division  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  but  the  Dem- 
ocratic candidate  for  governor  three  times. 

2.  He  spoke  to  a  newly-organized  labor 
body. 

3.  "Strikes,"  he  said,  "are  a  relic  of  the 
dark  ages.  They  cause  untold  suffering  to 
workers  and  great  losses  to  employers.  The 
remedy  for  unrest  is  not  to  strike,  but  for 
employer  and  employees  to  get  together  and 
work.  While  I  do  not  say  strikes  ought  to 
be  forbidden  by  law,  I  do  say  the  unions 
ought  to  make  such  a  law  unnecessary  by 
voluntarily  agreeing  to  arbitrate  all  disputes 
where  the  public  would  be  seriously  incon- 
venienced if  service  were  stopped. 

4.  "In  former  days  the  employer  was  able 
to  dictate  whatever  terms  of  employment 
suited  him,  and  the  worker  was  forced  to 
accept  them.  Now,  when  the  worker  finds 
himself  in  a  position  of  power  because  of 
combination,  the  worker  in  turn  is  endeavor- 
ing to  get  all  he  can  from  the  employer. 


Labor  unions,  to  be  successful,  must  be 
honest,  honorable  in  intention,  their  objects 
lawful  and  praiseworthy,  and  above  all  they 
must  regain  public  respect  and  confidence. 
One  can't  deny  that  unions  in  the  last  few 
years  have  lost  caste." 

5.  The  other  address  was  made  by  Pro- 
fessor William  D.  Ripley  of  Harvard.  He 
was  speaking  to  the  delegates  attending  the 
Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers'  Conven- 
tion, held  in  Boston.  They  had  pledged 
themselves  to  demand  a  forty-hour  week  at 
the  present  rate  of  pay. 

6.  After  suggesting  to  them  that  they 
were  creating  conditions  which  might  oper- 
ate to  the  disadvantage  of  labor,  he  asked 
his  hearers  if  they  appreciated  that  today 
one-half  of  the  people  in  America  were 
schooling  themselves  to  economize  to  the 
limit  in  the  purchase  of  clothing  and,  in  fur- 
therance of  this  plan,  were  wearing  old 
clothes. 

7.  "Look  at  mine,"  he  exclaimed.  There- 
upon he  opened  his  coat  so  that  everyone 
could  see  that  the  lining  was  tattered. 

8.  Then  he  told  his  hearers  that  they 
might  cut  their  hours  and  get  as  much  pay 
for  the  shorter  term  as  for  the  former 
schedule,  and  the  manufacturer  might  add 
to  the  price  of  garments,  not  only  to  cover 
the  increased  cost  of  production,  but  to  add 
to  his  profits;  but  there  was  one  thing  as 
sure  as  anything  could  be,  and  that  was, 
the  public  would  not  buy  and  the  worker 
would  be  out  of  work,  and  the  manufacturer 
would  be  out  of  profits. 

9.  There  was  a  limit  to  public  ability  to 
pay  and  a  limit,  too,  to  the  public's  patience. 

in|l-2.  Newspeg  (incomplete)  ;see  115  .  1i1I3-4.  De- 
velopment of  the  thought  by  quoting  from  one  of  the 
addresses. 

f5.  The  other  division  of  the  peg,  1116-9.  De- 
velopment of  the  thought  by  means  of  a  condensation 
of  the  second  of  the  two  addresses. 

This  editorial  may  also  be  regarded  as  one  of  in- 
terpretation utilizing  news-summary   (Chs.  VI  and  IV). 

ANOTHER  CASE  OF  EVERYBODY'S 
BUSINESS 

Kansas  City  Star 

1.  Public  school  teachers  of  New  Orleans 
have  asked  the  school  board  for  a  50  per 
cent  increase  in  salaries  next  year.  The 
teachers  declare  that  if  the  increase  is  not 
granted  they  will  work  only  six  months  in 
the  year.  The  Kansas  Teachers'  Association 
last  Friday  asked  Governor  Allen  to  au- 
thorize a  bill  calling  for  an  increase  of  tax 
limits  in  school  districts  to  the  end  that 
teachers  of  the  state  might  be  reasonably 
paid. 

2.  Instances  of  this  character  are  of  al- 
most daily  occurrence.  The  one  big  question 
in  educational  circles  throughout  the  coun- 


26 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


try  today  is  the  imperative  necessity  of  a 
wage  that  will  enable  teachers  to  live  com- 
fortably and  a  wage  that  will  hold  competent 
teachers  in  the  profession. 

3.  There  have  been  slight  and  sporadic 
increases  in  teachers'  salaries  in  this  coun- 
try in  the  last  year  or  so.  A  school  board 
in  this  or  that  town  has  resorted  to  the  ex- 
pedient of  a  5,  10  or  15  per  cent  advance  in 
salaries  in  a  desperate  effort  to  keep  schools 
open.  But  many  schools  in  various  states 
are  closed  now  for  lack  of  teachers,  some 
have  considerably  fewer  teachers  than  are 
needed  and  many  others  are  being  conducted 
by  inexperienced  and  incompetent  teachers. 

4.  Everybody  concedes  the  teachers  ought 
to  be  better  paid.  School  boards  generally 
do  not  doubt  this  fact  and  declare  they  are 
doing  all  they  can  to  meet  the  emergency. 
Public  officials  and  legislators  generally  are 
in  favor  of  the  move,  too,  and  the  public  is 
sympathetic  toward  the  case  of  the  poorly 
paid  teacher. 

5.  Sympathy  and  support  the  teacher  has 
in  abundance;  but  he  has  not  the  needed  in- 
crease in  salary.  Every  fellow  seems  to 
take  the  position  that  the  other  fellow  ought 
to  see  to  it  that  the  teacher  is  decently 
paid.  And  so  matters  drift  on  while  the 
schools  decline  in  efficiency,  the  teachers  talk 
about  going  on  strike,  demanding  shorter 
hours  or  looking  for  other  employment.  It 
is  another  case  of  everybody's  business. 

Ifl.  Here  the  newspeg  consists  of  two  specific  in- 
stances that  are  shown  to  represent  a  general  situa- 
tion. 

112,  Announcement  of  subject.  1113-4.  Consid- 
eration of  pertinent  aspects   of  the  subject.   US. 

Conclusion  from  the  facts    considered. 

Chapter  II.    Exercises. 

1.  Run  through  fifteen  of  the  editorials 
in  this  book,  other  than  those  classified  as 
"peg-hung,"  and  determine  which  of  them 
reveal  a  "newspeg." 


2.  Do  the  same  with  the  editorials  in  at 
least  three  daily  papers  of  current  date. 

3.  Go  through  the  news  columns  of  a 
daily  paper,  and  jot  down  the  ten  best  pegs 
you  find  for  editorial  utilization. 

4.  Taking  the  first  five  of  these  pegs 
one  by  one,  set  down  under  each  a  statement 
of  the  theme  (topic,  or  "point")  of  the 
editorial  that  you  would  hang  upon  it. 
Compress  each  statement  into  a  single, 
definite  sentence.  To  this  then  add  a  clear, 
definite  statement,  how  you  would  treat,  or 
develop,  this  topic.  (Mark  the  word:  it  is 
how.) 

5.  Taking  two  weekly  journals  (such  as 
Collier's,  Leslie's,  Harvey's,  The  Outlook, 
The  Independent,  The  Review),  examine  the 
editorials  of  one  number  each,  noting  which 
of  them  are  and  which  are  not  hung  upon 
a  newspeg.  Is  the  peg  evidently  present, 
though  unstated,  in  any  of  the  editorials  ? 

6.  In  the  same  way,  examine  the  edi- 
torials in  representative  industrial  and  trade 
journals.  Make  a  memorandum  of  each 
peg  so  found;  i.  e.,  of  the  news  that  con- 
stitutes the  peg.  (This  will  be  mainly  news 
of  the  industry,  business,  or  trade.) 

7.  Do  the  same  with  representative  agri- 
cultural papers.  (Here  the  news  will  be 
mainly  that  of  agriculture  and  rural  life.) 

8.  Using  the  following  (fictitious)  news- 
item  as  a  peg,  write  an  editorial  of  300-400 
words:  Investigation  by  the  department  of 
journalism  of  Blankington  University  shows 
that  77  per  cent  of  the  editorials  published 
by  American  daily  papers  are  "hung  upon 
a  newspeg" — that  is,  directly  spring  from 
and  refer  to  facts  or  items  reported  in  the 
news  of  the  day. 

9-13.  "Write  as  many  of  the  editorials 
prepared  for  in  No.  4  as  the  instructor  may 
direct. 


i 


CHAPTER   III 


THE  THREE-PART  EDITORIAL 


Variety  and  range  of  the  editorial. 

— Whether,  excepting  fiction,  any 
form  of  contemporary  writing  per- 
mits more  variation  in  approach,  or 
more  non-conventionaHty  of  tone, 
than  does  the  editorial-article,  may 
be  questioned.  So  universal  is  the 
range  of  the  editorial  in  subject-mat- 
ter, so  unrestricted  is  it  in  choice  of 
treatment  and  impression,  that  it  will 
be  found,  at  one  time  or  another,  em- 
ploying now  exposition,  now  argu- 
mentation, now  narration,  and  now 
description,  perhaps  separately  and 
perhaps  in  combination. 

Moreover,  even  when  its  purpose  is 
manifestly  explanatory  or  argumenta- 
tive, it  has  recourse  to  all  those  con- 
tributory and  ancillary  means,  de- 
vices, and  methods  which  composi- 
tional experience  put  at  the  disposal 
of  the  skilled  writer.  As  "nothing  of 
concern  to  man  is  alien"  to  its  inter- 
est, so  no  kind  of  written  expression 
that  is  effective  in  discussing  the  con- 
cerns of  man  is,  when  ably  directed 
to  the  ultimate  purposes  of  the  edi- 
torial page,  alien  to  its  use. 

Instructional  function  of  the  edi- 
torial.— The  function  of  the  editorial- 
writer  (Mr.  Brisbane  has  said)  is  to 
teach,  attack,  defend,  and  praise — a 
partitioning  that  either  does  not  go 
far  enough  or  goes  too  far,  except  for 
purposes  of  popular  exposition.  From 
a  strictly  philosophical  point  of  view, 
it  in  truth  goes  too  far.  Ultimately 
(except  for  their  secondary  purpose, 
that  of  attracting  readers  and  in- 
creasing circulation),  the  editorial 
page  and  article  have  but  one  guiding 
function — that  of  teaching.  Attack- 
ing,   defending,    and    praising    are 


merely  particular  ways  of  teaching; 
and  even  what  at  first,  as  in  the 
casual-essay  and  the  human-interest 
editorial,  strikes  us  as  being  merely 
diversional,  proves  on  consideration 
also  to  be  instructive,  and  consequent- 
ly instructional.  This  affirmation  gives 
an  extremely  wide  meaning  to  the 
word  "teaching" ;  yet  there  is  a  legiti- 
mate sense  in  which  the  assertion 
clearly  is  true,  and  the  ultimate  func- 
tion of  the  editorial  is,  indirectly  or 
directly,  to  teach. 

The  inference  follows,  that  the  edi- 
torial will  oftenest  deal  with  directly 
instructive  subjects,  and  usually  in  a 
directly  instructive  manner.  Hence 
it  will  more  often  be  expositional  or 
argumentative  than  otherwise.  That 
is,  it  will — broadly  speaking — ^be 
propositional  in  method. 

The  three-part  propositional  plan. 
— We  may  therefore  assert,  though 
arbitrarily,  that  there  is  a  standard, 
or  type,  form  of  editorial  article ;  and 
our  assertion,  as  a  mere  generaliza- 
tion, is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that 
numerous  editorial  articles  not  ob- 
viously of  the  propositional  type,  are 
found  upon  analysis  nevertheless  to 
follow  the  general  plan  of  proposi- 
tional presentation. 

The  structural  plan  of  such  articles 
is  direct  and  simple.  They  consist  of : 

1.  The  annunciatory  beginning. — This 

announces  either  (a)  the  prop- 
osition, or  (b)  the  facts,  with 
which  the  discussion  deals. 
Often  the  annunciatory  begin- 
ning will  consist  of  or  include 
a  newspeg. 

2.  The  considerative  advance,  or  inter- 

pretive    amplification. — In    this 


28 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


will  be  found  the  explanation, 
discussion,     examination,     or 
other  consideration  of  the  prop- 
osition  or  facts.    This    stage 
lays   the   foundation   for   the 
final  inference  or  application. 
3.     The  conclusion  or  application. — This 
is  the  culmination  of  the  edi- 
torial, to  which  all  that  pre- 
cedes is  preparatory. 
Representative       editorials.  —  Ex- 
amples of  the  editorial  of  three-stage 
plan  are  easily  found.    Possibly  this 
plan  is  especially  common  in  the  so- 
called    news-editorial — ^the    editorial 
that  treats  its  subject  primarily  from 
the  viewpoint  of  news  (see  Chapter 
IV) ;  but  it  is  in  general  use  for  all 
kinds  of  editorial,  as  is  shown  by  the 
specimens  here  following : 

SETTING  UP  MILLIONAIRES  AD  LIB 

Manufacturers'  Record 

1.  Hardly  a  day  now  passes  in  Washing- 
ton that  some  member  of  Congress  does  not 
solemnly  announce  that  the  war  produced 
20,000  or  more  new  millionaires.  The  num- 
ber differs.    Some  fix  it  as  high  as  40,000. 

2.  We  have  repeatedly  pointed  out  that 
no  figures,  so  far  as  we  know,  are  available 
to  sustain  these  statements.  We  have  writ- 
ten to  man  after  man  who  quoted  them,  but 
none  has  ever  given  an  answer  that  means 
anything  at  all. 

3.  If  there  is  anybody  who  has  any  actual 
figures  and  reliable  statistics  on  which  to 
base  a  statement  that  the  war  created  20,000 
new  millionaires,  he  will  be  performing  a 
public  duty  by  producing  them. 

4.  How  far  does  a  lie  travel  ? 

fl.  Annunciatory  beginning.  (Observe  the  Vigorous 
mood  revealed  from  the  outset.) 
1f1!2-3,  Development;  refutation  of  the  assertion. 
f4.  Conclusion.  (Note  the  force  of  the  conclusion 
in  this  indirect  form ;  but  also  note  that  such  a  clos- 
ing form  would  fail  unless  the  thought  had  been  com- 
pletely developed  beforehand.  The  effect  of  1[4  is 
solely  that  of  emphasis.) 

WHAT'S  THE  MATTER  WITH  LABOR? 

New  York  Mail 

1.  It  is  said  that  in  our  motion  picture 
houses  seven  out  of  every  ten  persons  in  the 
afternoon  audiences  are  males.  Not  long 
ago  nine  out  of  every  ten  were  women  and 
children. 

2.  This  single  instance,  cited  by  Harold 
Roberts,  vice-president  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Copper  Company,  in  a  recent  address, 
suggests  the  answer  to  his  question,  "What's 


the  matter  with  labor?"  His  answer  is  that 
the  so-called  shortage  of  labor  is  really  a 
shortage  of  product,  through  a  decrease  in 
per  capita  production  and  an  indifference  to 
a  full  six-day  week  when  the  earnings  of 
half  a  week  suffice. 

3.  Consequences  may  be  mathematically 
stated,  using  Department  of  Labor  figures 
that  wages  have  advanced  over  130  per  cent 
since  we  entered  the  war  and  production 
fallen  one-third.  This  means  that  produc- 
tion which  costs  $1  before  the  war  now 
costs  $3.45. 

HI.  Preparatory  data  (drawn  from  current  news). 
if2.  Annunciatory  statement  and  beginning  of  de- 
velopment (material  drawn  from  same  source). 
US.  Development  carried  further  (by  means  of  ma- 
terial drawn  from  another  source),  with  a  closing 
sentence  of  interpretation.  The  intended  application 
or  conclusion  is  indicated  by  the  opening  words  of 
the  H. 

DESERVE  CONSIDERATION 

Boston  Post 

1.  In  a  letter  published  in  the  Post  not 
long  ago  a  bank  teller  pointed  out  the  fact 
that  clerks  and  minor  officials  in  our  banks 
and  trust  companies  are  for  the  most  part 
receiving  pay  not  much  in  advance  of  that 
of  years  ago,  and  that  they  feel  most  keenly 
the  mounting  cost  of  living  with  which  their 
salaries  have  in  no  way  kept  pace. 

2.  "When  the  employee,"  said  the  writer, 
"who  has  the  responsibility  of  handling  large 
sums  of  money,  receives  a  smaller  remuner- 
ation than  even  the  man  who  comes  around 
to  wash  the  windows,  it  is  hardly  a  fair 
proposition." 

3.  It  is  indeed  "hardly  a  fair  proposi- 
tion," and  banks  should  make  it  a  matter  of 
pride,  as  well  as  of  justice,  tcflsee  to  it  that 
men  in  their  employ  who  have  to  be  edu- 
cated, personally  pleasing  and  well  dressed, 
and  who  are  constantly  held  to  account  for 
great  sums  of  money,  be  paid  more  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  demands  of  the  time  and 
the  value  of  their  work. 

111.     Annunciatory   beginning.   1f2.     Development 

by    means   of   quotation,    restating   the   thought.    

1f3.     Conclusion. 

HOW  MANY  HOURS  OF  WORK  A  DAY? 

New  York   Sun  and  Herald 

1.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  to  a  Sen- 
ate committee  on  the  impossibility  gf  apply- 
ing rigid  rules  or  instantaneous  legislation 
to  labor  matters,  Mr.  Hoover  cited  the 
eight-hour  day  question  as  an  example. 

2.  That  is  not  a  matter  of  universal  ap- 
plication. In  some  industries  eight  hours  is 
too  long  a  day. 

3.  Nobody  doubts  that;  and  it  is  equally 
certain  that  in  some  industries  eight  hours 
is  too  short  a  day.  The  number  of  hours 
at  which  a  man  can  turn  out  the  largest 


THREE-PART   EDITORIALS 


29 


amount  of  good  work  without  unreasonable 
fatigue  must  be  determined  by  tests  in  each 
line  of  business. 

4.  In  Cleveland  last  October  the  thousand 
employees  of  a  large  machine  factory  peti- 
tioned their  employers  to  reduce  the  hours  of 
work  from  ten  to  nine  without  change  of 
pay,  agreeing  that  if  at  the  end  of  six 
months  production  was  found  to  have  fallen 
off  the  extra  hour's  labor  would  be  re- 
sumed. The  experiment  was  satisfactory  to 
both  sides.  Speeding  up  in  nine  hours  did 
the  work  that  once  took  ten. 

5.  Now  the  same  employees  ask  that 
their  hours  be  reduced  to  eight  a  day  and  a 
similar  six  months'  test  to  be  used.  They 
feel  that  they  can  do  in  eight  hours  the 
work  which  once  consumed  ten.  The  em- 
ployers have  consented  and  next  autumn  we 
shall  see  whether  the  workmen  have  over- 
estimated their  abilities.  The  only  risk  of 
loss  in  such  experiments  as  these  is  taken 
by  the  employer  when  he  agrees  to  a  test 
which  lasts  so  long  as  six  months. 

6.  Only  by  such  practical  means  can  the 
proper  number  of  working  hours  be  de- 
termined. 

tl.     Annunciatory  beginning,  hung  on  a  peg  of  news. 

112.    Transition  from  stage  1  to  stage  2. 

TI1I3-5.  Considerative  advance.  In  fS,  the  proposition 
is  restated  in  an  interpretive  form  ;  in  114  it  is  illus- 
trated by  means  of  a  concrete  instance  ;  in  115,  a  pro- 
posed further  trial  of  the  principal  is  noted. 
116.  Application  of  the  preceding  facts  in  a  conclu- 
sion concerning  the  desirable  procedure. 

WHAT  IS  A  PIKER? 

Worcester  Telegram 

1.  In  these  days  of  extravagance  the  an- 
swer propounded  to  the  question  "What  is 
a  piker?"  by  a  former  member  of  the  Stock 
Exchange  deserves  consideration  as  well  as 
attention.  The  answer  came  after  a  mo- 
ment's deliberation  and  reflection  and  was: 

2.  "A  piker  is  a  man  who  lives  within  his 
income." 

3.  Like  similar  answers,  it  has,  beneath 
its  light-heartedness,  material  for  thought- 
ful consideration. 

111.     Annunciatory  beginning.  1|2.     Stage  2.     The 

development  is  adequately  completed  merely  by  quot- 
ing the  definition.  113.    Concluding  comment. 

This  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  tabloid  editorial, 

A  HUMILIATION  AND  A  RELIEF 

Chicago  Evening   Post 

1.  _  It  is  humiliating  to  think  that  a  man 
considered  of  sufficient  eminence  to  qualify 
for  the  United  States  Senate  should  be 
guilty  of  the  offenses  against  the  laws  of 
his  country  and  the  ethical  standards  of  his 
time  which  have  been  charged  and  proved 
to  the  jury's  satisfaction  aganst  Truman 
H.  Newberry.  It  is  humiliating  to  think 
that  he  could  find  sixteen  men  of  prominence 
to  associate  themselves  with  him  in  a  con- 


spiracy to  debauch  the  electorate  of  a  great 
State.  It  is  humiliating  to  think  that  the 
conspiracy  succeeded;  that  the  State  suc- 
cumbed to  the  tide  of  dollars. 

2.  But  it  is  a  relief  to  know  that  the  con- 
spiracy has  been  discovered  and  exposed; 
that  a  jury,  after  hearing  all  the  evidence, 
has  had  the  courage  to  convict,  and  that  a 
judge  has  passed  adequate  sentence  upon 
the  guilty. 

3.  The  Senate  must  now  deal  with  New- 
berry. His  expulsion  should  follow  without 
debate  or  delay. 

4.  The  political  atmosphere  should  be 
cleaner  for  this  trial  and  its  result.  On  the 
eve  of  a  presidential  election  it  comes  as  a 
loud  warning  to  candidates  who  are  inclined 
to  put  their  faith  in  the  persuasiveness  of 
money.  It  vindicates  the  law  and  the  courts. 
It  encourages  all  the  forces  which  are  work- 
ing for  righteousness  in  democracy. 

HI.  Announces  subject  and  deals  with  the  first  main 
proposition  derived  from  it  ("It  is  humiliating,"  etc.)  : 
the  announcement  and  the  beginning  of  the  develop- 
ment are  combined. 

12.  Develops  the  reverse  proposition  ("But  it  is  a 
relief,"    etc). 

1f1[3-4.  Reaches  an  interpretive  conclusion  and  dis- 
misses the  subject. 

FIGURES  OUT  OF  LINE 

Breeders'    Gazette 

1.  The  truth  is  that  as  a  result  of  long 
years  of  abundance  in  this  country  a  level 
of  values  for  farm  products  was  established 
that  was  in  almost  every  instance  too  low. 
The  farmer  has  rarely,  except  in  war  times, 
had  as  much  as  he  had  a  right  to  expect  for 
his  wheat,  his  corn,  his  live  stock.  Bread 
and  butter  and  meat  have  been  the  cheapest 
commodities — relatively  speaking — upon  the 
American  market.  It  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  $20  to  $23  per  cvid:.  could  be 
maintained  as  a  price  for  fat  cattle  and 
hogs  after  the  war  emergency  needs  were 
met.  It  was  almost  certain  that  in  the 
easing  off  from  these  abnormal  levels  losses 
would  be  made  by  some  who  failed  to  take 
into  account  the  deflation  that  must  take 
place  when  war  drums  cease  to  roll. 

2.  Nevertheless  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  farmers  and  feeders  will  quietly  pocket 
their  losses  and  say  nothing  and  do  nothing 
by  way  of  protest  against  a  situation  in 
which  they  find  themselves  between  the 
upper  millstone  of  declining  prices  for  their 
products  (aggravated  by  railway  and  indus- 
trial strikes)  and  the  nether  millstone  of 
profiteering  prices  for  shoes,  stockings  and 
pitchforks.  The  old  ship  is  listing,  to  the 
exceeding  discomfort  and  distress  of  the 
hardest-working  element  in  our  American 
population,  and  it  is  nearly  time  that  the 
rest  of  the  country  woke  up  to  that  serious 
fact. 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


3.  Prevailing  prices  for  farm  products 
are  low  enough,  even  for  normal  times.  The 
next  step  is  deflation  in  other  lines  of  pro- 
duction. Liquidation  has  already  done  its 
work  in  the  field  and  feedlot,  and  it  is  com- 
ing to  the  other  fellow.  High  money  is  one 
thing  that  will  hasten  the  turning  of  the 
trick. 

Tfl.     Annunciatory    and    preparatory   beginning.    

T12.     Interpretive    (and    augmentative)    advance.    

^3.     Conclusion  and  application. 

This  specimen  reveals  the  employment  of  the 
3-stage  plan  in  an  editorial  that  is  one  of  a  group 
making  a  longer  editorial,  or  editorial  sequence  (not 
given  here).  The  opening  four  words  and  its  closing 
sentence  "lock"  it  into  the  sequence;  with  these 
omitted,  it  could  stand  as  an  entirely  distinct  edi- 
torial. (This  emphasizes  the  presence  of  plan  not 
merely  in  writings  as  a  whole,  but  in  their  con- 
stituent divisions  also.)  The  grouping  of  editorials 
into  a  sequence,  more  or  less  closely  interrelated,  is 
not  infrequent,  though  it  is  not  a  general  practice.  It 
is  more  characteristic  of  the  weekly  and  monthly 
reviews,  and  of  other  magazines,  than  it  is  of  news- 
papers. 

WHAT  LABOR  WARS  ARE  COSTING 

New  York  World 

1.  More  than  any  one  cause,  perhaps 
more  than  all  other  causes  ^combined,  labor 
wars  in  this  city  have  interfered  with  the 
erection  of  homes  to  hold  the  profiteering 
landlord  within  measure. 

2.  To  take  but  two  instances  now  fore- 
most in  the  news:  With  the  whole  world 
hungry  for  production  in  every  field,  a  re- 
sponsible body  of  labor  men  in  New  York 
is  demanding  that  the  steel  frames  of  a 
number  of  buildings  be  torn  down  for  re- 
erection  because  they  have  been  set  in  place 
by  non-union  men.  More  senseless  waste 
could  not,  outside  of  war,  be  imagined;  and 
directly  or  indirectly  the  cost  of  this  waste, 
if  perpetrated,  would  fall  upon  the  home- 
seeker  and  the  rent-payer. 

3.  Again,  though  urgently  needed  here, 
the  bricklayers  of  New  York  are  leaving  in 
thousands  to  seek  work  elsewhere  because 
they  cannot  work  in  the  metropolis.  While 
a  strike  against  employers  has  been  going 
on  since  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the  Build- 
ing Trades  Council  has  in  effect  boycotted 
the  bricklayers  to  force  them  into  joining 
the  council.  Here  also  the  chief  sufferers 
are  poor  families  who  cannot  find  shelter. 

4.  The  question  is  not  one  of  wages; 
these  must  be  high  to  meet  the  cost  of 
living.  But  at  least  builders  might  go  to 
work  with  a  will  on  houses  to  make  life  en- 
durable for  other  workmen.  In  times  like 
these  there  is  no  excuse  for  arbitrary  lim- 
itation of  work  or  product,  and  the  workers 
themselves  are  the  ultimate  victims  of  labor 
wars  that  mean  higher  rentals. 

111.     Annunciatory  beginning.  1112-3.     Considera- 

tive  advance,  consisting  in  the  discussion  of  two  rep- 
resentative instances.  f4.    Application  of  facts  in 

an  interpretation  of  the  consequences. 


A  RETURN  TO  WHISKERS 

1.  The  city  editor  lays  upon  the  editorial 
desk  the  startling  announcement  of  the  bar- 
bers that  "after  February  1  the  price  of 
shaves  will  be  25  cents  and  of  hair  cuts  50 
cents,  on  Saturdays  and  holidays  30  cents 
and  60  cents."  We  foresee  a  hirsute  genera- 
tion. 

2.  The  shaven  face  and  the  close-cut  hair 
have  become  so  characteristic  of  American 
men  that  they  were  among  the  first  things 
noted,  and  most  often  commented  on,  about 
our  soldiers  abroad.  But  they  are  the  product 
of  habit  only.  Long  hair  and  whiskered 
faces  were  just  as  much  the  fashion  for- 
merly; even  college  boys  cultivated  the 
flowing  lock  and  the  pilose  cheek,  and  ap- 
parently the  young  ladies  of  that  day  re- 
sponded to  the  capillary  attraction  of  the 
mode  as  readily  as  those  of  our  own  day 
respond  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  current 
fashion. 

3.  How  far  the  comparative  cheapness  of 
shaves  and  hair  cuts  contributed  to  our  na- 
tional custom  of  discurtation,  one  can  only 
guess;  but  with  the  price  of  the  barber's 
service  doubled,  there  is  small  doubt  that 
men  will  visit  the  "tonsorial  parlor"  less 
frequently  and  less  gaily.  Safety  razors 
may  do  somewhat  to  keep  us  bare-faced; 
but  the  men  who  henceforth  do  not  wear 
their  hair  longer  are  likely  to  be  bald- 
headed. 

Ifl.     Newspeg.     Announcement  of  subject   in  the  last 

sentence.   lf2.     Considerative    advance,    consisting 

of  a  look  backward.  13.    Transitional  clause,  lead- 
ing in  the  conclusion. 

This  editorial  is  a  "news"  editorial,  as  it  owes  its 
interest  principally  to  the  news-item  with  which  it 
deals. 

MONTANA 

Country   Gentleman 

1.  Montana  is  oar  third  largest  state.  It 
is  as  large  as  117  Rhode  Islands  and  con- 
tains more  acres  than  New  England,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Maryland 
combined.  Thus  it  is  a  young  giant — very 
young,  but  very  much  a  giant,  as  we  are  re- 
minded by  a  prideful  booklet  just  issued  by 
Charles  D.  Greenfield,  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture and  publicity  for  the  state. 

2.  Due  homage  has  been  rendered  to 
Montana  as  a  mining  state.  Its  stores  of 
silver,  gold,  copper,  zinc,  lead,  coal  and 
manganese  intrigue  our  interest  and  excite 
our  wonder,  but  we  must  now  begin  to  think 
of  Montana  as  a  farming  state,  Mr.  Green- 
field reminds  us.  This  is  not  because  the 
state's  crown  of  precious  metals  is  slipping, 
but  because  the  state's  topsoil  is  beginning 
to  be  worked.  The  state  threatens  to  snatch 
the  flax  leadership  from  North  Dakota.  Its 
potato  average  in  1918  was  135  bushels  to 


THREE-PART  EDITORIALS 


31 


the  acre.  It  ranks  well  in  sugar  beets, 
spring  wheat,  oats,  barley;  is  climbing 
rapidly  in  corn;  and  is  fairly  soaring  in  sun- 
flowers for  silage.  Not  counting  its  live- 
stock or  its  wool  crop,  the  state's  farm  prod- 
ucts totaled  $146,713,000  in  1918.  This  is 
more  than  the  yield  of  all  its  mines. 

3.  It  is  better  thus.  Mines  play  out  and 
are  abandoned.  Farm  lands,  properly 
handled,  are  practically  inexhaustible.  Mon- 
tana as  a  farm  state  will  be  a  more  solid  and 
safer  citizen  in  our  Union. 

111.  Annunciatory  beginning,  striking  the  tonal  "key- 
note."    112.    Developing  advance,  consisting  in  the 

citation  of   basic  statistical   fact.     Note  the   easy  yet 

vigorous  manner  of  expression.  US.    Conclusion, 

in  the  form  of  an  interpretation  or  "moral." 

UP  AND  DOWN 

Harvey's  Weekly 

1.  If  skirts  stay  up,  prices  go  down;  if 
skirts  go  down,  prices  go  up.  The  National 
Cloak,  Suit  and  Skirt  Manufacturers'  Asso- 
ciation has  thrown  down  the  gauntlet.  The 
Women's  Activities  Branch  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  has  taken  it  up. 

2.  The  Manufacturers  in  convention  as- 
sembled at  Cleveland  ruled  that  skirts  are 
to  go  down  this  Fall,  and  that  with  their 
descent  will  come  a  corresponding  elevation 
of  prices.  Edith  C.  Strauss  of  the  Women's 
Activities  Branch  of  Mr.  Palmer's  Justice 
Department  has  handed  down  a  decision 
that  skirts  and  the  prices  thereof  shall  stay 
where  they  are,  or  women  will  wear  their 
old  clothes.  "The  women  of  this  country," 
continues  the  Women's  Activities  author- 
ity, "can  prevent  this  increase  in  prices,  as 
well  as  bring  about  an  actual  reduction  of 
prices,  by  their  continued  sane  and  conserva- 
tive buying." 

3.  Of  course  they  can.  Their  husbands, 
fathers  and  brothers  have  been  digging  up 
and  wearing  their  garments  of  ante-bellum 
vintage.  A  distinguished  United  States 
Senator,  Mr.  Thomas  of  Colorado,  pointed 
with  pride  in  the  Senate  Chamber  itself  the 
other  day  to  his  patched  clothes  and  to  his 
four-year-old  shoes.  While  not  yet  abso- 
lutely de  rigueur  in  man's  attire,  patches 
bid  fair  to  become  selective  badges  of  dis- 
tinction. And  if  the  Women's  Activities 
Branch  of  the  Department  of  Justice  should 
join  in  the  great  masculine  Old  Clo'  Move- 
ment, and  go  in  strong  for  reefed  skirts,  the 
crash  of  tumbling  prices  this  Fall  will  be 
heard  above  all  the  election  uproar. 

HI.  Annunciatory  beginning  (incomplete ;  see  news- 
peg  in  |2).  The  H  sets  the  tone  of  the  editorial — 
serious  at  bottom,  but  not  too  serious  in  manner. 

112.  Interpretive  advance  by  means  of  summary  of 
the    news-facts. 

K3.  Additional  facts,  ending  in  an  approving  conclu- 
;»ion — still  semi-serious,  although  lightly  phrased. 


APOTHEOSIS  OF  THE  CORNCOB 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  America  produces  around  two  and  a 
half  billion  bushels  of  corn  each  year,  and 
fully  an  equal  amount  of  cobs.  For  the  corn 
much  use  has  been  found,  although  its  juice 
no  longer  is  extracted,  distilled  and  doctored 
up  to  befuddle  the  brain  and  excite  the  pas- 
sions. The  cob  yet  remains  almost  exclu- 
sively a  waste  product,  despite  the  limited 
service  that  comes  from  the  "Missouri 
meerschaum,"  and  the  inconsequential  fuel 
supply  developed  from  the  pile  around  the 
sheller.  Now,  however,  the  chemist  has  been 
making  close  inquiry  into  the  corncob,  and 
finds  it  useful  in  the  dye  industry.  Various 
chemical  substances  essentially  necessary  in 
the  process  of  making  colors  fast  and 
furious,  establishing  qualities  of  permanence 
and  brilliance,  are  found  in  the  cob.  One  of 
these  substances  now  being  supplied  at  $17 
a  pound  can  be  extracted  from  the  corncob 
and  sold  at  a  profit  for  15  cents  a  pound.  It 
sounds  too  good  to  be  true,  but  the  chemists 
now  in  conclave  at  St.  Louis  solemnly  as- 
severate that  it  is  true.  So  science  has 
added  another  triumph  by  discovering  serv- 
ice in  waste,  and  a  use  is  found  for  some- 
thing that  has  hitherto  been  only  in  the  way. 
The  railroads  may  yet  be  required  to  devise 
special  cars  to  haul  the  cobs  to  market,  and 
maybe  the  time  will  come  when  the  shelled 
corn  will  be  piled  carelessly  on  the  ground, 
while  the  precious  cob  will  be  carefully 
stored  under  cover.  It  is  a  topsy-turvy  day, 
you  know. 

Sentences  1-4  announce  the  subject.  Succeeding 
sentences  develop  the  thought  by  citing  recently 
evolved  processes  for  utilizing  cobs.  A  third  group 
of  sentences  offers  concluding  remarks  of  a  discursive 
yet  pertinent  nature. 

This  editorial  is  not  in  itself  too  long  for  printing 
in  a  single  If.  Nevertheless,  many  papers  would  sep- 
arate it  into  two  or  three,  using  the  journalistic 
rather  than  the  literary,  or  book,  standard  of  length. 
The  standard  newspaper  column  is  narrow,  usually 
permitting  not  more  than  6,  7  or  8  words  to  the  line. 
Hence  a  If  that  occupies  15  lines  on  a  book-page 
may  occupy  25  or  30  lines  in  a  newspaper,  and  (con- 
sequently) appear  long  and  repellent  to  the  eye 
trained  to  the  mere  cut-and-take  If. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  HAS  SURREN- 
DERED TO  THE  MAN  WHO 
WON'T  WORK 

New  York  Sun 

1.  Because  of  the  longshoremen's  strike 
the  Postoffice  Department  threw  up  its 
hands  and  quit  its  job  of  moving  the  foreign 
mails.  Letters,  periodicals,  parcels,  the 
postage  on  which  has  been  prepaid  and  de- 
livery of  which  the  Postoffice  has  contracted 
to  undertake,  lie  on  the  piers,  awaiting  the 
hour  when  men  who  don't  want  to  work  for 
the  pay  offered  to  them  will  allow  men  who 
do  want  to  work  to  get  on  the  job. 


32 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


2.  The  Government  of  the  United  States 
found  the  mails  obstructed  at  Chicago  in 
the  railway  strike  of  1894,  The  administra- 
tion of  the  Executive  Department  of  the 
Government  in  that  year  was  in  the  hands 
of  Grover  Cleveland.  He  sent  soldiers  to 
Chicago  to  protect  the  men  who  wanted  to 
work  from  the  men  who  did  not  want  them  to 
work.  Under  the  protection  of  the  soldiers 
the  mails  were  moved.  The  public  service 
that  violence  had  halted  was  resumed.  The 
supremacy  of  the  law  was  upheld. 

3.  The  Executive  Department  of  the 
United  States  Government  today  does  not  do 
what  Grover  Cleveland  did.  When  the  peace 
of  the  country  is  disturbed  it  does  not  seek 
to  defend  it.  It  lies  down.  When  it  lies 
down  the  law  is  powerless,  the  agents  of  the 
law  are  paralyzed,  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment ceases  to  function. 

4.  The  weakness  is  in  the  Administra- 
tion. It  has  all  the  authority  and  all  the 
power  6f  the  Government  at  its  hand,  but 
does  not  use  them.  The  Administration  has 
surrendered  to  the  disorderly,  and  the  Gov- 
ernment is  made  helpless  by  its  surrender. 

Ifl.     Annunciatory  beginning.  1I1I2-3.     Considera- 

tive   advance,    comparing  past   courses  of  action    (112) 
with  those  of  the  present  (US).  1,4.    Conclusion. 

FARMS  DESERTED 


In  Vermont  Also  Scarcity  of  Labor  Makes 
Crops  Uncertain 

1.  To  The  Sun  and  New  York  Herald: 
I  note  the  letter  "Farmers  Are  Quitting," 
and  also  other  letters  treating  of  the  same 
topic.  Allow  me  to  say  similar  conditions 
prevail  in  New  England. 

2.  Men  who  can  perform  only  unskilled 
work  ask  $3  and  $4  for  a  short  day — even 
more  in  haying  and  harvesting  periods — 
and  refuse  to  do  the  chores  night  and  morn- 
ing or  to  help  get  under  cover  a  load  of  hay 
after  5  p.  m.,  even  if  rain  threatens. 

3.  Last  year  acres  of  grass  in  Vermont 
and  quantities  of  potatoes  in  Maine  •  were 
ruined  for  lack  of  laborers,  and  today  pota- 
toes are  soaring.  In  the  working  hours 
these  men  do  as  little  as  possible.  When  not 
working  they  smoke  and  gossip. 

4.  Last  summer  New  England  was  cry- 
ing for  men  to  work  in  field  and  orchard 
while  at  that  very  time  many  a  soldier  boy 
was  walking  city  streets  searching  for  a  job 
exactly  to  his  mind,  when  he  could  have  had 
healthful  work,  with  good  food  and  wages, 
in  the  country,  perhaps  finding  also  an 
agreeable  place  to  locate  for  life. 

5.  When  the  war  was  on  New  England 
women  were  glad  to  plant,  dig,  pick  up  and 
store  potatoes  and  do  many  other  hard 
stunts,  and  Western  women  to  handle  the 


heavy  ranch  jobs.  They  are  less  keen  now 
to  do  these  things.  Yet  they  are  obliged  to 
do  them  because  of  the  preposterous  attitude 
of  labor. 

6.  I  believe  the  American  Legion,  acting 
promptly,  could  go  over  the  top  once  again 
and  stop  the  exodus  from  the  farms,  a  move- 
ment surely  gaining  headway,  and  with 
neighborhood  tractors  and  other  co-opera- 
tive plans  could  put  a  new  face  on  the  labor 
problem  of  the  farms,  whose  operation  is 
vital  to  the  nation. 

Vermont  Woman. 

Ifl.     Annunciatory   beginning.  1I1I2-5.     Considera- 

tive  advance ;  comparative  summary  of  conditions  else- 
where.    116.  Conclusion  in  the  form  of  a  sugges- 
tion of  practical  purpose. 

The  Letters  to  the  Editor — printed  by  nearly  all 
newspapers — include  much  that  is  crude  and  illogical. 
Indeed,  the  editor  sometimes  prints  such  letters  solely 
because  they  are  humorous  unawares,  or  because 
their  crudity,  weak  logic,  or  violence  tacitly  reveal 
the  intellectual  "caliber"  of  those  who  support  or 
attack  some  particular  measure ;  for  ridiculous  sup- 
port throws  ridicule  or  doubt  upon  the  thing  sup- 
ported. On  the  other  hand,  as  in  this  specimen,  no 
small  amount  of  keen,  sensible  thought  expressed  in 
good  and  sometimes  excellent  form,  will  be  found  in 
the  Letters-from-Readers  department.  Nearly  all  such 
letters  are  editorial  in  nature. 

THE  LAW  OF  SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND 

New   Haven    Journal-Courier 

1.  The  Springfield  Republican  makes  this 
illuminating  comment:  "The  'overalls  clubs' 
forming  in  the  South  as  a  protest  against 
the  high  cost  of  clothes  have  sent  the  high 
cost  of  overalls  to  the  sky,  and  the  move- 
ment will  have  to  retire  to  a  previously  pre- 
pared position." 

2.  The  obvious  purpose  of  these  overalls 
clubs  was  to  bring  down  the  price  of  regular 
clothing.  Before  this  object  could  be  at- 
tained the  price  of  overalls  reached  a  figure 
that  ruined  the  clubs'  prospects.  The  un- 
precedented demands  upon  the  overalls  trade 
created  a  scarcity  of  them  and  sent  their 
value  soaring.  Without  the  most  careful 
and  painstaking  precautions  it  should  have 
been  seen  by  these  reformers  that  only  one 
result  could  be  reached  and  that  the  one 
that  has  been  reached.  High  prices  cannot 
be  overcome  this  way.  They  have  a  way  of 
transferring  themselves  with  amazing  swift- 
ness, as  was  seen  in  this  case.  The  mo- 
ment overalls  were  made  the  fashion  of  the 
day,  they  advanced  in  value,  for  they  be- 
came something  that  everybody  wanted  and 
what  everybody  wants  refuses  to  stay  cheap, 
the  more  so  when  it  is  quite  understood  that 
the  demand  is  of  only  temporary  duration. 

3.  During  the  War  the  soldiers  of  the 
Confederate  Army  were  in  part  fed  upon 
the  then  despised  terrapin.  The  soldiers  to 
be  fed  today  upon  that  delicious  and  expen- 
sive dish  would  have  to  hold  a  higher  rank 


THREE-PART  EDITORIALS 


33 


than  any  soldier  ever  held  and  be  in  enjoy- 
ment of  a  higher  wage.  High  prices  are  not 
to  be  escaped  by  all  jumping  from  one 
article  to  another  at  the  same  time.  The 
discrimination  practiced  must  have  its  basis 
in  a  studious  form  of  economy  extending  all 
along  the  line.  The  only  general  rule  to  be 
applied  is  that  of  increased  production  and 
of  increased  thrift.  The  present  high  cost 
of  living  today,  broadly  speaking,  is  due  to 
extravagance  of  a  general  character  and  to 
an  amazing  view  of  work  as  something  to  be 
done  at  a  minimum  effort.  Until  this  mad- 
ness has  been  corrected  overalls  may  be 
viewed  as  something  we  all  may  have  to 
wear  to  cover  our  bodies  instead  of  as  the 
key  to  the  door  of  the  empty  barn. 

1[1.     Annunciatory    beginning.    1[2,      Developing 

advance,  consisting  in  an  expository  analysis. 
1f3.  Exposition  continued  by  means  of  a  historical 
instance  (first  2  sentences).  This  forms  a  direct 
transition  for  introducing  the  conclusion,  which  con- 
tinues the  analysis,  then  drives  the  explanation  home 
in  an  outright  conclusion. 

GOVERNMENT-OWNED  RAILROADS 

Montreal  Star 

1.  One  of  the  questions  toward  which  the 
public  attitude  is  changing  radically  is 
public  ownership.  The  uninformed  clamor 
in  favor  of  this  policy,  largely  supported  by 
men  in  both  political  parties  who  were  will- 
ing to  sacrifice  the  country  to  enrich  rail- 
way speculators  and  to  rescue  their  impru- 
dent backers,  has  largely  been  silenced  by 
the  disastrous  results  of  experiments  in  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  and  by  a 
realization  of  the  fraud  behind  much  of  the 
public  advocacy  of  the  policy  in  Canada. 

2.  The  people  are  beginning  to  realize 
that  the  outrage  on  decency  in  the  C.  N.  R. 
deal,  for  instance,  was  committed  by  Lib- 
erals and  Conservatives  alike,  some  of  whom 
on  both  sides  had  for  many  years  been  the 
beneficiaries  of  the  railway  schemers.  But 
light  is  breaking  in,  and  those  who  were 
swayed  by  the  sophistries  of  the  Mackenzies 
and  the  banking  clique  are  fast  realizing 
that  they  committed  their  country  to  the 
greatest  blunder  that  has  been  made  in  its 
history — a  blunder  for  which  both  parties 
must  share  the  blame,  though  the  heaviest 
responsibility  must  rest  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  late  Minister  of  Finance,  under  whose 
administration  the  deal  was  concluded. 

3.  There  is  some  hope  for  the  country  in 
this  visibly  growing  trend  of  public  opinion. 
A  continuance  along  the  present  course  of 
least  resistance  in  railway  policy  will  bring 
Canada  close  to  financial  disaster.  The  ex- 
perience in  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  condemns  Government  operation  of 
railways  as  a  promoter  of  waste  and  in- 
efficiency.   It  inevitably  creates  expense  and 


depreciates  the  efficiency  of  the  service  and 
fosters  shocking  deficits.  Canada  already 
has  several  railways  on  its  hands,  all  losing 
money  and  all  deteriorating  in  service.  It 
is  even  possible  that  before  many  days  an- 
other road  may  be  added  to  the  country's 
encumbrances.  When  the  next  budget  is 
made  public  the  people  may  realize  in  a 
shocking  way  the  result  of  buying  property 
which  they  have  not  the  means  to  manage. 

4.  If  Canada  is  to  navigate  the  troubled 
waters  ahead,  she  must  quickly  find  another 
course.  The  current  on  which  she  is  drift- 
ing sweeps  over  more  debts  and  more 
deficits  to  the  rocks  of  grave  disaster.  Public 
safety  demands  a  new  railway  policy  that 
will  give  the  public  the  advantage  of  the 
stimulating  energy  that  only  comes  from  in- 
dividual enterprise,  and  that  will  at  the  same 
time  protect  them  from  the  exactions  of  in- 
dividual greed.  Efficient  and  economical 
railway  service  is  essential  to  the  success  of 
every  Canadian  industry,  and  this  can  best 
be  guaranteed  by  active  private  operation 
under  rigid  public  control. 

11.     Announcement  of  subject,  and   indication  of  the 

opinion  to  be  advanced. 

1I1I2-3.     Considerative  advance.     1[2  states  a  situation ; 

113  discusses  its  results. 

114.     Argumentative  conclusion. 

THE  FARMER  AND  PROSPERITY 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  Buying  power  and  disposition  to  buy 
on  the  part  of  the  great  body  of  the  people 
are  two  prime  necessities  for  general  pros- 
perity, particularly  for  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. The  farmers  of  the  country,  who  con- 
stitute one-third  of  the  population,  or  one- 
half  if  those  living  in  towns  and  villages 
under  5000  are  included,  are  always  the 
backbone  of  prosperity.  Trade  slackens 
when  they  are  pinched.  It  booms  when  they 
are  doing  well. 

2.  The  facts  about  the  farms  and  their 
owners  are  therefore  of  constant  interest  to 
every  branch  of  trade  and  industry.  Let  us 
consider  them,  as  disclosed  by  statistics. 
The  gross  value  of  the  twelve  principal  crops 
harvested  the  past  three  years  has  doubled 
that  of  the  three  years  preceding  1915,  with 
net  earnings  nearly  if  not  quite  equal  to 
gross  earnings  before  the  war.  With  these 
increased  earnings  the  value  of  farm  prop- 
erty has  doubled.  Indebtedness  has  de- 
creased among  the  farmers  proportionately. 
Here's  an  instance:  Four  years  ago  a  farm- 
er's property  was  worth  $15,000.  He  carried 
a  $5,000  mortgage  on  it.  He  knew  himself 
to  be  worth  $10,000.  Today  he  can  sell  the 
farm  for  $30,000.  He  still  owes  the  $5,000, 
which  leaves  him  net  assets  of  $25,000.  He 
is  worth  two  and  a  half  times  what  he  was 
in  1917. 


34 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


3.  He  knows  that  and  so  does  his  family. 
And  they  all  know  that  prices  for  farm 
products  in  1920  are  as  promising,  if  not 
more  promising,  than  in  1919.  The  effect  is 
that  the  farmer  pays  his  mortgage  and  be- 
gins to  spend  his  big  profits.  He  buys  his 
daughter  a  piano.  He  gets  a  touring  car 
for  pleasure.  His  family  buys  more  and 
better  clothing,  house  furnishings  and  mil- 
linery. It  is  a  natural  expression  of  in- 
creased buying  power  that  comes  with  in- 
creased assets.  And  it  is  going  on  all  over 
the  country  on  every  farm,  big  or  little,  and 
in  the  villages  and  towns  in  which  farmers 
live  while  their  children  are  being  educated. 

4.  Add  to  this  prodigious  buying  power 
the  tremendously  increased  earnings  in  all 
the  trades  and  occupations  in  the  cities,  and 
there  results  an  economic  certainty  of  good 
business  conditions  throughout  1920.  Only 
a  great  crop  failure  could  check  it,  and  there 
is  no  reason  to  expect  that. 

5.  Those  who  give  the  most  careful  study 
to  economic  conditions  and  markets  are  now 
of  opinion  that  what  has  been  denounced  as 
an  orgy  of  extravagance  in  buying  was  in 
fact  simply  a  natural  expression  of  legiti- 
mate buying  power  which  may  be  expected  to 
continue  for  at  least  three  years.  Merchants 
whose  foresight  has  been  accurate  in  the 
past,  believe  that  advertising  never  prom- 
ised better  returns  than  now.  This  belief 
prevails  among  national,  as  among  local, 
advertisers. 

tl.     Annunciatory    beginning    (farming    prosperity    a 

sign  of  general  prospering). 

1f2.     Begins   considerative   advance  with  the  citing  of 

comparative    figures.    f3.      Continues     stage     2, 

showing  results  of  improved  finances.  ^[4.  Con- 
tinues stage  2,  stating  favorable  conditions  outside 
of  farming. 

t5.  Stage  3,  stating  the  conclusion  as  an  interpretive 
report  of  authoritative  opinion. 

MAKE  HELGOLAND  A  ROOST 

Chicago  Evening  Post 

1.  The  peace  treaty  deprives  Helgoland 
of  its  dignity  and  menace  as  one  of  the 
world's  mightiest  fortresses.  The  guns  are 
gone,  never  to  return,  if  the  hopes  of  men 
are  realized. 

2.  And  now  men  recall  that  Helgoland 
served  a  purpose  far  more  valuable  to  the 
world  than  any  to  which  it  was  put  by  Ger- 
many, and  it  is  proposed  that  international 
law  shall  recognize  and  sanction  this  pur- 
pose. 

3.  Ornithologists  tell  us  that  the  island 
rock  has  been  the  half-way  resting  place  for 
millions  of  birds  making  their  spring  and 
autumn  migrations  across  Europe.  Break- 
ing the  weariness  of  their  long  journeying, 
they  have  halted  for  a  night,  and  the  lives, 
not  merely  of  countless  individuals,  but  of 


whole  species,  have  been  preserved  by  this 
opportunity  to  fold  the  tired  wings  and  re- 
cruit new  strength  for  further  travel. 

4.  The  birds  came  in  spite  of  the  guns 
and  the  garrison.  These,  indeed,  were  less 
disturbing  to  them  than  the  traps  set  by  the 
Germans,  who  are  said  to  have  caught  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  the  feathered  pilgrims 
during  their  brief  sojourns. 

5.  Bird  lovers  in  Great  Britain  and 
America  urge  that  Helgoland  be  made  a 
secure  hospice  for  its  guests;  that  the  trap- 
ping or  killing  of  birds  upon  the  island  be 
forbidden.  Much  would  be  gained  in  the 
preservation  of  bird  life,  the  importance  of 
which  is  now  everywhere  recognized,  and  an 
unrivaled  opportunity  would  be  afforded 
for  the  study  of  the  habits  of  birds,  particu- 
larly in  the  exercise  of  the  migratory  in- 
stinct. Surely,  there  should  be  no  opposition 
to  such  a  proposal  as  this,  and  no  serious 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  giving  it  effect. 

in[l-2.  Subject  announced.  (Note  how  HI  prepares  for 
If 2  by  providing  contrast.) 

1113-4.  Explanatory  amplification,  aided  by  descrip- 
tive narration.  1[5,    Application. 

ALL  THINGS  TO  ALL  MEN,  BUT  HOW? 

Pep 

1.  What  does  a  shop  girl  think  about  ? 

2.  She  has  your  paper  under  her  arm. 
She  works  all  day,  dances  all  night,  dresses 
within  an  inch  of  her  wages,  inhabits  a  hall 
bedroom,  and  her  ambition  is  a  near-leather 
coat. 

3.  The  grimy  mechanic  from  the  shop, 
with  a  wife  and  eight  kids  at  home — tired, 
cussing  the  H.  C.  L.,  perhaps  an  embryo 
red.  What  does  he  think  about?  Certainly 
of  nothing  that  the  shop  girl  does. 

4.  The  housewife,  with  her  children,  her 
darning,  her  wash  and  her  mops,  brooms 
and  brushes,  and  a  perpetually  leaping 
grocer's  bill.  What  does  she  think  about? 
Certainly  nothing  that  the  shop  girl  or  the 
mechanic  meditates  on. 

5.  The  more  comfortable  professional 
and  business  class,  with  their  reading 
lamps,  their  slippers,  their  perfectos,  their 
smattering  of  learning,  their  clubs  and  their 
opera.  What  think  they  in  common  with 
any  of  these  other  classes? 

6.  Then  the  editor,  in  his  little  center  of 
the  big-town  web,  thinking  circulation,  rates, 
street  sales,  politics,  policies  and,  perhaps, 
propaganda.  What  has  his  thought-life  in 
common  with  any  of  these  others  ? 

7.  And  yet  the  editor  is  supposed  to  put 
into  his  paper  each  night  something  that 
will  appeal  to  each  of  these  classes,  some- 
thing that  will  be  in  their  language,  some- 
thing for  them  individually,  something  out- 
side the  news  that  his  rival  will  not  offer. 


THREE-PART  EDITORIALS 


35 


Otherwise  there  need  be  but  one  paper  in  a 
town. 

8.  How  about  it?  Has  your  paper  any- 
time ever  tried  to  think  like  a  shop  girl,  a 
worn  housewife,  a  ditch-digger,  a  profes- 
sional or  business  man,  or  merely  like  an 
editor  ?    Editors  are  not  paying  subscribers. 

9.  Think  it  over. 

Ifl.  Annunciatory  opening  (merely  a  "starter,"  not 
an  actual  announcement)  ;  the  announcement  proper 
is  found  in  US,  the  editorial  being  inverted. 
f1f2-5  Subject  considered  in  particulars  representing 
four  different  sides  of  the  question.  11116-7.  Sub- 
ject considered  from  a  fifth  side. 
1118-9.     Application   and   exhortation 

TEACH  WORKMEN  BUSINESS  TRUTHS 

Iron  Trade  Review 

1.  Wrong  conceptions  of  business  funda- 
mentals, confusion  of  gross  and  net  incomes, 
the  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  fostered  by 
the  radicals  and  the  wilful  disturbers,  that 
the  employer's  profit  from  a  workman's 
daily  toil  is  many  times  the  latter's  wage, 
are  elements  of  a  distorted  perspective  of 
labor  that  is  proving  one  of  the  underlying 
causes  of  the  present  unrest.  This  perspec- 
tive is  being  created  and  molded  by  agitators 
whose  only  hope  for  success  lies  in  stirring 
the  emotions  of  the  ignorant  and  unthinking. 

2.  Individual  workmen  are  led  to  believe 
that  they  earn  every  day  from  $5  to  $60  for 
their  employers,  and  in  many  instances  the 
case  is  "proved"  by  holding  up  the  figures 
of  gross  earnings.  A  study  of  the  reports 
of  four  great  steel  companies  reveals  that 
the  net  profits  of  each  for  1918  were  equiva- 
lent to  between  $1  and  $2  a  day  for  each 
employee,  while  in  the  June  quarter  of  1919 
they  were  equivalent  to  less  than  $1  for  each 
employee. 

3.  The  agitator  too  long  has  been  the 
only  advocate  in  court.  The  time  has  come 
for  the  employer  to  take  his  side  of  the 
case  to  his  men,  for,  by  his  indifferent 
silence,  he  is  permitting  them  to  accept  the 
deception  and  the  insidious  doctrines  of  the 
preachers  of  unrest. 

4.  Refutation  of  the  preposterous  conten- 
tions of  industrial  disturbers  and  a  frank, 
clear  explanation  of  the  simple  fundamental 
truths  of  business  finance  would  go  far  in 
purging  the  air  of  Bolshevist  poison.  The 
ardor  of  gullible  workmen  for  the  com- 
munistic Utopia,  which  they  now  believe 
would  bring  them  riches  and  leisure,  would 
vanish  in  a  twinkling  were  they  made  to 
see  that  equal  division  of  the  fund  now 
going  to  capital  would  net  them  but  a  few 
cents  a  day  additional  income. 

5.  Groups  of  men  will  ever  heed  the  call 
of  leadership.  It  remains  for  employers  to 
provide  healthy,  enlightened,  mutually  help- 
ful leadership  from  within,  or  see  the  alle- 


giance of  employees  drift  into  the  camp  of 
radical,  outside  agitators.  Where  an  honest 
desire  to  treat  men  fairly  and  squarely 
exists,  nothing  is  to  be  lost  by  laying  the 
cards  upon  the  table  before  them;  indeed, 
everything  is  to  be  gained  by  such  a  course. 

HI.     Annunciatory  beginning,   including  a  catalog  of 

significant  particulars. 

11112-3-4.     Progressive    development.      112.     Refutation. 

113.    Direct  reasoning.  ^4.    Direct  reasoning 

•with  persuasive  tone. 

115.     Conclusion   and  application. 

THE  STRIKE  EPIDEMIC 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

1.  The  estimate  of  The  Sun,  this  morn- 
ing, makes  220,000  men  the  number  out  of 
work  in  New  York  city  because  of  strikes; 
there  are  170,000  strikers  and  50,000  men 
made  idle  through  strikes  paralyzing  their 
industries. 

2.  The  World  prints  in  a  Washington 
dispatch  a  tabulation  of  seventy  strikes  in 
parts  of  the  United  States  other  than  New 
York.  These  range  from  the  steel  walkout 
with  adherents  and  victims  well  up  in  six 
figures  down  to  local  struggles  involving  a 
few  thousand  people.  The  facts  come  from 
the  office  of  Frank  Morrison,  secretary  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  from 
the  Division  of  Conciliation,  United  States 
Department  of  Labor.  The  Federation  ac- 
knowledges eight  strikes  approved  or  au- 
thorized by  it.  The  other  sixty-two  are 
outlaw  or  at  least  freelance  enterprises 

3.  In  an  address  before  the  Institute  of 
Arts  and  Sciences  yesterday,  President 
Nicholas  Murray  Butler  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity asked:  "Must  the  American  form  of 
government  commit  suicide  in  order  to  give 
to  industry  better  and  more  satisfactory 
organization?"  The  question  is  one  nat- 
urally pressing  upon  many  minds  in  face  of 
the  breakdown  of  the  present  organization 
and  leadership.  Many  of  the  strikes,  tabu- 
lated as  above  set  forth,  are  undertaken  to 
establish  the  existing  organization,  to  secure 
recognition  for  present  leadership  and  to  set 
present  leaders  firmly  in  the  saddle.  Others 
of  them  are  undertaken  in  defiance  of  exist- 
ing organizations  and  in  opposition  to  the 
urgent  advice  of  existing  leaders. 

4.  Considered  as  a  whole,  the  strike  sit- 
uation amounts  to  a  struggle  for  an  organ- 
ization which  does  not  organize  except  for 
trouble  and  for  a  leadership  that  has  broken 
down  and  become  impotent  for  peace  and 
prosperity.  Dr.  Butler  discussed  somewhat 
vaguely  the  remedy  for  this  monstrous  evil, 
which  threatens  not  merely  the  prosperity, 
but  the  life  of  the  country.  Much  that  he 
said  was  wise  and  true.  His  urgency  to 
regard  country  before  narrow  class  interests 
was  sound  and  patriotic. 


36 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


5.  But,  through  all  his  periods,  there 
seemed  to  be  one  panacea  in  his  mind.  It 
was  conciliation.  Unhappily  there  is  no  new- 
promise  in  that.  Conciliation  has  been  the 
rising  wave  for  months  and  years.  There 
are  those  who  fear  it  has  slopped  over  into 
cowardice.  It  is,  at  least,  a  question  whether 
inevitable  yielding  ever  became  a  final  bar- 
rier to  aggression.  Can  a  forward  rolling 
force  ever  be  stopped  by  running  away 
from  it? 

1I1I1-2.  Preparatory  beginning,  including  a  newspeg 
and  explanatory  data  that  indicate  the  subject. 
K1I3-4.  Considerative  advance,  beginning  with  a  for- 
mal wording  of  the  question  involved  (see  quotation), 
followed  by  an  interpretive  definition  (114)  and  some 
emphasized  opinion. 
US.     Conclusion    (with  controversial  bearing). 

PAY  ROLLS 

Saturday   Evening   Post 

1.  Thirteen  hundred  officers  have  re- 
signed from  the  Regular  Army  since  the 
armistice  was  signed,  or  one  in  every  eight. 
The  General  Staff  is  exercised  about  it  and 
recently  ordered  an  investigation.  The  re- 
port shows  that  high  cost  of  living  is  the 
chief  cause,  and  remarks  that  the  War  De- 
partment is  now  paying  a  hod  carrier 
substantially  as  much  as  a  second  lieutenant, 
and  a  plasterer  more  than  a  first  lieutenant, 
who  may  have  had  seven  years  of  university 
and  hospital  training.  Both  pay  and  allow- 
ances of  the  army  officer  are  included,  and 
he  gives  all  his  time  against  the  wage- 
earner's  eight  hours. 

2.  Perhaps  in  an  ideal  adjustment  of 
human  values  a  plasterer  is  worth  more  than 
a  first  lieutenant  or  than  a  brigadier-gen- 
eral; but  the  plasterer's  seven  and  a  quarter 
dollars  a  day,  he  says,  barely  covers  his  cost 
of  living,  and  a  first  lieutenant  has  been 
brought  up  and  educated  to  a  more  expen- 
sive plane  of  living. 

3.  The  chief  victims  of  this  high  cost  of 
living  are  the  salary  earners,  the  savers,  and 
unorganized  inarticulate  wage  laborers. 
And  they  get  the  least  consideration,  be- 
cause they  are  usually  not  in  a  position  to 
raise  a  row.  The  Government  is  no  better 
employer,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
people  on  its  pay  roll  or  from  the  point  of 
view  of  society  as  a  whole,  than  any  private 
concern  is.  It  pays  its  lieutenants  now  just 
what  it  paid  them  in  1908,  and  it  can  hardly 
pay  them  more,  precisely  because  it  has  to 
pay  its  plasterers  seven  and  a  quarter  dol- 
lars a  day,  or  more  if  the  plasterers  ener- 
getically demand  it.  Its  pay  roll  exhibits 
the  same  inequality  as  any  other;  in  fact,  a 
greater  inequality  than  most  pay  rolls.  Ex- 
tending the  field  of  government  employment 
of  labor  promises  nothing. 


1 


f  1.  Announcement  of  what  seems  the  subject ;  begin- 
ning of  consideration.  (As  the  true  topic  is  revealed 
only  in  the  last  sentence  of  the  editorial,  we  may  re- 
gard this  as  an  inverted  editorial  of  the  3-stage  plan, 
like  All  Things  to  All  Men.) 

12.  Consideration  continued  by  means  of  comparison. 
is.  What  seems  the  application  (except  in  the  closing 
sentence).  The  real  conclusion  is  in  the  last  sen- 
tence. Note  the  effectiveness  gained  by  this  "surprisi 
ending"  ;  it  is  like  that  of  the  surprise-ending  in 
fiction  story. 

UNFORTUNATE  INTERWEAVING 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

1.  A  bitter  wail  of  regret  goes  up  fro: 
Paris.  It  is  now  plainly  seen  how  dire  th 
blunder  was  of  interweaving  the  League  of 
Nations  covenant  with  the  peace  treaty. 
Some  of  the  delegates  to  the  Peace  Council 
dimly  perceived  the  mistake  even  while  it 
was  being  made.  They  protested  mildly, 
weakly,  but  to  deaf  enraptured  ears. 

2.  Now  the  evil  is  plain  for  all  to  see. 
The  peace  is  effective  in  Europe,  but  there 
is  no  league.  The  interweaving  results  in 
a  woof  without  a  warp,  to  hold  the  fabric 
of  pacification  together.  It  is  in  danger  of 
falling  into  a  loose,  patternless  tangle. 

3.  Had  the  League  of  Nations  scheme 
been  kept  separate,  the  peace  proper  would 
have  been  ratified  by  all  the  Powers  weeks 
ago.  It  would  have  had  its  own  machinery 
of  application  and  administration,  involving 
no  abstract  questions,  and  obnoxious  to  the 
interests  or  dignity  of  no  people.  The 
system  would  have  gone  into  operation  as  a 
matter  of  course,  as  after  the  Franco- 
German,  the  Russo-Japanese  or  any  other 
war. 

4.  The  league  idea  would  have  been 
moulded  in  a  leisurely  fashion  with  regard 
to  the  principles  and  the  rights  of  every 
participant.  There  would  have  been  time 
to  hear  from  all  in  detail  after  full  discus- 
sion. When  the  plan  was  matured,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  parties,  it  would  have 
been  cordially  ratified  by  all,  and  then  would 
have  taken  over  in  working  order  the  greater 
conclusions  of  the  peace  while  the  original, 
simple,  direct  mechanism  would  continue  to 
function  as  to  the  details. 

5.  It  is  quite  true  that  all  international 
relations  are  now  in  a  disagreeable  mess, 
and  makeshift  methods  must  be  found  to 
carry  out  the  conditions  imposed  on  Ger- 
many, while  nobody  looks  forward  to  the 
League  with  any  real  welcome.  The  con- 
fusion which  may  result  is  in  no  sense 
blamable  upon  those  who  are  determined  to 
make  the  covenant  safe  for  America.  It 
lies  entirely  at  the  door  of  those  who  would 
have  sacrificed  American  rights  to  their  own 
purposes.  Regardless  of  all  else,  the  obli- 
gation remains  unlessened  to  see  that  the 
Government  and  the  people  of  the  United 


THREE-PART  EDITORIALS 


37 


States  abdicate  nothing  of  independence  or 
sovereignty  in  entering  into  a  working 
agreement  for  the  preservation  of  such  of 
the  adjustments  now  made  as  may  be  worth 
preserving. 

Ijl.     Annunciatory    beginning.    |2.     Interpretive 

amplification. 

HI 3-4.     Considerative     advance ;     assertion     of     what 

might  have  been  in  different  circumstances. 

|5.     Application    in    a    controversial   conclusion. 

Chapter  III.     Exercises. 

1.  Clip  from  three  (or  more)  daily  news- 
papers of  current  date  all  the  editorials 
constructed  on  the  three-stage  plan.  Mark 
off  in  each  the  three  parts.  Bring  to  class 
for  discussion. 

2.  Do  the  same  with  three  weekly  jour- 
nals of  general  circulation.  (Do  the  dailies 
or  the  weeklies  tend  more  to  employ  the 
three-stage  plan?) — (Periodicals  such  as  the 
Literary  Digest  are  unsuited  for  this  exer- 
cise, as  their  articles  are  compilations  made 
by  a  specialized  method.) 

3.  How  many  of  the  three-stage  edi- 
torials found  in  doing  Nos.  1  and  2  above 
are  hung  upon  a  newspeg?     In  what  part 


of  the   editorial  does   the  newspeg   appear 
when  it  is  present? 

4.  From  the  telegraph  news  of  your 
daily  paper  clip  three  stories  that  recom- 
mend themselves  for  editorial  treatment. 
Paste  each  on  a  separate  sheet  of  paper,  and 
opposite  it  set  down  in  skeleton,  or  "out- 
line," form  the  plan  of  the  editorial,  three- 
stage  type.  Have  the  sheets  ready  for  sub- 
mission to  the  instructor  for  suggestions. 

5.  Write  one  of  the  editorials,  revise  it, 
and  put  it  into  completed  form. 

6.  Repeat  exercise  4,  but  clip  the  stories 
from  the  local  news  columns,  not  from  the 
telegraph  news. 

7.  Same  as  No.  5,  but  base  on  the 
stories  clipped  according  to  No.  6. 

8.  Write  a  three-stage  editorial  that  is 
timely,  but  that  does  not  employ  a  newspeg. 

9.  Write  a  three-stage  editorial  upon  a 
more  general  theme,  endeavoring,  however, 
to  give  it  the  effect  of  current  interest. 

10.  Write  a  paper  of  500  words  upon 
"The  three-stage  editorial:  its  parts  and 
their  management,  and  its  utility." 


CHAPTER   IV 


THE  NEWS  EDITORIAL  AND  EDITORIALS  OF  NEWS  SUMMARY 


Lack  of  structural  categories. — One 

in  vain  seeks  a  thoroughly  scientific 
classification  of  editorials  according 
to  structural  form  and  type.  But 
there  is  nothing  surprising  in  this 
absence  of  formal  classification. 

So  unlimited  is  the  number  of  sub- 
jects with  which  the  editorial-writer 
may  deal — so  fundamental  and  well 
understood  are  the  compositional 
methods,  that,  with  or  without  spe- 
cial modification,  he  may  employ  in 
dealing  with  these  subjects — so  well 
is  the  function  of  the  editorial  recog- 
nized by  reason  of  its  universal  em- 
ployment to  inform  and  instruct 
the  public — ^that  analysis  from  the 
strictly  rhetorical,  or  structural,  view- 
point seems  almost  superfluous.  It 
certainly  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
as  a  matter  of  precise  logic. 

This  is  all  very  well  until,  without 
previous  journalistic  experience,  one 
finds  himself  called  on  to  produce 
editorial  articles.  Then  he  realizes 
that,  however  much  the  principles 
and  practice  of  general  rhetoric  may 
help  him,  they  do  not  afford  him  all 
the  help  he  needs  as  an  apprentice  in 
this  specialized  branch  of  writing; 
and  he  begins  to  yearn  for  a  few  of 
those  set  forms  which,  in  his  more 
irresponsible  hours,  he  has  ridiculed 
as  representing  the  tedium,  and  for- 
malism of  composition. 

Confronted  with  the  specialized 
problems  of  editorial-writing,  he 
would  welcome  a  set  of  patterns,  no 
matter  how  conventionally  standard- 
ized, that  he  could  imitate  until, 
through  imitation,  he  should  have 
gained  a  more  definite  conception  of 
the  structure  and  manner  of  such 


articles  and  developed  in  himself  th^ 
skill  of  adapting  the  general  pri] 
ciples  of  composition  to  the  particulj 
requirements  of  editorial  expressioi 

The  three-part  structure  m 
enough. — Some  such  patterns  have 
already  been  presented,  in  examples 
of  the  peghung  editorial.  As  a  prac- 
tical working-form  of  simple  structure 
the  three-stage  editorial  is  exceed- 
ingly useful;  but  were  all  editorials 
written  to  this  pattern,  the  editorial 
page  would  become  unattractive 
through  being  mechanical  and  mo- 
notonous. 

Moreover,  the  three-part  editorial, 
though  clearly  the  best  form  for  cer- 
tain purposes  of  discussion  and  infer- 
ence, is  by  no  means  the  best  for  cer- 
tain other  purposes  of  editorial 
presentation.  It  is  not  even  the  sole 
form  for  what  we  are  about  to  con- 
sider— the  news-editorial. 

News-editorial  defined. — ^When  we 
speak  of  "news"-editorials,  we  have 
in  mind  editorials  concentrating 
themselves  upon  their  subject  as  a 
matter  of  news,  or  dealing  with  it 
from  the  news  viewpoint.  As  already 
mentioned,  the  peghung  editorial  is 
frequently  a  news-editorial  in  this 
sense.  True,  it  may  minimize  the 
significance  of  the  news-aspects  of  its 
subject,  emphasizing  instead  some 
element  that  will  command  the 
reader's  attention  from  an  entirely 
different  point  of  view.  But  when  it 
does  this,  it  is  not  a  news-editorial, 
although  it  originates  in  some  item  of 
news.  On  the  other  hand,  when  it 
stresses  news-aspects,  treating  its 
subject  as  a  matter  of  timely  infor- 
mation and  focusing  attention  upon 


NEWS   AND   NEWS-SUMMARY   EDITORIALS 


39 


its  significance  from  that  point  of  in- 
terest, it  clearly  makes  itself  a  news- 
editorial. 

Kinds  of  news -editorial. — An  ex- 
amination of  the  specimens  already 
printed  (especially  in  Chapter  II  and 
Chapter  III)  will  show  that  the  news- 
editorial  may  be  written  (A)  to  draw 
an  inference  from  or  make  an  appli- 
cation of  some  part  of  the  day's  news. 
But  the  news-editorial  often  is 
written  (B)  to  bring  together  scat- 
tered items  concerning  its  subject, 
thus  providing  a  single  collected 
statement  such  as  the  reader  cannot 
find  in  the  news-columns  nor — 
usually — prepare  for  himself.  Indeed, 
not  infrequently  it  contains  mention 
of  details  that  are  part  of  the  cur- 
rent news,  but,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other, have  not  appeared  at  all  in  the 
news-columns.  Or  it  may  be  written 
(C)  for  the  purpose  of  setting  forth 
news  boiled  down  to  the  essential 
facts  and  skimmed  of  details  such  as, 
though  interesting  and  picturesque, 
do  not  constitute  its  real  significance. 

The  news-editorial  of  summary. — 
Manifestly,  then,  the  news-editorial 
includes  a  kind  of  editorial,  devoted 
solely,  or  mainly,  to  presenting  an  ab- 
stract of  the  news.  Here  is  an  edi- 
torial that  illustrates  the  collective 
summary : 

i  UP  GOES  "GAS" 

1.  Reports  from  different  parts  of  the 
state  show  that  automobile  owners  and  other 
users  of  gasoline  have  not  yet  "passed  the 
peak"  in  their  attempt  to  keep  up  with 
climbing  prices.  At  Dillton  the  lowest  re- 
tail price  quoted  was  26  cents.  At  North 
Wheeler  and  Bluefield  it  was  25  cents,  with  a 
few  dealers  going  to  27  cents.  Worden 
teetered  between  26  and  27;  New  Barford 
and  most  of  the  Neck  and  Elton  County- 
points  followed  Meredith  in  asking  28  cents; 
and  Kazburg,  with  no  reason  apparent,  in- 
sisted upon  29  cents.  Nearly  everywhere 
dealers  are  reported  as  predicting  a  further 
increase  within  a  week.  In  several  places 
cleaning  establishments  have  advanced  the 
price  for  cleaning  clothing,  giving  as  a  rea- 
son,   among   others,   the   increased   cost   of 


gasoline.  Evidently  before  long  even  to 
sport  a  suit  of  clothes  smelling  of  gasoline 
will  be  to  proclaim  oneself  as  belonging  to 
the  moneyed  class. 

The  news-abstract  that  is  also  an 
abridgment  is  exemplified  by  the  fol- 
lowing, quoted  from  The  Review  of 
Reviews : 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  CROPS 

1.  The  month  of  June  brought  bad 
weather  for  wheat,  and  the  hope  for  a 
billion-bushel  crop  was  lost  in  a  deterioration 
for  the  month  estimated  at  40  million  bush- 
els. This  brings  the  present  forecast  for 
wheat  producton  this  year  to  something  less 
than  900  million  bushes,  still  well  above  the 
five-year  average. 

2.  The  weather  has  been  harmful  to  other 
crops  also,  to  a  less  degree,  but  com  is  ex- 
pected to  make  a  record  in  production,  now 
estimated  at  3,160,000,000  bushels,  although 
the  acreage  is  some  5  per  cent  smaller  than 
that  of  last  year.  This,  and  the  indicated 
yields  of  barley,  rye,  sweet  potatoes  and 
rice,  will  make  records  for  our  agricultural 
history.  The  crops  of  oats,  white  potatoes, 
tobacco,  and  hay  will  all  be  larger  than  the 
average  of  the  preceding  five  years. 

The  news-editorial  of  summary- 
and-comment. — Not  always,  however, 
can  we  expect  the  editorial  of  news- 
summary  to  stop  merely  with  the  ab- 
stracting of  the  facts;  frequently  it 
(D)  introduces  passages  of  comment 
or  interpretation,  thus  showing  the 
significance  of  the  facts  in  addition 
to  summarizing  them.  We  can  de- 
scribe this  kind  of  editorial  as  the 
news-editorial  of  summary-and-com- 
ment;  thereby  distinguishing  it  in 
structure  from  the  three-part  edi- 
torial, which  first  sets  forth  the  prop- 
osition or  fact,  then  proceeds  to  con- 
sideration, and  in  the  third  stage 
presents  the  resultant  conclusion  or 
application.  (The  news-editorial  of 
summary-and-comment,  as  already 
noted,  is  a  form  of  the  editorial  of 
interpretation;  concerning  this,  see 
Chapter  VI.)  The  comment  may  be 
massed,  perhaps  near  the  beginning 
or  (more  likely)  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  editorial ;  or  it  may  be  distributed 
throughout,  in  which  case  we  have  an 


40 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


editorial  of  running  summary-and- 
comment.  The  editorial,  Holland's 
New  Democracy  here  quoted  (from 
The  Review  of  Reviews)  thus  com- 
bines interpretation  with  summarized 
reporting : 

HOLLAND'S  NEW  DEMOCRACY 

1.  The  democratic  tendencies  in  western 
Europe  have  been  illustrated  in  the  general 
elections  held  early  in  July  for  a  new  parlia- 
ment in  Holland.  The  number  of  voters 
under  the  new  law  is  increased  50  per  cent. 
The  voting  age  in  Holland  has  long  been 
fixed  at  twenty-five  years,  instead  of  twenty- 
one,  as  with  us.  Until  now  there  were  re- 
strictions that  shut  out  one-third  of  the  men 
above  this  age  of  twenty-five.  These  have 
been  removed,  and  there  are  now  a  million 
and  a  half  voters  instead  of  a  million. 

2.  Women  are  not  yet  enfranchised  in 
Holland,  but  under  the  new  law  they  are 
permitted  to  be  candidates,  and  there  were 
twenty-one  women  running  for  parliament 
last  month,  of  whom  it  is  reported  that  sev- 
eral were  elected. 

3.  The  election  does  not  yet  seem  to  have 
resulted  in  any  radical  changes  in  the  gov- 
ernment's policies,  and  the  endeavor  to 
maintain  strict  neutrality  is  supported  by 
all  groups  and  parties  as  necessary  to  Hol- 
land's independent  existence.  The  practical 
difficulties  of  Holland's  position  do  not  grow 
less  as  Germany  from  time  to  time  makes 
demands  for  animal  food  supplies  that  im- 
pair Holland's  ability  to  obtain  breadstuffs 
from  America.  The  sympathies  of  the  Dutch 
are  undoubtedly  increasingly  anti-German  as 
the  war  goes  on.  It  was  announced  on  July 
15  that  Queen  Wilhelmina  had  asked  Deputy 
Nolens,  head  of  the  Catholic  party,  to  form 
a  new  cabinet  to  replace  that  of  Premier 
van  der  Linden. 

Schema. — The  news-editorial  as 
discussed  in  this  chapter  includes: 

A.  The  editorial  of  inference  or 
application  based  upon  news  (the 
three-stage  form) . 

B.  The  editorial  of  collective  news 
abstract. 

C.  The  editorial  of  abridged  and 
simplified  abstract  (or  emphasizing 
summary). 

D.  The  editorial  of  news-sum- 
mary with  accompanying  comment; 
the  comment  being  either — 


1.  Massed,  or 

2.  Distributed      (running      sum 
mary-and-comment) . 

Upon  editorials  of  interpretation, 
which  sometimes  are  news-editorials, 
see  Chapter  VI.  Controversial  edi- 
torials (Chapter  VII)  usually  concen- 
trate on  the  argument,  not  the  news. 

Representative  editorials.  —  How 
the  news-editorial  of  summary  brings 
together  all  the  available  information 
about  a  subject;  culls  therefrom  the 
facts  of  leading  significance  and  sets 
them  in  perspective,  at  the  same  time 
putting  aside  those  which  have  but  a 
secondary  importance;  and  by  this 
process,  aided  sometimes  by  the  in- 
troduction of  explanatory  comment, 
provides  the  reader  an  adequate  un- 
derstanding of  the  facts  or  situation, 
is  shown  by  the  following  examples: 

A  MIDDLE-CLASS  DEFENSIVE  UNION 

The    Continent 

1.  Organization  of  the  "salariat,"  the 
middle  classes  who  are  neither  manual  work- 
ers nor  capitalists,  has  been  suggested  as  the 
means  of  asserting  the  rights  of  the  great 
"third"  division,  comprising  approximately 
90,000,000  people  in  the  United  States.  A 
middle-class  union  was  formed  recently  in 
New  York,  and  its  first  members  were  vol- 
unteers manning  trains  during  the  outlaw 
railroad  strike.  The  New  York  State  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  is  sponsoring  the  new 
organization,  which  is  called  the  "Citizens' 
Protective  Union."  Its  members  are  trades- 
men, professional  workers,  clerks  and  sim- 
ilar holders  of  "white  collar  jobs"  and  sal- 
aried positions  generally.  In  New  Jersey  a 
strike  by  members  of  a  tenants'  association 
quickly  brought  landlords  to  reduce  exorbi- 
tant rents.  Tenants'  associations  have  forced 
the  passage  and  enforcement  of  drastic 
rental  laws  in  New  York  State,  and  a  similar 
organization  is  being  developed  in  Chicago. 
Chauncey  M.  Depew,  who  lately  celebrated 
his  eighty-sixth  birthday,  urges  a  national 
defensive  union  of  the  middle  class. 

This  may  be  called  an  editorial  of  emphasizing  re- 
statement ;  it  gives  emphasis  to  the  suggestion — 
prominent  at  the  time  in  the  news — for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  middle-class  "union."  But  it  combines  with 
the  re-presentation  a  collective  news  r^sumS,  Let  the 
student  determine  for  himself  whether  or  not  the 
structure  is  that  of  the  3-stage  plan,  and  whether  the 
editorial  is  one  of  emphasizing  re-presentation  or 
rather  one  of  news-r6sum6. 


I 


NEWS   AND   NEWS-SUMMARY   EDITORIALS 


41 


THE  FLOOD  OF  BOOKS 

Minneapolis   Journal 

1.  Despite  the  paper  shortage,  more  than 
ight  thousand  books  were  published  in  the 
Jnited  States  last  year.  Of  these,  969  were 
ew  editions,  and  the  others  were  new  books, 
'ruly,  of  making  books  there  is  no  end. 

2.  Sociology  and  economics  claim  the 
argest  number  of  new  volumes,  891.  His- 
ory  is  a  close  second,  and,  surprisingly 
nough,  fiction  has  third  place.  Religion  has 
ourth  place,  science  fifth  and  poetry  sixth. 

3.  Librarians  say  it  is  difficult  to  trace 
hanges  in  reading  taste  from  month  to 
aonth,  but  over  longer  periods  it  is  possible. 

he  problems  of  reconstruction  have,  no 
toubt,  doubled  interest  in  economics  and  so- 
iology,  and  the  war  deepened  popular  con- 
ern  also  in  religion. 

4.  Obviously  no  one  can  hope  to  read  nin^ 
housand  books  a  year.  Did  time  permit, 
luman  eyesight  would  rebel.  So  every 
eader  must  pick  and  choose  the  ones  that 
ire  to  his  need  and  taste.  But  reading  three 
)r  four  good  books  a  year  is  better  than 
eading  at  random  and  by  wholesale.  "Read 
md  ruminate,"  is  the  golden  rule.  A  book 
hat  gives  no  cud  to  chew  is  hardly  worth 
eading. 

Plan    of    this    editorial:    1I1I1-2.      Re-presentation    of 

sasic  news-details  (condensation  of  news-report).  

IK3-4.  Reflective  consideration. 
13.  Interpretation  of  the  data. 
114.     Moralizing  conclusion,   or   "tag." 

"AMERICA  FOR  AMERICANS" 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  A  little  side-light  on  the  sentiment  of 
South  Americans  is  afforded  by  the  address 
of  Dr.  Baltazar  Brum,  president  of  Uruguay, 
made  to  the  students  of  the  University  of 
Montevideo.  He  proposes  a  league  of 
American  nations,  under  which  each  would 
find  an  opportunity  for  accepting  some 
greater  share  of  responsibility  under  the 
Monroe  doctrine.  Such  a  league,  Dr.  Brum 
says,  can  exist  without  the  League  of  Na- 
tions, and  will  be  of  more  immediate  benefit 
to  the  governments  concerned  than  the' 
greater  organization. 

2.  This  expression  may  be  taken  as  a 
reply  to  the  unfriendly  outburst  of  La 
Prensa,  the  great  Buenos  Aires  newspaper, 
which  very  lately  delivered  a  violent  attack 
against  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  guar- 
dianship assumed  under  it  by  the  United 
States.  That  article  has  been  looked  on  as 
inspired  by  the  Argentinian  government, 
which  is  not  especially  well  inclined  toward 
us,  because  of  the  sinister  European  influ- 
ences now  dominant  in  Argentina.  La 
Prensa  also  takes  the  Chilean  view  of  the 
difficulties  with  Bolivia  and  Peru,  flatly  ac- 


cusing the  Peruvians  of  being  disturbers. 
Independence  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  a 
closer  alliance  with  Europe  is  the  suggestion 
of  the  Argentinian  editor.  Chile  is  noto- 
riously actuated  by  the  same  springs  that 
move  Argentina  in  this  matter,  despite  the 
fact  that  the  two  governments  have  an 
open  dispute  relative  to  the  boundary  be- 
tween them. 

3.  These  agitators  forget  that  whatever 
of  independence  in  politics  or  popular  gov- 
ernment exists  below  the  Rio  Grande  del 
Norte,  all  the  way  to  Puentas  Arenas,  is 
enjoyed  by  the  people  because  of  the  Monroe 
doctrine.  Dr.  Brum's  idea  is  more  in  line 
with  the  general  sentiment  of  the  Americas, 
both  North  and  South,  and  we  believe  it  will 
grow  much  faster  than  the  unwise  proposal 
of  the  Argentinians,  which  would  open  the 
way  to  much  contention  if  not  actual  con- 
flict. The  United  States  is  not  ready  to 
give  up  its  traditional  stand  in  this  matter, 
but  will  continue  to  cultivate  a  more  intimate 
relation  with  its  southern  contemporaries. 
A  League  of  American  nations  would  help 
much  along  this  line. 

In  this  editorial,  HHl  and  2  inform  us  respectively 
of  the  attitude  of  Uruguay  and  the  attitude  of  Argen- 
tina and  Chile  toward  the  United  States.  They  thus 
have  the  effect  of  collective  summary.  However,  the 
same  111  not  only  consist  of  comment  in  addition  to 
summary,  but  also  prepare  for  the  consideration  to 
which  ^3  is  devoted  ;  hence  we  are  at  liberty  to  call 
the   editorial   one   of   running   summary-and-comment, 

SHAME  ON  HARVARD-RADCLIFFE! 

New  York  World 

1.  What  is  the  matter  with  Harvard? 
Among  its  distinguished  sons  General 
Leonard  Wood  holds  top  rank.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Overseers  he  adds  im- 
mensely to  the  prestige  and  dignity  of  that 
illustrious  body.  To  the  university  that 
nurtured  and  sheltered  him  in  the  days  of 
his  youth  he  has  many  times  repaid  his  debt 
by  carrying  its  fame  to  distant  corners  of 
the  world. 

2.  Yet  when  the  opportunity  to  root  for 
Wood  as  a  presidential  candidate  is  pre- 
sented. Harvard  reveals  a  shameful  indif- 
ference to  his  political  ambitions  and  its 
own  claims  to  the  presidential  succession. 
The  chance  to  send  a  fourth  Harvard  man 
to  the  White  House  finds  it  wanting  in  the 
right  college  spirit.  The  faculty  might  be 
expected  to  rise  like  one  man  and  acclaim 
him  as  Cambridge's  favorite  son,  but  it 
basely  deserts  him  for  the  graduate  of  an 
institution  as  far  away  from  New  England 
as  the  Pacific  Coast.  It  is  a  painful  story 
of  ingratitude  to  relate,  but  in  a  total  of 
358  the  faculty  vote  stood  281  for  Hoover 
to  only  52  for  General  Wood. 


42 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


3.  And  Radcliffe?  Military  glory  and 
brass  buttons  and  khaki  and  the  virile  vir- 
tues and  all  that,  according  to  accepted 
theories,  should  cause  a  tremendous  flutter- 
ing of  the  hearts  among  young  women  of  an 
impressionable  age.  But  Radcliffe  students 
were  as  false  to  the  dictates  of  sentiment  as 
Harvard's  faculty  and  lined  up  190  strong 
for  Hoover  to  only  37  for  Wood. 

4.  When  such  things  are  possible  it  is 
enough  to  make  the  men  and  women  of  an 
older  generation  despair  of  the  future  of 
the  Republic.  Who  can  tell  what  might 
happen  if  Columbia's  faculty  and  Colum- 
bia's student  body  were  to  take  a  test  vote 
on  President  Nicholas  Murray  Butler  as  a 
presidential  candidate  ? 

This  editorial  is  a  news-editorial  only  in  the  doubt- 
ful sense  that  it  is  hung  upon  a  news-item.  It  is 
prompted  by  the  amusing  fact  that  a  straw  vote  has 
not  shown  the  results  that  a  well-behaved  straw  vote 
ought  to  show;  and  also  perhaps  a  little  by  the  fact 
that  Tlie  World  is  a  Democrat  paper,  and  was  friendly 
to  Mr.  Hoover  as  a  possible  Democrat  candidate,  and 
unfriendly  "on  general  principles"  to  General  Wood 
as  a  possible  Republican  candidate.  We  may  charac- 
terize the  editorial  as  a  casual  newshung  editorial  of 
humor,  tinged  with  political  opinion. 

Christian   Science  Monitor 

1.  Correlation  of  news  often  brings  some 
interesting  results.  Taken  individually, 
with  lapses  of  time  sufficient  to  generate  a 
"smoke  screen,"  the  various  items  appear 
innocent  enough,  but  a  glance  back  over  the 
gasoline  prices,  for  instance,  argues  to  the 
contrary.  Not  long  ago  the  price  of  this 
commodity  was  advanced,  ostensibly  because 
of  a  shortage.  Then,  after  the  ripples  of 
objection  had  been  prevented  from  becom- 
ing waves  of  action,  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Mines  reported  a  "decided  im- 
provement in  stocks,  compared  with  a  year 
or  two  ago.  At  the  end  of  March,  this  year, 
the  stocks  totaled  626,393,000  gallons,  where- 
as in  March,  1918,  the  figure  was  526,383,000 
gallons."  Now  comes  the  report  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  of  New  Jersey  for 
the  year  ended  January  1,  1920.  After 
charges  and  taxes  were  deducted,  the  sur- 
plus was  $77,985,684.  The  surplus  at  the 
end  of  the  preceding  fiscal  year  was  $58,- 
109,919.  This  is  an  increase  in  the  surplus 
of  almost  $20,000,000.  Since  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary of  this  year  wholesale  gasoline  prices 
have  been  increased  about  20  per  cent.  In- 
teresting questions  that  naturally  arise  from 
this  correlation  are:  To  what  figure  will  the 
increase  in  the  price  of  gasoline  enlarge  the 
surplus  next  year,  and  how  far  were  the 
reasons  given  for  the  advance  founded  on 
business  necessity? 

This  editorial  assembles  items  that  otherwise  the 
reader  would  not  see  together.  In  this  it  is  like  a 
news-editoria  of  the  collective-summary  kind.  In 
interjecting  comment,  it  is  like  the  news-editorial  of 


running  summary-and-comment.  But  in  introducin 
the  news-facts,  not  for  informational  but  for  argt 
mentative    purposes,     it    withdraws    itself    from    th 


news-editorial  class. 


ROBBERY  AS  A  BUSINESS  > 

Indianapolis  News  ^ 

1.  Attempts  were  made  to  rob  thirty 
Indiana  banks  during  the  first  eleven  mont>^ 
of  last  year.  Nine  were  frustrated.  In  i)ti< 
others  the  losses  ranged  all  the  way  frof} 
$5  to  $28,000.  Twenty-three  attempts  wer 
made  to  rob  Indiana  banks  since  the  cr-.n 
pilation  was  made.  Thus,  while  it  tool 
practically  eleven  months  to  show  thirty-on' 
robberies  last  year,  the  record  of  four  ant 
one-half  months — up  to  the  present  date- 
shows  twenty-three. 

2.  In  the  robbery  of  a  South  Bend  banl 
a  few  days  ago  the  robbers  did  not  wea: 
masks.  They  held  up  the  officials  and  es 
caped  in  daylight  with  $10,000.  Other  baiJ 
robberies  have  not  been  conducted  s( 
boldly.  The  towns  visited  during  the  las- 
four  and  one-half  months  were  Brooklyn 
Brownsburg,  Chrisney,  Churubusco,  Claj 
City,  East  Chicago,  Fishers,  Francisco,  Ful 
ton,  Gosport,  Highlands,  Lawrence,  Merom 
Michigantown,  Moreland,  Morgantown,  New 
port.  New  Richmond,  Oxford,  Poneto,  West' 
ville  and  one  or  two  other  places. 

3.  Most  of  the  towns  mentioned  are 
small,  but  at  Churubusco  the  amount  re- 
ported stolen,  was  $25,000.  Ten  of  the 
twenty-three,  attempts  were  unsuccessful 
General  robbery  is  on  the  increase.  On€ 
explanation  is  that  the  high  cost  of  every- 
thing has  driven  people  to  thievery.  An- 
other is  that  many  people  do  not  want  tc 
perform  any  labor  in  return  for  the  monej 
they  spend.  At  any  rate,  bank  robbing 
now  seems  to  be  a  profession  rather  than  an 
exciting  way  to  spend  idle  hours. 

HI.  Emphasizing  re-presentation  of  news-repoi  s, 
condensed,  with  interpretation  of  the  data. 
1f2.  Amplification  of  the  re-presentation  by  (a)  selec- 
tion of  an  outstanding  incident  and  (b)  enumeration 
of  towns.  (The  enumeration,  besides  stimulating  in- 
terest through  mention  of  local  names,  gives  impres- 
siveness  because  of  the  length  of  the  list.) 
113.  Amplification  continued  in  a  synopsis  of  addi- 
tional interesting  facts.  Following  this  are  sentences 
dealing  with  matters  of  interpretation  and  conclusion, 
(Query  for  student:  Would  it  be  better  to  put  these 
sentences  in  a  separate  H?) 

The  editorial  may  be  classified  as  one  of  abstract 
and   r§sum§    combined   with    running    comment. 

A  SORE  SPOT  UNDER  OUR  FLAG 

New  York   Evening   Post 

1.  The  report  just  issued  on  the  Virgin 
Islands  by  a  visiting  committee  of  Congress 
reveals  the  urgent  need  of  reform.  The 
basic  maladies  of  the  islands  closely  re- 
semble those  of  Porto  Rico,  and  seem  of 
about  equal  gravity.  The  population  is 
dense— over  26,000  for  135  square  miles— 


NEWS   AND   NEWS-SUMMARY   EDITORIALS 


43 


dth  almost  no  manufacturing  and  with 
onsiderable  areas  uncultivable.  In  St. 
!roix,  where  sugar  raising  has  been  most 
eveloped,  the  sugar  lands  are,  as  in  Porto 
Lie  s  largely  in  the  hands  of  a  few  com- 
mies. Four-fifths  of  the  people  are 
throes  and  most  of  the  rest  are  of  mixed 
lood.  When  the  recent  labor-union  move- 
lent  began,  testified  the  union  head,  "thou- 
ands  of  laborers  were  living  under  the 
^prst  conditions;  they  were  paid  about  20 
y'25  cents  a  day,  and  they  were  ill-treated 
tthe  hands  of  the  employers."  This  means 
hat  the  home  of  the  ordinary  laborer  and 
is  family  was  often  "just  two  boxes  and  a 
ew  pieces  of  board  to  lie  on,"  and  that  the 
leople  were  undernourished  and  sickly. 
Vages  went  to  35  cents  in  1916  and  now  are 
1,  a  sum  still  much  too  low.  Infant  mor- 
ality is  high — 300  children  were  born  in 
!t.  Thomas  in  1919  and  176  died.  As  for 
ducation,  no  instruction  above  the  grades 
3  given,  there  are  not  enough  schoolhouses 
or  regular  attendance,  and  the  teachers — 
nostly  natives — are  paid  about  $25  a  month. 
2.  Already,  under  the  Navy  Department's 
dministration,  some  improvements  have 
een  effected,  especially  in  health.  The 
nortality  rate,  which  hovered  near  32  a 
housand  under  Denmark,  was  brought  down 
0  24.3  in  1918,  and  infant  mortality  has 
alien  38  per  cent.  But  the  islands  need 
)etter  communication  with  the  outside 
vorld,  which  means  that  the  Shipping  Board 
nust  give  them  attention  and  that  funds 
nust  be  appropriated  for  harbor  improve- 
nent.  They  need  a  water  system — in  one 
•ecent  year  water  actually  had  to  be  im- 
)orted — and  a  sewerage  system.  The  Agri- 
ultural  Department  must  teach  the  natives 
rodern  farming.  In  these  and  other  ways 
^  can  make  our  purchase  of  the  islands  a 
essing  to  their  people. 


J 


Abstracting  summary,  with  a  few  touchings  of  com- 
nent. 

DEFLATION 


5.  The  price-cut  movement  is  spreading 
from  coast  to  coast  and  in  many  lines  of 
commodities,  but  particularly  clothing. 

6.  Governor  Harding  of  the  Federal  Re- 
serve Board  "thinks  that  the  drop  in  prices 
comes  as  a  result  of  restriction  of  credits, 
and  that  it  will  keep  up  until  the  country  is 
back  upon  a  sound  basis." 

7.  Trading  in  the  Fall  River  cloth  market 
during  the  week  was  the  quietest  in  two 
years.  "Sales,  it  is  estimated,  did  not  exceed 
12,000  pieces." 

8.  The  British  Government  wool  auction 
at  Boston  was  even  less  successful  on  Friday 
than  it  had  been  on  Thursday,  only  24  per 
cent  of  the  offerings  being  taken. 

9.  Paris  sends  word  that  the  American 
economy  campaign^  has  made  itself  felt 
there.  Many  buyers  who  are  in  Paris  on 
behalf  of  large  department  stores  in  the 
United  States  have  been  directed  to  buy  less 
than  they  first  intended. 

10.  Thus  the  story  goes.  It  all  points  to 
readjustment  and  deflation. 

An  excellent  example  of  collective  news-r§8um6. 
The  facts  here  are  assembled  to  support  a  conclusion. 

Observe  the  3-stage  structure:  Stage  1,  HI.  Stage 

2,  1112-9.  Stage  3.  HIO. 

SPAIN'S  INVERTED  STRIKE 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

1.  The  lockout  in  Spain,  though  less  com- 
plete in  fact  than  in  threat,  does  admittedly 
affect  the  city  of  Barcelona,  the  single  great 
industrial  center  of  the  country.  Out  of  a 
population  of  hardly  600,000,  the  employees 
cast  out  of  work,  as  Madrid  concedes,  num- 
ber 40,000.  The  number  has  increased  since 
the  lockout  started,  a  sign  that  the  move- 
ment developed  power  enough  to  draw  in 
supporters  hesitant  at  first. 

2.  It  is  possible  that  the  Spanish  authori- 
ties have  avoided  giving  any  particulars  re- 
lating to  the  number  of  those  in  Barcelona 
who  remain  at  work.  The  early  dispatches 
sent  here  did  not  contain  this  information. 
In  an  industrial  city  of  such  a  size  at  least 
one-quarter  of  the  population  might  be  num- 
bered among  the  industrially  employed.  The 
40,000  would  form  barely  more  than  one- 
quarter  of  this  quarter.  The  failure  of  the 
authorities  to  announce  that  the  other  110,- 
000  remain  at  work  is  conspicuous. 

3.  A  sudden  rise  in  the  cost  of  neces- 
saries within  the  city  gives  odd  but  signifi- 
cant token  of  the  disturbed  state  of  mind 
among  the  citizens.  The  workers*  syndical 
organization  has  issued  a  proclamation 
threatening  "energetic"  measures;  a  menace 
quite  comprehensible,  though  vaguely  word- 
ed. Violence,  should  they  resort  to  it,  will 
only  damage  the  industrial  plants  needful 
for  the  workers'  own  future  employment. 


44 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


4.  The  whole  thing  is  a  strike  reversed, 
a  strike  of  employers.  As  so  frequently 
happens,  the  courts  fail  to  render  prompt 
and  sufficient  aid.  Those  struck  against  in 
this  case  can  no  more  afford  to  destroy  the 
employers'  property  than  the  employers  in 
a  normal  strike  can  afford  to  drive  their 
indispensable  though  fractious  working  force 
out  of  town.  As  in  other  great  labor  alterca- 
tions, the  public  will  no  doubt  suffer  the 
chief  hardship. 

Here  is  a  full-blown  example  of  the  news-editorial, 
involving   abstract,    abridgment,   and    comment. 

TEXAS  HAS  THE  TURKEYS 

Houston  Post 

1.  With  a  coal  strike  impending,  a  rail- 
road strike  threatened  and  the  soda-jerkers 
preparing  to  walk  out,  the  clouds  hang 
heavy  over  the  Eastern  cities.  But  there  is 
a  rift  in  the  blackness  of  the  outlook,  to  be 
found  in  the  announcement  that  Texas  will 
be  ready  to  send  to  New  York  and  its 
suburbs  more  than  the  usual  number  of 
turkeys  for  their  holiday  dinners. 

2.  Now,  if  the  East  can  manage  to  get 
fuel  for  cooking  and  to  keep  the  railroads 
busy,  Texas  will  do  its  part  in  furnishing 
the  table  for  the  long-suffering  East  on 
Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  days. 

3.  Reports  from  many  sections  of  Texas 
tell  of  the  larger  crop  of  turkeys  raised  this 
year.  In  spite  of  the  wet  and  unfavorable 
weather,  authentic  trade  reports  indicate  a 
much  larger  supply  of  turkeys  than  was 
raised  last  year.  Texas  will  have  not  only 
enough  for  providing  the  tables  of  her  own 
people  with  holiday  feasts,  but  will  send 
many  carloads  to  those  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, chiefly  the  Eastern  cities,  where  a  tur- 
key is  seen  by  the  majority  of  the  popula- 
tion only  after  he  has  been  dressed  and 
baked  and  is  ready  to  be  served. 

4.  With  Federal  restrictions  removed,  a 
favorable  season  for  the  growers  and  ship- 
pers is  in  prospect — provided  transportation 
is  not  tied  up  by  a  strike.  The  turkeys  for 
the  holiday  tables  will  put  several  millions 
of  dollars  into  the  hands  of  Texas  farmers 
and  poultry  growers,  which  insures  some 
holiday  festivities  in  Texas  also  this  year. 

5.  Meantime  the  East,  gazing  longingly 
in  this  direction  and  conjuring  up  visions  of 
the  annual  holiday  dinners,  may  rest  as- 
sured that  Texas  is  ready  with  an  abun- 
dance. Just  keep  traffic  open  and  send  along 
the  cash. 

The  collective  summary  of  Ifl  is  employed  merely  as 
an  interest-hightener.  Observe  how  the  news  on 
which  the  editorial  concentrates  is  so  treated  as  to 
adapt  it  not  only  to  Texas  readers  (home-subject 
editorial),  but  also  to  readers  elsewhere. 


A  NAVY  FOR  CANADA 

Boston  Herald 

1.  Canada  is  without  a  navy.  The  order 
went  forth  in  March  from  the  ministry  of 
marine  to  "scrap"  her  little  fleet.  It  con- 
sisted of  two  antiquated  British  cruisers, 
one  stationed  at  Halifax  for  the  Atlantic  and 
the  other  at  Esquimault  for  the  Pacific, 
with  a  number  of  auxiliaries,  yachts, 
trawlers  and  various  small  vessels  which 
were  employed  for  coast  defense  during  the 
war.  Since  the  Dominion  attained  the  status 
of  nationhood  she  has  felt  the  need  of  some- 
thing worthier  the  name  of  navy  than  the 
makeshift  which  has  gone.  Viscount  Jellicoe 
has  inspected  her  doors  on  the  two  great 
oceans,  considered  her  requirements  and  re- 
sources, and  presented  several  schemes  of 
naval  defense  from  which  she  may  make  a 
choice. 

2.  Discussing  the  situation  in  the  current 
number  of  the  American  Review  of  Reviews, 
Sir  Patrick  Thomas  McGrath  says  that  the 
Jellicoe  report  puts  before  the  Canadian  gov- 
ernment four  alternatives,  ranging  in  an- 
nual cost  of  upkeep  from  $5,000,000,  for  a 
coast  defense  or  purely  local  force,  to 
$25,000,000  for  a  naval  arm  proportionate  to 
Britain's.  He  refers  to  the  adverse  crit- 
icism of  the  report  in  the  Canadian  Parlia- 
ment on  the  ground  that,  the  war  being 
over  and  Germany  powerless,  the  naval  ex- 
penditure would  be  wasteful.  But  he  be- 
lieves that  a  compromise  is  likely. 

3.  "The  Imperial  Government,"  he  says, 
"has  offered  Canada  a  free  gift  of  effective 
British  warcraft  costing  originally  $16,000,- 
000,  and  Canada  proposes  to  operate  them, 
which  will  cost  her  $2,500,000  a  year,  while 
as  others  are  required  in  the  future  she 
will  build  them  in  her  own  shipyards  and 
man  them  from  the  mercantile  marine 
which  she  is  now  working  in  conjunction 
with  her  railways."  This,  we  presume,  is 
the  probable  "compromise"  to  which  he 
alludes.  If  it  be  adopted,  it  will  give  our 
Canadian  friends  an  easy  and  effective  start, 
free  *from  incitement  to  ambitious  naval 
competition. 

An  editorial  of  running  r6sum§  and  interpretation, 
including  a  distinct  newspeg  (Ifl).  The  remaining  ^i 
are  in  the  nature  of  survey  and  comment. 

SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

Providence  Journal 

1.  The  recent  general  election  in  the 
Union  of  South  Africa  threatened  to  seat  a 
Parliament  that  would  be  strong  for  separa- 
tion from  the  British  Empire  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  independent  republic.  Though 
the  results  sufficiently  assure  the  failure  of 
this  movement,  the  Nationalist  party,  which 
represented    it,    has    made    extraordinary 


NEWS   AND   NEWS-SUMMARY   EDITORIALS 


45 


gains.  The  South  African  party,  headed 
by  General  Smuts,  lost  fourteen  seats,  as 
compared  with  its  situation  in  the  War 
Parliament,  elected  five  years  ago;  the 
Unionists  lost  fifteen,  while  the  Nationalists 
gained  sixteen.  There  are  twenty-one  La- 
borites,  as  compared  with  four  in  the  last 
Parliament,  and  three  Independents. 

2.  The  separatists  made  the  paramount 
issue,  and  General  Smuts  faced  it  with 
characteristic  courage.  He  challenged  the 
propagandists  to  tell  him  wherein  South 
Africa  lacked  independence,  and  declared: 
"We  are  few  whites  settled  amid  millions 
of  mentally  advancing  blacks,  and  we  have 
gold  mines  which  some  great  Power  would 
at  once  endeavor  to  seize  if  the  British  flag 
went."  In  behalf  of  separation,  the  Na- 
tionalists pictured  the  protection  of  the 
country  under  the  League  of  Nations.  But 
General  Smuts,  though  he  had  had  more  to 
do  with  drafting  the  covenant  than  Mr. 
Wilson,  insisted  that  the  British  flag  is  more 
dependable. 

3.  The  Nationalist  forces  came  through, 
nevertheless,  with  three  more  seats  than 
Smuts  won.  Fortunately,  he  will  be  sup- 
ported on  the  issue  by  the  twenty-five 
Unionists.  And  the  Labor  party  is  not  to 
be  regarded  as  anti-imperial.  In  its  attitude 
toward  important  domestic  affairs  the  new 
Parliament  may  be  an  uncertain  one.  But 
it  is  evidently  going  to  be  steady  if  the 
question  of  separation  should  come  up  in 
any  form. 

4.  The  leader  of  the  separatists  is  one 
Hertzog.  An  incident  relating  to  him  that 
occurred  during  the  war  may  be  recalled. 
In  the  Capetown  Assembly  he  boasted  of 
his  German  ancestry,  which  called  from 
General  Botha  this  observaton:  "Only  the 
freedom  which  my  honorable  friend  knows 
he  is  safe  under  when  the  British  flag  con- 
fers it,  allows  him  to  make  that  statement." 

This  is  an  editorial  in  which  the  news-facts  are 
enumerated  successively  in  connection  with  passages 
of  survey  and  interpretation.  It  may  therefore  be 
called  either  a  news-editorial  of  summary-and-com- 
ment,  an  editorial  of  survey  (Ch.  V,  or  one  of  inter- 
pretation   (Ch.  VI). 

SERVANT  PROBLEM  SERIOUS 


Half-Dozen  Customers  for  Every  Girl  Who 
Applies  at  Public  Employment  Office — 
Hotel  Help  May  Come  with  Close  of 
Schools 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  "What  shall  we  do  for  help?"  con- 
tinues to  be  the  perplexing  question  of  the 
household.  The  demand  is  so  great  that  six 
or  more  persons  await  every  applicant  at 
the  oflice  of  the  public  employment  bureau 
of  the  Massachusetts  Department  of  Labor 


and  Industries  at  8  Kneeland  street.  House- 
work girls  are  daily  leaving  their  employ- 
ment to  seek  positions  at  higher  wages,  and 
housewives  are  particularly  anxious  at  the 
beginning  of  the  summer  season,  when 
houses  are  being  opened  in  the  country  and 
at  the  shore. 

2.  The  month  of  May,  according  to  the 
records  of  the  Public  Employment  Office, 
shows  an  increase  in  the  demand  for  help 
from  employers  of  thirty -two  per  cent  over 
the  same  month  last  year;  also  an  increase 
of  seven  per  cent  over  April  this  year.  The 
number  of  positions  reported  filled  show  an 
increase  of  eighteen  per  cent  over  last  year 
and  an  increase  of  three  per  cent  over  last 
month. 

3.  May  began  with  a  good  demand  for 
carpenters  and  painters,  with  a  fair  supply 
of  applicants.  There  were  a  number  of  car- 
penters wanted  for  out-of-town  jobs,  at 
union  wages,  but  applicants  turned  them 
down  in  favor  of  places  in  the  city  proper. 
The  second  week  in  May  brought  out  a 
better  general  demand  for  help  than  for  the 
past  two  months,  which  was  met  with  a  fair 
supply  of  applicants.  Machinists,  helpers, 
electricians,  also  foundry  and  general  helpers 
were  in  heavy  demand  for  arsenal  work; 
while  the  demand  for  reamers,  riveters  and 
able-bodied  laborers  for  shipyard  work  was 
very  active  during  the  earlier  part  of  the 
month,  but  began  to  slacken  toward  the 
end.  There  is  less  activity  in  the  boot  and 
shoe,  textile  and  printing  industries,  with  a 
good  supply  of  applicants  on  hand.  Engi- 
neers' and  firemen's  jobs  are  scarce  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  applicants.  There 
is  a  big  supply  of  male  applicants  for  office 
and  clerical  work,  with  very  few  opportuni- 
ties for  placing  them. 

4.  In  the  male  unskilled  department  the 
call  has  been  for  able-bodied  laborers,  farm 
hands  and  kitchen  men.  The  outlook  for  the 
farmer  in  obtaining  the  help  he  needs  is  far 
from  encouraging,  and,  although  wages  are 
twice  and  in  some  cases  three  times  higher 
than  pre-war  rates,  there  are  very  few  ap- 
plicants. 

5.  There  is  considerable  activity  for 
kitchen  men  and  culinary  workers,  both  for 
city  and  summer  resorts,  with  a  small  sup- 
ply. The  supply  of  able-bodied  laborers  for 
inside  and  outside  work  is  not  sufficient  to 
cover  the  demand. 

6.  There  are  many  demands  for  boys  for 
all  descriptions  of  work,  but  the  wages  are 
not  sufficient  to  attract  them.  This  condi- 
tion, however,  will  end  as  soon  as  the  schools 
close  for  the  summer,  and  boys  will  soon 
find  it  difficult  to  secure  a  place  for  the  next 
two  months. 


46 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


7.  Hotel  help  for  the  summer  resorts  has 
been  the  principal  feature  of  the  women's 
department  this  month,  with  a  supply  that 
has  been  variable,  but  the  coming  month  is 
expected  to  assist  the  supply  very  mate- 
rially, owing  to  the  closing  of  colleges  and 
schools.  Clerical  workers  are  in  fair  de- 
mand at  wages  which  are  no  inducement  to 
the  applicants;  whereas  there  are  a  number 
of  beginners  in  stenography  in  the  market, 
but  there  is  a  demand  for  only  experienced 
help  at  higher  wages.  The  demand  for 
nurses  and  attendants  in  State  institutions 
continues  to  be  very  heavy,  with  a  very 
small  supply. 

8.  During  the  month  1455  service  men 
(1088  ex-soldiers  and  367  sailors)  visited  the 
office  in  search  of  work.  Of  these,  398  were 
willing  to  accept  positions  open  and  were 
sent  out,  and  177  of  them  (121  soldiers  and 
56  sailors)  were  placed. 

In  this  we  have  a  news-story  or  an  editorial  ac- 
cording as  we  choose  to  regard  it.  It  as  printed  in 
the  news-columns  as  local  news.  It  clearly  is  news 
of  local  conditions,  in  the  form  of  a  review  and 
survey.  But  it  is  also  in  the  form  of  an  editorial 
rSsumS,  with  interpretive  touches  and  a  general  in- 
terpretive effect,  and  if  the  editorial  policy  of  an 
individual  paper  favored  special  attention  to  local- 
news  subjects  on  the  editorial  page,  it  could  prop- 
erly be  printed  as  a  home-news  editorial.  For  the 
editorial  page,  however,  it  is  unnecessarily  detailed, 
and  a  better  way  would  be  to  print  it  as  news, 
printing  also  a  brief  emphasizing  editorial  in  which 
to  point  out  the  significant  aspects  of  the  subject. 

RETAILERS'  RULES  FOR  CENSORING 
ADVERTISING 

Western  Advertising 

1.  Poor  phrasing  and  the  careless  selec- 
tion of  words,  is  more  noticeable  in  retail 
store  advertising  than  in  almost  any  other 
form.  That  comes  naturally  through  the 
great  haste  with  which  retail  copy  has  to 
be  prepared  compared  with  the  greater 
length  of  time  most  other  advertisers  enjoy. 

2.  Writing  to  meet  press  schedules,  it  is 
so  easy  to  slip  into  terms  of  exaggeration 
and  shadings  of  the  truth,  that  one  depart- 
ment-store head  has  issued  a  little  booklet  of 
rules  on  the  subject.  In  it  are  set  forth  the 
customary  words  and  phrases  of  the  trade 
with  reasons  why  they  may  or  may  not  be 
used.    Following  are  a  few  examples: 

3.  "All  sizes."  The  use  of  this  phrase  is 
permitted  only  when  a  complete  stock  of 
all  sizes  is  on  hand. 

4.  "Bargain"  (as  applied  to  goods  quoted 
below  regular  price)  is  a  word  the  public 
understands,  and  its  use  is  permitted  where 
circumstances  warrant. 

5.  "Best"  is  prohibited.  Frequent  mis- 
use of  the  word  has  deprived  it  of  its  mean- 
ing, and  it  is  impossible  to  tell  just  when  its 
application  is  correct. 


6.  "Choice  of  the  house"  or  "Entire 
stock."  These  phrases  are  permitted  only 
where  every  article  is  in  stock  and  where  no 
reserve  supply  is  held  back. 

7.  "Cost,"  "At  cost"  or  "Below  cost"  are 
not  allowed  because  the  public  is  very  likely 
to  look  upon  them  with  suspicion. 

8.  "Ever  before"  is  a  meaningless  phrase 
and  is  not  used. 

9.  "Fortunate  purchase,"  "Sample  lot" 
and  "Manufacturers'  overstock"  are  not 
allowed  to  stimulate  interest  in  goods  from 
regular  stock.  When  used  they  must  apply 
truthfully  to  conditions. 

10.  "Sale"  and  "On  sale"  are  limited  to 
goods  and  occasions  where  actual  reductions 
from  regular  prices  are  made. 

11.  "Half  price,"  "One-third  off"  and 
similar  phrases  are  only  permitted  where 
prices  are  actually  one-half,  one-third  or 
more  off. 

12.  "Last  season's"  is  O.  K.  if  it  ex- 
presses the  truth. 

13.  "Limited  quantity."  The  use  of  this 
is  encouraged  where  the  supply  is  likely  to 
be  exhausted  before  the  end  of  the  day. 

14.  "Never  before"  and  "Never  again" 
are  prohibited. 

15.  "Not  all  sizes"  is  misleading.  Sizes 
should  be  stated,  if  possible,  giving  the 
amount  of  each,  if  all  sizes  are  not  on  hand. 

16.  "Not  the  latest"  to  be  used  only  when 
goods  are  not  entirely  out  of  date. 

17.  "Regular  price  should  be"  or  "Would 
be"  or  "Made  to  sell  for"  are  phrases  used 
when  goods  are  advertised  that  were  bought 
below  the  market  price. 

18.  "Seconds"  or  "Run  of  the  mill" 
should  always  be  used  in  an  advertisement 
of  such  goods. 

19.  "Sold  elsewhere  at"  is  misleading 
and  therefore  not  accepted. 

20.  "Special,"  "Special  price"  or  "Special 
sale"  must  be  complied  with  literally.  Price 
in  each  instance  must  be  below  regular. 

21.  "The  latest,"  "The  newest"  must  ex- 
press absolute  truth. 

22.  "Usually  sold  for"  does  not  refer  to 
competitors'  prices,  but  to  the  store's  own, 
and  means  the  same  as  regular  price. 

23.  "Value"  is  another  meaningless  word 
because  of  over-use.  It  is  also  difficult  to 
judge  the  exact  value  of  any  particular 
article. 

24.  "Width  of  merchandise"  should  only 
be  used  in  stating  width  as  it  is  at  that 
time;  not  as  it  was  before  bleaching  or 
shrinking. 

25.  "Worth  up  to"  is  forbidden  because 
it  allows  for  too  much  misrepresentation. 
Lowest  as  well  as  highest  price  must  be 
stated. 


NEWS  AND   NEWS-SUMMARY   EDITORIALS 


47 


26.  These  are  simple  rules  of  precaution, 
but  they  no  doubt  account  in  no  small  degree 
for  this  store's  remarkable  following. 

The  news  in  this  editorial  is  "class"  news.  Class- 
news  is  news  of  concern  to  a  particular  class  of 
readers — in  this  instance,  advertising-men  and  adver- 
tising retailers.  The  preparation  of  honest,  yet  at- 
tractive, advertising  is  of  constant  interest  to  this 
class.  Hence  an  editorial  that,  by  re-presenting  it, 
emphasizes  news  bearing  on  the  practice  of  adver- 
tising, will  command  attention  from  them.  The 
editorial  page  of  the  trade  and  the  class  journals  is 
an  influential  part  of  such  publications,  providing 
well-informed,  sound  and  progressive  consideration  of 
the  many  important  aspects  and  tendencies  of  the 
occupation,  business,  science,  or  profession,  and  thus 
contributing  materially  to  its  vitality  and  healthy 
growth. 

HIGH  PRICES  AND  EXPANDED  CREDIT 

New  York   Evening  Post 

1.  Replying  to  a  Senate  resolution,  which 
asked  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  to  state 
what  have  been  the  causes  of  the  continued 
expansion  of  credits  and  Federal  Reserve 
note  circulation,  the  Governor  of  the  Board 
yesterday  answered  that,  among  many  con- 
tributing causes,  five  are  paramount.  These 
are,  first,  the  great  war  itself;  second,  the 
great  extravagance,  national,  municipal  and 
individual;  third,  the  inefficiency  and  indif- 
ference of  labor,  resulting  in  lessening  pro- 
duction; fourth,  a  shortage  of  transporta- 
tion facilities,  preventing  the  norijial  move- 
ment of  commodities;  fifth,  the  vicious  circle 
of  increasing  wages  and  prices. 

2.  The  Reserve  Board  further  expresses 
the  opinion  that  for  many  months  past,  "the 
expansion  of  bank  credits  in  this  country 
was  proceeding  at  a  rate  not  warranted  by 
the  production  and  consumption  of  goods." 
This  is  a  judgment  which  would  seem  to 
require  particulars,  and  the  particulars  are 
stated.  A  week  ago,  at  the  conference  held 
at  Washington  with  the  Advisory  Council, 
representing  bankers  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  this  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted: 

The  whole  country  is  suffering  from 
inflation  of  prices  with  the  consequent 
inflation  of  credit.  From  reports  made 
by  the  members  of  this  conference, 
representing  every  section  of  the  coun- 
try, it  is  obvious  that  great  sums  are 
tied  up  in  products  which  if  marketed 
would  relieve  necessity,  tend  to  reduce 
the  price  level  and  relieve  the  strain  on 
our  credit  system. 

3.  That  situation  was  ascribed  in  the 
resolution  largely  to  the  blockade  of  trans- 
portation facilities,  which  prevented  the 
prompt  sale  to  consumers  of  goods  held  by 
merchants  on  the  basis  of  bank  loans.  But 
the  Board  itself  goes  somewhat  further,  in 
remarking  that  the  credit  now  absorbed  in 
"frozen  loans"  represents  both  commodities 


held  back  for  lack  of  transportation  and 
commodities  held  back  for  speculation.  One 
partial  sidelight  on  the  extent  of  this  hold- 
ing-back is  given  in  the  last  Federal  Reserve 
Bulletin,  which  reports  for  one  Western  dis- 
trict stocks  of  various  merchandise  on  hand 
ranging  6V2  to  30  per  cent  above  the  same 
date  last  year,  and  for  one  Southern  district 
a  similar  increase  of  9  to  72  per  cent.  It  is 
fair  to  say  that  the  period  of  1919  with 
which  comparison  is  made  was  a  time  when 
merchants'  shelves  were  unusually  bare. 
Nevertheless,  the  increase  is  very  large. 

4.  What,  then,  is  to  be  the  remedy  ?  The 
Reserve  Banks  began  six  months  ago  to  ad- 
vance their  rates  for  rediscounting  loans  of 
other  banks,  but  without  effecting  the  cur- 
tailment of  credit  transactions.  "There  has 
been  no  such  liquidation;  on  the  contrary, 
commercial  loans  have  steadily  increased." 
Therefore  the  time  arrived  when  pressure 
should  be  applied;  when  "unnecessary  and 
habitual  borrowings  should  be  discouraged" 
and  when  "liquidation  of  long-standing,  non- 
essential loans  should  proceed."  This  is 
precisely  what  has  been  going  on,  during  the 
past  week  or  so,  in  various  wholesale  and 
retail  markets.  It  is,  we  suppose,  the  real 
key  to  the  general  situation,  as  the  ab- 
normally high  rates  for  loans  on  Stock  Ex- 
change securities  and  merchants'  paper  were 
the  key  to  it  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. 

5.  The  Board  very  properly  advises 
"gradual  liquidation"  and  avoidance  of 
"drastic  steps"  by  banks.  But  the  process 
is  none  the  less  the  first  essential  step  in 
that  "deflation"  which  the  people  and  the 
economists  have  been  discussing  for  a  year 
or  more.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  course 
of  actual  events  has  carried  the  discussion 
pretty  far  away  from  the  theories  lately 
promulgated  that  the  high  prices  and  the 
inflated  trade  were  solely  a  consequence  of 
an  increased  Reserve  note  circulation. 

An  editorial  of  re-presentation,  in  condensation, 
with  accompanying  interpretation. 

SOME  MARKS  FOR  PROFITEERS 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  Rice,  raisins,  prunes,  canned  salmon, 
salt  pork,  bacon  and  cornmeal  are  among 
the  articles  of  food  the  retail  prices  of  which 
are  so  far  above  where  they  ought  to  be  as 
to  evidence  persistent  and  extensive  prof- 
iteering. As  to  the  first  three,  the  prices 
are  so  far  out  of  joint,  and  the  difficulty  in 
getting  detailed  correct  information  is  so 
great,  that  the  Federal  fair-price  committee 
for  Massachusetts  does  not  feel  warranted  in 
setting  a  proper  retail  figure.  Rice  is  selling 
at  retail  at  prices  varying  from  15  to  20 
cents  a  pound.  These  prices  have  been 
caused  by  excessive  rice  speculation  which 


48 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


has  had  its  center  in  Chicago  and  which  has 
had  wide  and  wild  ramifications.  Reports  of 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission  mention  "big 
five"  packers  as  involved  in  speculative  rice 
deals.  Certain  it  is  that  there  has  been  no 
crop  shortage  to  warrant  the  advance  from 
bV2  cents  a  pound  paid  in  the  winter  of 
1914-15  for  carload  lots  of  rice  secured  in 
Texas  through  the  efforts  of  former  Mayor 
Curley  to  allay  anticipated  famine  in  Boston. 
The  rise  in  rice  may  be  called  purely  spec- 
ulative— largely  profiteering  by  "outsiders." 

2.  As  to  raisins:  various  retailers  are 
charging  from  22  to  50  cents  a  pound,  with 
numerous  camouflaging  package  devices  to 
avoid  selling  directly /by  the  pound.  The 
trade  is  full  of  stories  about  large  quantities 
of  raisins  being  spoiled  in  storage  while  held 
for  high  prices.  Meanwhile  the  Navy  De- 
partment, which  lost  a  liberal  supply,  has 
been  selling  raisins  of  excellent  quality  (pre- 
sumably at  cost)  for  15  cents  a  pound. 

3.  Prunes  are  retailing  in  groceries  at  25 
to  32  cents  a  pound.  Here  again  there  is 
evidence  of  the  speculative  hoarding,  trace- 
able to  Chicago.  Navy  Department  quota- 
tions are  7  pounds  for  63  cents.  War  De- 
partment surplus  sales  have  been  quoted  at 
11  cents  a  pound.  There  is  some  difference 
in  form  of  putting  up  the  goods  sold  by  the 
two  Governmental  departments  at  the 
figures  quoted. 

4.  As  to  salt  pork,  bacon  and  corn  meal, 
high  prices  at  retail  have  been  maintained, 
even  out  of  proportion  to  the  enhanced  value 
of  the  corn  from  which  all  these  originate. 
Corn  at  2%  cents  to  3  cents  a  pound  does 
not  call  for  a  retail  price  of  bV2  to  7  cents  a 
pound  for  corn  meal,  for  the  expense  of 
milling  is  comparatively  small.  Neither  does 
a  price  of  14  cents  a  pound  for  live  hogs 
warrant  33  cents  a  pound  for  salt  pork  or 
36  to  50  cents  a  pound  for  bacon  at  retail. 
To  illustrate  this  is  the  fact  that  the  United 
States  has  sold  many  millions  of  pounds  of 
bacon,  in  small  lots,  at  less  than  23  cents  a 
pound — in  quality  as  good  as  that  retailing 
at  36  to  50  cents  a  pound  in  Boston  stores 
and  markets — and  has  much  more  which  it 
is  ready  to  sell. 

5.  The  story  of  canned  salmon  remains 
to  be  told.  In  the  trade  it  is  said  variously 
that  there  is  a  "corner"  or  a  "great  short- 
age." Retailers  are  asking  from  28  to  33 
cents  a  pound  for  round  cans  containing  one 
pound  of  the  red  salmon.  They  pay  to 
wholesalers  prices  which  indicate  that  the 
retailers  are  making,  in  «most  cases,  no  ex- 
cessive profit.  Yet  the  Navy  department, 
within  the  last  two  weeks,  has  sold,  to  em- 
ployees, large  quantities  of  canned  salmon 
(presumably  at  cost)  at  $6.24  for  48  one- 


pound  cans,  or  exactly  13  cents  a  pound. 
The  lowest  retail  price  quoted  above  is  115 
per  cent  and  the  highest  nearly  154  per  cent 
above  the  Navy  figure.  Both  indicate 
profiteering. 

An  editorial  of  running  enumeration  and  com- 
ment, tending  to  controversial  conclusion.  As  indi- 
cated by  ^1,  sentence  1,  the  editorial  will  deal  with 
news  of  prices  considered  as  the  evidence  of  profiteer- 
ing. It  will  therefore  follow  the  plan  of  the  col- 
lective report  with  interlarded  commentary.  Thus  fl, 
besides  introducing  the  thought,  considers  rice ;  %2 
deals  with  raisins,  and  1f3  with  prunes.  These  Ht  may 
be  called  the  first  section  of  the  editorial. 

The  second  section  is  like  the  first,  except  that  it 
deals  with  foods  of  another  class. 

The  net  effect  of  the  editorial  is,  to  inform  the 
reader  definitely  concerning  the  current  prices  of  im- 
portant articles  of  food,  and  of  certain  other  news 
matters  indicating  that  these  prices  are  excessive : 
and  by  this  means  and  accompanying  comments,  to 
support  the  conclusion  that  profiteering  is  going  on. 
(Compare  Servant  Problem  Serious.) 

VOTE  FOR  CLOSURE  ON  BONUS  BILL 


Steering  Committee  Finally  Agrees  to  Re- 
port It,  But  Four  Members 
Balk  and  Bolt 


ACTION  WOULD  STOP  AMENDMENTS 


Fifty   Republication  Members   Reported  as 

Willing  to  Join  Democrats  to 

Defeat  the  Rule 


Special  to  The  New  York  Times 

1.  Washington,  May  22 — Republican 
House  leaders  suddenly  changed  their  tactics 
today  and  ordered  a  closure  rule  reported  to 
prevent  amendment  of  the  soldier  bonus  bill. 
No  explanation  was  given  for  this  action. 
Republican  members  of  the  Rules  Commit- 
tee, who  were  in  conference  yesterday,  at 
which  it  was  decided  to  postpone  action  on 
the  rule  until  next  week,  denounced  the 
steering  committee  for  breaking  the  agree- 
ment, and  four  of  them,  including  Repre- 
sentative S.  D.  Fess,  Chairman  of  the 
Republican  National  Congress  Committee, 
announced  that  they  intended  to  vote  against 
the  rule  and  the  bill  when  they  appear  in  '■ 
the  House, 

2.  While  the  steering  committee  decided 
to  report  a  rule  which  limits  debate  to  five 
hours,  prevents  amendments  and  permits 
only  a  motion  to  recommit  the  bill,  they  ad- 
mitted tonight  that  they  did  not  know  when 
the  rule  would  be  reported  to  the  House.  It 
was  said  that  they  might  have  the  situation 
sufficiently  in  hand  to  make  a  test  on  next 
Tuesday.  But  nothing  would  be  done,  it 
was  said,  until  the  Republican  leaders  were 
satisfied  that  they  could  control  the  situation. 

3.  The  mere  fact  that  the  rule  was  de- 
cided on  today  does  not  mean,  in  the  opinion 


I 


NEWS  AND   NEWS-SUMMARY   EDITORIALS 


49 


'"^'^.WP' 


of  those  favoring  the  legislation,  that  the 
Republican  majority  can  carry  the  rule  and 
pass  the  bill  as  it  was  reported  by  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee.  Fifty  Republican 
members  are  opposed  to  the  excise  tax  on 
stock  dividends  and  they  are  reported  to  be 
willing  to  join  the  Democrats  to  defeat  the 
rule.  If  this  coalition  should  succeed  and 
amend  the  rule  so  as  to  permit  amendments, 
the  Democrats  in  conjunction  with  their  Re- 
publican allies  would  be  able  to  strike  out 
the  stock  dividends  tax  and  make  other 
changes. 

4.  The  Republican  leaders  are  fully  alive 
to  the  situation.  They  realize  that  if  the  rule 
is  defeated  the  Republican  bolters  and  Dem- 
ocrats can  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  make  it 
unacceptable  to  the  majority,  thus  defeating 
bonus  legislation  and  leaving  the  onus  of 
defeat  upon  the  majority.  It  is  becoming 
apparent  to  those  familiar  with  the  senti- 
ment in  the  House  that  strong  opposition 
has  developed  to  any  bonus  legislation  at 
this  time  and,  even  if  such  a  bill  should  be 
passed  there,  the  Senate  will  not  accept  it  at 
this  session.  Ten  Senators  are  reported  to 
oppose  bonus  legislation. 

5.  The  opinion  of  the  most  conservative 
Republican  leaders  is  that  there  will  be  no 
bonus  legislation  before  Congress  takes  a 
recess  about  June  5,  and  if  it  is  delayed  be- 
yond the  November  elections,  the  prospects 
for  passing  such  a  bill  will  be  remote. 

This  dispatch  was  sent  by  a  Washington  corre- 
spondent and  printed  by  The  Times  as  nev^s— which 
it  is.  Transferred  to  the  editorial  page,  however,  it 
might  be  printed  as  an  editorial  combining  the  char- 
acteristics of  classes  IV,  V  and  VI— the  news-editorial. 
the  survey,  and  the  interpretation.  It  is  here  repro- 
duced to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  news  articles 
reporting  conditions,  the  status  of  opinion,  or  the 
influences  or  other  elements  affecting  a  situation, 
are  frequently  editorial  in  method.  This  is  true  par- 
ticularly of  the  work  of  special  correspondents,  since 
one  of  their  main  duties  is,  to  report,  survey,  and 
interpret  situations  that  are  of  timely  interest. 
(Sometimes  the  editorial  views  of  the  correspondent 
conflict  with  the  position  the  paper  takes  m  its 
editorial  columns.) 

THE  HUN  IN  PEACE 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  What  the  Huns  did  in  time  of  war  in 
Belgium  and  Northern  France  the  horrified 
world  well  knows.  What  they  have  been 
doing  and  are  doing  in  time  of  nominal  peace 
in  a  Polish  province,  which  they  do  not  want 
to  return  to  its  rightful  owners,  the  world 
ought  to  know.  Particularly  ought  it  to  be 
known  by  the  gentlemen  in  Paris  who  lately 
prescribed  terms  of  peace  and  good  behavior, 
and  who  theoretically  have  Germany  under 
their  control  and  Poland  under  their  protec- 
tion. _ 

2.  We  have  lately  heard  much  from  Ger- 
man sources  about  the  "atrocities"  which  the 


"barbarous  Poles"  were  committing  upon 
hapless  Germans  who  had  been  forced  under 
their  rule.  We  have  also  heard  from  such 
sources  something  about  the  activities  of 
German  troops  in  Upper  Silesia  in  combat- 
ing and  suppressing  Bolshevism.  From  Ger- 
man sources;  therefore  presumably  false. 

3.  Now  come  reports  from  credible  ob- 
servers. Christopher  Lumby,  a  correspond- 
ent of  the  London  Times,  is  one  of  the  most 
careful  and  trustworthy  of  writers.  The 
same  is  to  be  said  of  Cameron  Mackenzie  of 
the  London  Morning  Post,  who  is,  we  be- 
lieve, an  American  who  had  an  enviable 
reputation  during  his  years  of  journalistic 
work  in  this  country. 

4.  These  two  correspondents  exactly 
agree  in  their  accounts.  Indeed,  they  have 
issued  a  joint  statement.  They  tell  us  that 
the  German  troops  on  entering  Polish  vil- 
lages "arrested  everyone  they  could  lay 
hands  on — old  men,  young  boys,  women — 
who  were  collected  in  droves  and  made  to 
march,  sometimes  for  hours,  their  hands  held 
above  their  heads.  .  .  .  Their  prisoners 
were  continually  beaten  with  the  butts  of 
rifles  and  pieces  of  wire  cable  and  belting." 

5.  At  one  place  the  floors  of  prison-cells 
in  which  Poles  had  been  confined  "were  so 
covered  with  blood  from  wounds  inflicted  on 
the  prisoners  that  one's  shoes  stuck  in  walk- 
ing over  them."  At  another  place  forty 
Poles  were  shot  by  the  Germans  without 
trial.  All  Poles  found  with  weapons  in  their 
possession  were  shot  without  trial,  by  order 
of  the  German  State  Commissioner,  and 
many  unarmed  Poles  were  shot  immediately 

6.  The  purpose  of  this  deviltry  was  ob- 
vious. A  plebiscite  was  to  be  taken  in  that 
region  to  determine  whether  it  should  belong 
to  Poland  or  to  Germany,  and  the  German 
Government  naturally  wanted  to  "remove" 
as  many  Poles  as  possible  before  the  vote 
was  taken. 

7.  This  was  not  in  August,  1914,  but  m 
August,  1919.  What  was  that  saying  about 
the  inability  of  the  leopard  to  change  his 
spots,  or  the  Hun  his  nature  ? 

fl.     Semi-announcement  of  subject.  12.    Prepara- 
tory to  introducing  the  news  facts. 

113.     Statement  of  authority. 1I1I4-5.    Summary  of 

the  news  facts. 

%Q.     Interpretive    explanation    of    the    facts.    T|7. 

Interpretive    comment,    or    application- 
Chapter  IV.     Exercises. 

1.  Clip  from  the  daily  papers  two  news- 
editorials  of  summary,  and  from  weekly 
journals  two  more.  Paste  each  editorial  on 
a  separate  sheet,  and  opposite  it  write  down 
the  kind  of  summary  that  it  represents — 
collective  astract;  boiled-down  abstract;  ab- 


50 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


stract  with  massed  comment;  or  running 
summary-and-comment.  Have  the  sheets 
ready  for  submission  to  the  instructor. 

2.  Examine  the  news-editorials  of  sum- 
mary found  in  the  daily  papers,  those  found 
in  the  weeklies,  and  those  found  in  the 
monthly  reviews.  Jot  down  their  resem- 
blances and  differences,  and  the  reasons  that 
you  think  account  for  them. 

3.  Using  the  data  got  in  doing  No.  2, 
write  a  paper  of  350-450  words  comparing 
and  contrasting  the  editorials  of  news- 
summary  characteristic  of  the  three  classes 
of  journal. 

4.  Select  some  subject  that  is  command- 
ing continuous  attention  in  the  local  news. 
For  one  week  carefully  follow  this  subject 
in  the  papers,  clipping  and  preserving  all 
the  news-stories  and  editorials  having  refer- 
ence to  it.  Then  write  a  news-editorial 
summarizing  the  significant  news-facts  and 
developments  of  the  week.  (Enclose  your 
clippings  in  an  envelope  and  attach  them 
securely  to  the  copy  in  submitting  the 
editorial.) 

5.  Select  some  important  event  or  hap- 
pening reported  at  length  in  the  telegraph 
news.  Collect  all  the  clippings  that  you  can 
procure,  recounting  or  commenting  upon  the 
matter.  Then  write  a  news-editorial  of 
boiled-down  abstract.  Aim  at  brevity;  in- 
clude the  points  of  prime  significance,  and 


exclude  particulars  and  details  that  are 
merely  of  descriptive  interest  or  secondary 
importance.  The  purpose  of  such  an  edi- 
torial is  to  present  fundamental  facts  only, 
put  into  accurate  perspective.  (Enclose  and 
attach  your  clippings  as  in  No.  4.) 

6.  Select  some  subject  of  current  news 
that  is  commanding  continued  attention; 
collect  clippings  upon  it  for  a  week  or  a 
fortnight;  then  write  a  news-editorial  of 
running  summary-and-comment.    As  in  No. 

5,  deal  with  what  is  of  main  significance 
merely,  aiming  primarily  at  perspective. 

7.  Using  the  material  gathered  for  No. 

6,  write  a  news-editorial  of  massed  sum- 
mary-and-comment. 

8.  Re-examine  the  opening  of  the  edi- 
torials that  you  have  written,  revising  them, 
if  necessary,  to  rid  them  of  stiltedness, 
over-formality,  or  dull  or  mechanical 
manner.  (Often  this  kind  of  editorial  will 
employ  some  form  of  annunciatory  begin- 
ning such  as  is  used  in  the  three-stage  plan.) 

9.  Extend  the  re-examination  to  the  re- 
maining portion  of  the  editorials.  Revise 
these  in  whatever  way  promises  to  increase 
their  clarity,  accuracy,  significance,  and 
effectiveness.  (In  submitting  rewritten 
copy,  the  original  should  be  included.) 

10-13.  Write  additional  editorials,  of  the 
news  or  news-summary  kind,  as  the  in- 
structor may  direct. 


CHAPTER    V 


THE  SUMMARIZING  EDITORIAL  OF  SURVEY  AND  REVIEW 


The     editorial     of     summary. — ^In 

Chapter  IV,  we  considered  editorials 
that  summarize  or  abstract  news. 
But  it  is  evident  that  the  news-edi- 
torial does  not  afford  us  a  complete 
view  of  summarizing  editorials,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  taken  as  their 
only  type.  Indeed,  we  saw  that  the 
news-editorial  sometimes  is  not  a 
summarizing  editorial  at  all — a  fact, 
by  the  way,  that  further  illustrates 
the  overlapping  of  categories  in  at- 
tempts to  classify  editorials  sys- 
tematically. As  we  saw  that  not  all 
news-editorials  are  editorials  of  sum- 
mary, so  now  we  are  to  see  that  not 
all  editorials  of  summary  are  news- 
editorials. 

The  non-news  editorial  of  sum- 
mary.— Often  the  editorial- writer  has 
reason  to  present  an  outline  or  ab- 
stract of  fact  other  than  news-fact — 
of  fact  having  present  interest  or  sig- 
nificance, yet  not  an  immediate  part 
of  the  actual  current  news.  To  il- 
lustrate :  In  a  political  campaign,  the 
attitude  of  a  political  party,  for  or 
against  some  policy,  may  be  brought 
into  question.  The  editorial-writer, 
in  dealing  with  this  question,  writes 
an  editorial,  or  a  series  of  editorials, 
in  which  he  reviews  the  history  of 
the  party  upon  the  principle  in  ques- 
tion. The  matters  presented  are  not 
current  events,  but  matters  of  his- 
torical interest;  though  they  concern 
the  present,  they  constitute  a  survey 
of  the  party's  record  in  the  past. 

A  second  illustration:  When  Ga- 
briele  D'Annunzio,  the  poet,  became 
one  of  the  heroes  of  Italy  through  his 
feats  of  aviation  in  the  great  war, 
and  later,  seizing  Fiume,  made  him- 


self an  insurrectionary  leader  in  be- 
half of  Italy's  territorial  rights,  de- 
fying the  orders  of  the  Entente  allies, 
he  became  the  object  of  widespread 
curiosity.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
persons  who  perhaps  had  never  be- 
fore heard  of  him  suddenly  wished  to 
know  who  and  what  he  was,  and  nu- 
merous editorial  articles  were  printed 
giving  a  brief  review  of  his  life.  This 
history  of  the  poet-fighter  did  not 
present  what  were  primarily  news- 
facts,  but  what  were  biographical 
data ;  they  supplied  a  survey  that  be- 
longed to  the  historical  as  distin- 
guished from  the  contemporaneous. 

The  summary,  of  course,  may  deal 
with  a  contemporary  as  well  as  with  a 
past  subject.  • 

From  news -summary  to  review  and 
survey.  In  doing  the  survey-edi- 
torial, therefore,  the  editorial-writer 
may  (A)  draw  upon  current  news, 
making  his  editorial,  however,  a  re- 
view and  survey  of  the  facts  rather 
than  an  abstract  of  them ;  or  he  may 
(B)  for  material  draw  principally 
upon  other  sources  than  the  news. 
When  he  does  the  former  he  usually 
produces  an  interpretive  news-edi- 
torial. But  when  he  does  the  latter, 
his  survey  has  got  outside  the  limita- 
tions of  current  news. 

When  this  latter  takes  place,  his- 
tories, scientific  works,  annual  re- 
views, yearbooks,  statistical  ab- 
stracts, treatises,  research  reports, 
and  theoretical  and  philosophical  pub- 
lications, are  among  the  many  sources 
of  information  that  he  may  consult 
to  gather  the  information  that  he 
needs. 


52 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Need  of  extensive  reading. — As  a 

consequence,  so  constant  and  impera- 
tive is  the  need  of  the  editorial- 
writer  for  authoritative  knowledge 
upon  almost  every  subject,  that  his 
general  reading,  not  to  speak  of  his 
special  investigational  study,  would 
to  the  ordinary  hit-or-miss  reader 
seem  a  staggering  task.  One  of  the 
chief  weaknesses  of  the  apprentice  or 
as  yet  undeveloped  writer,  whether 
of  editorials  or  of  other  articles,  is 
lack  of  thorough,  broad,  and  specific 
information.  He  makes  the  mistake 
of  thinking  that,  if  only  he  has  an 
opinion  and  some  smattering  of  facts, 
he  has  all  that  is  necessary  for  the 
building  of  an  article ;  and  with  igno- 
rant self-confidence  he  turns  into  the 
primrose  entrance  of  the  path  to  the 
everlasting  waste  basket.  One  cannot 
write  editorials  without  sound  knowl- 
edge, and  eternal  reading  is  the  price 
— or  one  part  of  it — of  knowledge. 

Information  from  non -printed 
sources. — But  printed  matter  is  not 
the  only  source  to  which  the  editorial- 
writer  needs  to  go  for  information. 
He  must  in  addition  observe  for  him- 
self, and  draw  information  from 
others.  If  he  is  writing  surveys  of 
trade-conditions,  he  needs  more  than 
a  knowledge  of  what  the  trade- 
journals  report ;  he  had  better  get  out 
and  talk  with  representative  leaders 
in  the  trade  as  well.  He  is  likely  to 
get  from  them,  not  only  their  own 
worth-while  interpretations,  but  also 
concrete  incidents  and  figures  that 
will  illuminate  his  generalizations  and 
vitalize  his  writing.  If  he  is  dealing 
with  proposed  legislation,  he  cannot 
afford  to  remain  ignorant  of  what 
lawyers  think  about  it,  or  of  the  view 
taken  of  it  by  the  men  whose  in- 
terests it  will  affect.  Not  only  does 
constant  contact  with  affairs,  with 
men  of  affairs,  and  with  the  "average 
citizen"  supply  him  direct  opinion 
and    original    data   that    are    indis- 


pensable. It  saves  him  from  growing 
stale  and  jejune,  from  that  deadly 
curse  the  in-growing  mind.  It  keeps 
his  viewpoint  adjusted  to  reality,  his 
intellect  working  vigorously,  his 
knowledge  concrete,  varied,  intimate, 
and  fresh.  It  preserves  him  from  the 
remote,  theoretical  attitude  toward 
actuality  which  so  frequently  turns 
knowledge  barren,  and  may  vitiate 
even  the  best  thinking  with  vague 
impracticality.  No  man  knows  a  sub- 
ject who  does  not  know  it  from  inter- 
course with  men  as  well  as  with 
books.  The  editorial-writer  must  go 
to  human  sources  of  information  no 
less  than  to  the  library. 

When  survey  supplants  news-sum- 
mary.— How  far  the  editorial  of  sum- 
marizing, when  it  turns  into  a  survey 
or  review,  may  draw,  in  part  or  in 
whole,  away  from  purely  contempo- 
rary facts,  can  be  realized  from  the 
following  passages  from  an  editorial 
concerning  small  colleges  and  large 
colleges.  It  appeared  in  the  New  York 
Evening  Post.  The  editorial  was 
"hung"  upon  an  item  of  current  lit- 
erary news,  and  the  survey  based 
upon  information  from  a  magazine 
article. 

.  .  .  .  One  thing  everybody  can  see  for 
himself,  and  that  is,  that  the  term  "small 
college"  means  a  very  different  kind  of  in- 
stitution from  the  one  it  suggested  a  few 
decades  ago.  Then  Harvard,  Yale,  Prince- 
ton, and  Columbia  were  not  only  in  the  list 
of  small  colleges,  but  one  or  two  of  them 
were  smaller  than  certain  colleges  now 
whose  presidents  find  it  profitable  to  de- 
nounce the  evils  of  large  universities.  Even 
in  the  hey-day  of  the  small  college,  Dart- 
mouth, Williams,  and  Amherst  graduated 
classes  of  forty  or  fifty.     .     .     . 

The  revered  "professors"  of  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  were  often  under  thirty,  and  they 
were  frequently  in  charge  of  classes  that  j^ 
would  be  absurd  to  call  "small."     Professo^j 
Stevenson    [author  of  the  magazine  article 
that  gave  rise  to  the  editorial]  makes  short 
work  of  the  "supposition  that  in  ante-bellum 
days  there  was   any   genuine  intimacy  be- 
tween professors  and   students."     The  two    < 
bodies,  he  asserts,  were  in  opposing  camps, 
and  faculty-meetings  were  devoted  largely 


SURVEY   AND    REVIEW    EDITORIALS 


53 


to  discussions  of  discipline.  .  .  .  But  the 
figures  are  misleading.  Most  of  the  presi- 
dents had  to  go  to  small  colleges,  since  there 
were  no  large  ones.     .     .     . 

"The  old  curriculum,  while  narrow,  was 
compulsory.  Music,  art,  pedagogy,  and 
semi-professional  courses,  were  not  open  to 
the  undergraduate.  As  a  consequence,  it 
was  impossible  for  50  per  cent  or  more  of 
the  students  to  be  enrolled  as  college  men 
while  taking  non-collegiate  work. 

Scope  of  the  survey-editorial. — As 

the  foregoing  passages  indicate,  a 
large  part  of  the  editorial  from  which 
they  are  quoted  consists  of  a  review, 
or  survey,  of  facts  concerning  col- 
legiate conditions  fifty  years  before 
the  editorial  was  written. 

Provided  only  that  the  editorial 
theme  be  one  of  contemporary  bear- 
ing or  significance,  there  is  no  limit 
to  the  nature  of  the  facts,  nor  to 
their  historical  remoteness,  a  survey 
of  which  may  be  warranted  by  the 
editorial  purpose.  Economic  condi- 
tions in  Egypt  before  the  period  of 
the  Hyksos  kings,  the  sanitary  laws 
of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  the  Greek 
system  of  hetairai,  or  cultured  con- 
cubines, commerce  in  the  period  of 
the  Free  Cities,  agriculture  in  the 
time  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  communism 
in  the  French  Revolution  and  in  the 
nineteenth  century  in  France,  the  es- 
tablishment of  machine  manufactur- 
ing and  the  growth  from  it  of  a  new 
industrial  system — these  are  merely 
chance  illustrations  of  subjects  that 
editorial-writers  of  our  day  have  had 
occasion  to  pass  in  survey  for  our 
concern  or  information.  The  one  re- 
striction is,  that  the  matter  reviewed 
shall  reveal  a  bearing  upon  something 
of  contemporary  interest. 

Schema. — The  non-news  editorial 
of  summarizing  includes : 

A.  The  review  or  survey  of  past 

fact. 

B.  The    review    or    survey    of 

present  fact. 


C.     The  comparative  review  or 
survey  of  fact.    (Without 
comment,  or  with  it.) 
Representative  editorials. — The  edi- 
torials that  follow  illustrate  varying 
employment  of  summarizing  review 
and  survey. 

RISE  IN  VALUES  ON  THE  FARM 

Worcester  Telegram 

1.  The  old-fashioned  cow  sold  for  $60; 
the  owner  charged  us  5  cents  a  quart  for 
milk,  with  all  the  cream  there  was.  The 
new-fashioned  cow  costs  $240,  and  the  owner 
charges  us  20  cents  a  quart  for  milk,  with 
some  mystery  as  to  where  the  cream  is. 
The  old  maple  orchard  made  the  farm  worth 
$100  more,  and  the  farmer  sold  us  sugar  for 
5  cents  a  pound.  The  new  maple  orchard 
adds  $400  to  the  sale  value  of  the  farm,  and 
we  are  charged  40  cents  a  pound  for  sugar 
made  of  the  sap. 

2.  When  the  $60  cow  prevailed  the  farm- 
ers made  good  livings  and  kept  the  boys  and 
girls  at  home,  and  they  had  sweet  times 
making  maple  sugar,  which,  if  sold  at  all, 
was  by  means  of  barter,  pound  for  pound, 
for  store  sugar. 

3.  By  means  of  science  the  cows  have 
been  vastly  improved,  and  it  is  claimed  that 
only  the  cow  of  large  value  is  now  fit  to 
keep,  though  the  old-fashioned  cow  may  still 
be  secured.  The  maple  is  not  bothered  much 
by  science,  but  the  syrup  and  sugar  are 
easier  to  produce  by  new  devices. 

4.  But  the  farmers'  boys  and  girls  do  not 
stay  at  home  and  prosper  by  the  new  prices 
of  the  dairy  and  the  maple  orchard.  They 
come  to  the  cities  and  join  us  in  paying  these 
higher  prices. 

A  comparative  survey,  made  by  setting  off  items 
of  past  against  items  of>  present  representative  fact. 
HI.     Then  and  now:  economic  data. 

112.  Then  and  now:  social  data. 

113.  Then  and  now:' effect  of  science. 
^4.     Then  and  now:   illogical  outcome. 

INCREASED  ACRE  YIELDS 

Breeder's  Gazette 

1.  Every  farmer's  business  as  well  as 
opportunity  this  year  is  to  make  each  culti- 
vated acre  more  productive  than  it  ever  has 
been  before.  In  most  of  the  best  farming 
regions  the  season  is  two  to  three  weeks 
later  than  the  average.  Planting  and  seed- 
ing consequently  have  been  delayed,  and 
some  crops  at  the  maturing  stage  may  be 
damaged  by  frost.  Farm  labor  is  not  likely 
to  be  cheaper  or  more  abundant  six  months 
hence  than  it  is  now.  Most  self-reliant 
farmers,  who  have  a  habit  of  quietly  and 
prudently  attending  to  their  own  business, 


54 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


are  g'oing  ahead  with  their  spring  field  work, 
on  an  abridged  scale.  They  are  taking  it 
for  granted  that  there  will  be  a  shortage  of 
farm  labor  until  the  scarcity  and  high  prices 
of  food,  and  the  laying  off  of  large  numbers 
of  men  by  business  concerns,  balked  by 
tightened  credits,  wage  demands  and  strikes, 
force  thousands  of  city  workers  and  others 
back  into  the  country.  Although  no  definite 
plan  to  curtail  production  this  year  has  been 
formulated  by  organized  farmers,  hundreds 
of  practical,  foresighted  men  will  reduce 
their  areas  devoted  to  cultivated  crops,  so 
that,  assisted  by  their  families,  they  can 
tend  and  harvest  according  to  customary 
methods.  Many  are  making  big  applications 
of  barnyard  manures  and  commercial  fer- 
tilizers. Their  object  is  to  hasten  the  ma- 
turing of  crops,  and  secure  maximum  yields 
on  a  decreased  acreage,  with  the  labor  avail- 
able. This  course  is  suggested  by  common 
sense,  and  enforced  by  existing  conditions. 

This  editorial  gives  agricultural  conditions  a  "once- 
over," with  a  view  to  sizing  up  the  practical  require- 
ments of  the  situation  as  they  will  affect  the  farmer" 
and  his  plans. 

A  PAIR  OF  GOVERNORS 

Cleveland  Plain  Dealer 

1.  The  last  presidential  candidate  Illinois 
had  was  U.  S.  Grant,  who  was  born  in  Ohio. 
The  only  other  one  the  State  ever  had  was 
Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky. Now  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  pro- 
pose to  nominate  Governor  Lowden,  who 
was  born  in  Minnesota. 

2.  The  governor  has  the  backing  of  a 
well-organized  movement,  not  only  in  his 
own  State,  but  in  the  East.  It  is  noted,  for 
instance,  that  John  W.  Weeks  of  Massachu- 
setts, himself  a  presidential  aspirant  until 
his  defeat  for  re-election  to  the  Senate  a 
year  ago  by  David  I.  Walsh,  is  now  actively 
behind  the  Lowden  candidacy.  Whether  as 
a  result  of  Weeks's  interests  or  not,  it  is  an 
interesting  development  that  Congressman 
Rodenberg  now  brings  from  the  East  a  well- 
seasoned  proposal  for  making  Governor 
Coolidge  of  the  Bay  State  running-mate 
with  Lowden. 

3.  Governor  Coolidge  was  re-elected  on  a 
law  and  order  platform,  opposed  by  the 
ousted  but  organized  policemen  of  Boston 
and  their  allies.  Governor  Lowden  was 
quoted  the  other  day  as  declaring  that  the 
coal  strike  "is  a  strike  against  the  American 
public."  Answering  the  threat  of  the 
Soviets,  he  does  not  believe  the  American 
people  are  "yet  ready  to  abandon  their  form 
of  government." 

4.  The  last  time  an  Illinois  man  ran  for 
President,  his  running  mate,  Henry  Wilson, 
was    from    Massachusetts,    and   both    were 


elected.  No  Illinois  man  was  ever  defeated 
for  President  as  a  major  party  candidate. 
No  Massachusetts  man  was  ever  defeated 
for  Vice-President.  Is  the  double-rule  prece- 
dent to  be  put  to  a  new  test  ? 

Presentation  of  a  possible  parallel-  from  the  past 
— interesting,  but  not  very  significant.  Such  bits  of 
political  gossipry,  however,  do  sometimes  serve  a 
minor  purpose  as  suggestions  or  "feelers." 

POOR  OLD  FELLOW! 

New  York  Evening  World 

1.  Pressed  for  an  epitaph  for  tottering 
Old  Man  1919,  the  average  reader  would  be 
apt  to  suggest  something  like,  "Here  Lies  a 
Grouch." 

2.  To  begin  with,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  1919  had  a  rather  unfortunate  ancestry. 
Both  1917  and  1918  were  abnormal.  Each 
was  afflicted  with  a  bad  case  of  nerves. 
Neither  had  learned  to  think  for  itself.  Opin- 
ions were  thrown  at  1917  and  1918, in  pre- 
digested  form  and  both  suffered  from  mental 
indigestion.  Young  1919  had  a  hereditary 
tendency  to  do  as  he  was  told  without  ask- 
ing questions,  and  that  is  what  he  seems  to 
have  done. 

3.  Every  one  expected  great  things  of 
1919,  but  few  gave  whole-hearted  effort  in 
bringing  them  about.  With  only  two  ex- 
ceptions, there  was  scarcely  any  general 
agreement  as  to  what  were  the  most  im- 
mediate tasks,  and  the  result  was  a  conflict 
of  "go  ahead"  here  and  "back  up"  there 
orders  that  was  enough  to  confuse,  confound 
and  paralyze  any  year,  particularly  one  of  a 
nervous  disposition  like  1919. 

4.  Every  one,  even  profiteers,  wanted  the 
High  knocked  out  of  the  Cost  of  Living,  but 
in  every  case  the  actual  assistance  was 
passed  on  to  someone  else.  So  1919  failed 
here.  Every  one,  with  few  exceptions,  want- 
ed the  soldiers  returned  to  civil  life  and 
installed  in  good  jobs.  There  was  a  unani- 
mous demand,  1919  heard  and  did  the  job 
in  creditable  style.  It  is  the  biggest  credit 
mark  on  the  ledger. 

5.  Year  1919  did  some  other  things  not 
so  creditable.  He  flirted  shamelessly  with 
several  objectionable  minorities,  the  Anti- 
Saloon  League,  the  Reds,  the  Republican 
treaty  obstructors,  for  example.  Before 
casting  reproach  on  1919  it  is  well  to  recall 
that  these  objectionable  minorities  were  well 
organized  and  trained  to  yell  in  unison,  in  the 
general  style  of  the  college  rooting  section. 
So  1919  heard  the  voice  above  the  confused 
babble  of  tongues  and  obeyed  orders.  In 
other  matters  the  babble  merely  confused 
him  and  developed  the  grouch. 

6.  If  there  is  any  moral  to  this  explana- 
tion of  the  deeds  of  1919  it  lies  in  the  need 
for  less  yelling  and  more  thinking.    Young 


SURVEY   AND    REVIEW    EDITORIALS 


55 


1920  has  a  better  start  than  Old  1919.  His 
nerves  are  not  quite  so  awry.  But  he  too 
will  need  help  and  unified  direction.  Sober 
judgment,  industry  and  definite  ideas  for 
procedure  will  make  the  record  of  1920  bet- 
ter, and  nothing  else  will.  If  1919  was  a 
grouch,  so  were  most  of  the  rest  of  us. 

An  editorial  of  occasional  (or  seasonal)  timeliness, 
prompted  by  the  impulse  to  look  back  on  an  anni- 
versary or  at  the  end  of  any  fixed  period.  Without 
great  originality  in  presentation,  it  nevertheless 
avoids  dullness  and  has  enough  "difference"  to  keep 
it  free  of  the  tone  of  merely  task  writing. 

A  NEW  METAL  FOR  MONEY  PURPOSES 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  Gold  has  practically  ceased  to  be  a 
circulating  medium  all  over  the  world,  and 
has  become  simply  the  guarantee  of  a  stand- 
ard of  currency.  The  business  of  the  world 
is  done  with  paper  now,  the  gold  being  used 
to  equalize  exchange  between  the  currency 
of  the  nations. 

2.  Russia  contemplates  using  platinum 
money.  Platinum  being  the  most  valuable 
of  existing  metals  in  commerce,  and  Russia 
being  the  fortunate  possessor  of  the  only 
considerable  platinum  deposits  in  the  world, 
why  not?  Value,  in  some  form  which  can 
be  readily  transferred  from  one  country  to 
another,  is  the  backbone  of  all  paper 
"money,"  so  called.  Money,  as  we  know  it, 
is  any  "legal  tender"  which  law  compels  to 
be  received  in  payment  for  a  debt.  Our 
Indians  used  shells  in  lieu  of  gold,  tea  has 
been  used  in  Tartary,  tobacco  in  the  Amer- 
ican colonies,  sugar  in  the  West  Indies, 
leather  by  the  Carthaginians,  silk  by  the 
Chinese,  and  nails  in  Scotland.  Tin  was 
used  in  England's  early  days  and  by  some 
Roman  emperors,  as  an  article  having  a 
sufficiently  stable  value  for  exchange  pur- 
poses. 

3.  Lycurgus,  the  celebrated  lawgiver  of 
Sparta,  banished  gold  and  silver  coins  and 
made  iron  money  the  only  legal  tender,  for 
reasons  wholly  incompatible  with  modern 
conditions.  He  sought  to  decrease,  not  in- 
crease, riches — to  make  his  people  forget 
money  so  far  as  possible,  and  seek  virtue 
rather  than  wealth.  Like  Solon  of  ancient 
Athens  he  realized  that — 

Virtue's  a  thing  that  none  can  take  away; 
But  money  changes  owners  all  the  day. 

A  survey  of  the  past  with  reference  to  the  func- 
tion of  "money."  The  interest  is  partly  economic 
(the  function  of  money),  and  partly  historical  and 
curious — perhaps  mainly  the  latter, 
Ifl.  Preparatory  explanation.  ^  112.  Newspeg  in- 
terest-catcher, with  further  exposition  of  the  func- 
tion of  money,  this  in  turn  introducing  the  enumera- 
tion of  review-facts.                           .' 

113.  Review  enumeration  and  comment  continued. 
There  is  no  conclusion ;  the  economic  exposition  is 
subordinate  to  the   "reader  interest." 


The  Review 

1.  A  somewhat  encouraging  straw  in  the 
housing  situation  is  to  be  found  in  the  rapid 
rate  at  which  building  operations  have  been 
resumed  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  according  to 
a  detailed  account  given  in  the  Springfield 
Republican.  Despite  the  bad  outlook  for  a 
building  revival  during  the  early  spring 
months,  the  half-year  closed  with  a  total  of 
$2,159,000,  which  is  more  than  double  the 
amount  of  building  done  in  the  whole  of  the 
year  1918.  It  is  expected  that  the  year  will 
close  with  a  record  of  approximately  150 
new  one-family  houses  and  100  new  two- 
family  houses.  The  character  of  the  de- 
velopment is  worth  noting: 

A   large   part    of   the   new   dwelling 
house  construction  is  going  forward  in 
sections  of  the  city  that  are  being  de- 
veloped by  real  estate  men.     Sections 
that  only  a  few  years  ago  were  covered 
with  scrub  growth  of  oak  and  birch  have 
been   laid   out    and   reclaimed   by   real 
estate   men.      Many    of   these    sections 
which  were  in  the  making  three  or  four 
years   ago   are   now  pretty   residential 
sections. 
This  is  characteristic  of  what  goes  on  gen- 
erally in  the  extension  of  building  in  our 
cities  and  those  who  imagine  that  the  great 
obstacle  to  such  extension  is  to  be  found  in 
speculative  "holding  of  land  out  of  use"  are 
invited   to   consider   whether   it   is    holding 
out  of  use  or  putting  into  use  that  prepon- 
derates as  the  result  of  leaving  the  develop- 
ment of  urban  and  suburban  sites  to  the  free 
play  of  supply  and  demand — speculation  or 
no  speculation. 

This  editorial  shows  how  a  review  of  typical  con- 
ditions in  a  limited  locale  can  be  so  handled  las  to 
throw  light  on  the  same  conditions  generally. 

A  NEW  ORATION  DUE 

Washington   Star 

1.  Some  of  the  older  observers  of  pol- 
itics— men  who  follow  the  game  more  for 
entertainment  than  anything  else — say  that 
a  new  and  striking  convention  oration  is 
due,  and  are  of  opinion  that  either  Chicago 
or  San  Francisco  will  produce  it.  Three 
such  orations  stand  out  in  the  convention 
history  of  the  past  half  century. 

2.  At  Cincinnati  in  1876  Robert  G.  Inger- 
soll  put  Mr.  Blaine  in  nomination  for  Presi- 
dent in  a  speech  of  extraordinary  beauty, 
and  gave  to  the  subject  of  his  eulogy  the 
sobriquet  that  described  him  in  and  for  the 
time,  and  for  all  time  since.  "The  Plumed 
Knight"  will  stick  while  Mr.  Blaine  holds  a 
place  in  history.  The  speech  did  not  secure 
Mr.  Blaine  the  nomination,  but  did  secure 
for  its  author  a  very  high  place  among  the 
orators  of  his  generation. 


56 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


3.  At  Chicago  in  1892  Bourke  Cockran 
protested  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Cleveland, 
then  on  the  convention  card,  in  a  speech 
which  even  Mr.  Cleveland's  friends  agreed 
was  a  wonderful  exhibition  of  platform 
oratory.  But  it  did  not  accomplish  its  ob- 
ject. Mr.  Cleveland  was  nominated,  and, 
contrary  to  Mr.  Cockran's  prediction,  car- 
ried New  York  on  election  day. 

4.  Four  years  later  William  J.  Bryan  in 
the  same  town  enchanted  a  national  conven- 
tion with  a  speech  which  made  him  his 
party's  leader  in  that  campaign  and  laid 
the  foundation  for  two  more  presidential 
nominations.  And  it  remains,  at  the  end 
of  twenty-four  years,  part  of  the  power  and 
influence  attaching  to  Mr.  Bryan's  name. 
And  one  hears  it  referred  to  in  the  gossip 
about  a  fourth  nomination  for  its  author. 

5.  Is  a  new  figure  to  appear  this  year 
to  take  his  place  with  this  trio  of  spell- 
binders? He  must  possess,  and  show,  very 
high  class  in  order  to  do  so. 

A  "timely"  product,  suggested  and  made  interest- 
ing by  the  nearness  of  the  national  nominating  con- 
ventions. (Observe  tbe  orderly  structure,  and  make 
a  plan  of  it,   H  by  If.) 

PROHIBITION  IN  THE  CAMPAIGN 

Washington   Star 

1.  How  strongly  prohibition  is  entering 
into  this  year's  political  equation  may  be 
seen  in  the  result  of  the  Alabama  primary. 
Mr.  Underwood  was  indorsed  for  a  second 
term  as  senator  by  a  substantial  vote,  but 
had  to  fight  for  it. 

2.  Except  for  his  wet  record,  the  Senator 
would  probably  have  been  unopposed.  On 
the  other  scores  the  State  had  reason  to  be 
proud  of  him.  For  some  years  he  has 
played  a  prominent  part  in  Congress,  first 
in  the  House  and  later  in  the  Senate.  A 
tariff  law  bears  his  name — a  much  coveted 
distinction. 

3.  But  Alabama  is  a  dry  state,  and  Mr. 
Underwood  was  open  to  attack  on  the  pro- 
hibition question.  His  enemies  improved 
their  opportunity;  and  when  Mr.  Bryan  vis- 
ited the  State  in  the  closing  days  of  the 
campaign  to  assist  the  anti-Underwood 
movement  he  stressed  the  dry  sentiment 
against  the  Senator. 

4.  This  is  one  instance.  There  are  others. 
At  Friday's  session  of  the  Socialist  national 
convention  the  platform  was  under  discus- 
sion, and  Meyer  London  was  a  speaker. 
Among  other  things,  he  said:  "You  will  find 
that  2.75  per  cent  beer  will  play  a  larger 
part  in  the  coming  campaign  than  freedom 
of  speech  or  press." 

5.  While  this  is  probably  an  extreme 
view  of  the  case,  there  is  full  warrant  for 
the  statement  that  both  wets  and  drys  are 


girding  for  a  hard  fight,  and  will  go  their 
utmost  to  keep  the  prohibition  issue  well  to 
the  front.  The  peace  treaty  will,  of  course, 
engage  attention.  The  President's  attitude 
insures  that.  Likewise  will  the  railroad 
question  come  in  for  much  consideration. 
But  the  18th  amendment  and  the  Volstead 
act  are  certain  of  a  prominent  place  in  the 
spotlight  next  fall. 

An  editorial  of  political  interpretation  based  upon 
a  survey  of  significant  incidents.  (Again  study  the 
orderly  plan.) 

AS  1919  GOES  OUT 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  As  the  Old  Year  goes  out  it  leaves 
behind  the  mark  and  the  memory  of  three 
events  epochal  in  the  life  of  the  Nation: 

(1)  The  death  of  Roosevelt  and  resultant 
demonstration  of  the  deathless  influence  and 
inspiration  of  his  immortal  spirit. 

(2)  The  birth  of  the  American  Legion. 
Its  members  saved  America  in  war  and  their 
leadership  in  peace  will  preserve  and  mul- 
tiply  the  fruits  of  victory. 

(3)  The  blocking  by  the  Senate  of  the 
attempt  to  overthrow  the  government  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  to 
supplant  it  by  the  supergovernment  of  the 
Covenant  of  a  League  of  Nations. 

2.  In  the  spirit  of  Roosevelt  and  under 
the  leadership  of  the  Legion  and  loyal  to  the 
Constitution  and  that  "American  character" 
which  Washington  envisaged  and  Roosevelt 
incarnated,  America  can  enter  the  New  Year 
full  of  hope  and  promise. 

A  second  occasional  (New  Year)  review-editorial. 
It  differs  from  the  preceding  one  (Poor  Old  Fellow) 
in  these  respects:  (1)  It  does  not  attempt  an  inclu- 
sive review,  but  reviews  only  to  select  "epochal" 
events.  (2)  It  is  more  serious  and  forceful  in  tone — 
and  correspondingly  less  informal  and  amusedly  "off 
side"  in  its  manner.  The  one  is  zealous  in  its  point 
of  view ;  the  other  more  observational  and  interpre- 
tive. 

A  NEW  TREND  IN  ADVERTISING 

Printer's  Ink 

1.  New  habits  of  thought  on  the  part  of 
any  considerable  portion  of  the  population 
are  invariably  followed  by  new  kinds  of  ad- 
vertising and  new  trends  in  advertising  copy. 
It  is  a  convincing  indication  of  alertness  in 
advertising  men  generally,  that  the  new  copy 
follows  the  new  thought  so  closely. 

2.  In  the  old  days,  when  industry  was  in 
the  early  stages  of  changing  from  a  manual 
to  a  machine  basis,  the  introduction  of  any 
new  labor-saving  device  was  usually  the 
signal  for  resentment  and  sabotage  on  the 
part  of  the  workers.  Strikes  and  riots  were 
resorted  to  as  a  protest  against  inanimate 
things,  which  it  was  considered  would  throw 
thousands  of  people  out  of  work.  This  sus- 
picion of  any  new  machine  was  always  pres- 


SURVEY   AND   REVIEW   EDITORIALS 


57 


ent  in  the  worker's  mind  and  the  early 
hostility  continued  through  the  various  pe- 
riods of  industrial  development.  It  is  only 
in  the  very  recent  past  that  a  change  of 
mind  has  come  over  the  men  who  invest 
their  muscle  in  the  business.  They  have 
come  to  realize  that  machinery  which  does 
the  work  formerly  necessarily  accomplished 
by  hands,  increases  output,  lessens  fatigue, 
and  helps  to  raise  the  level  of  their  labor 
from  mere  physical  exertion  to  a  quasi-exec- 
utive position,  with  a  machine  as  their 
assistant. 

3.  A  few  months  ago  the  railroad  broth- 
erhoods, among  their  demands,  included  the 
installation  of  a  certain  automatic  stoker  on 
locomotives,  and  mentioned  it  by  name.  This 
new  realization  on  the  part  of  labor  has 
been  followed  by  several  advertising  cam- 
paigns directed  to  the  men.  The  Lamson 
Conveyor  Company,  Rice's  "Barreled  Sun- 
light," Gaston  and  Knight  Belting  Company, 
and  several  other  national  advertisers,  are 
directing  their  copy-appeal  to  win  the  good- 
will of  the  man  in  the  plant.  In  this  new 
trend  in  advertising,  which  ties  up  so 
closely  with  the  news-value  of  the  necessity 
for  increased  production  and  a  better  under- 
standing between  capital,  management  and 
labor,  the  worker  is  almost  in  the  position 
of  the  retailer  in  the  usual  type  of  campaign, 
without  whose  good-will  and  co-operation 
the  full  measure  of  success  is  practically 
impossible. 

4.  Convincing  this  important  factor  in 
industry,  that  newer  labor-saving  machinery 
and  factory  accessories  are  to  their  advan- 
tage, promises  to  become  more  and  more  a 
function  of  the  advertising  for  their  group 
of  products,  which  are  constantly  growing 
in  numbers  and  in  national  importance. 

A  survey  of  contemporary  fact,  with  comparative 
reference   to  the   past. 

HI.     Preparatory  generalizations.  112.    Review  of 

past  conditions,  and  change  in  attitude.  113.  Illus- 
tration and   interpretation    of  the  new  attitude.   

114.     Forecast  based  on  the  survey. 

WAR-WON  INDUSTRIES 

New   York   Herald 

1.  Necessity  has  proved  to  be  the  mother 
of  invention.  Entrance  of  the  United  States 
into  the  war  and  interruption  of  shipping 
facilities  found  this  country  in  a  serious  sit- 
uation with  respect  to  certain  articles  neces- 
sary to  many  American  industries.  Several 
of  these  articles — notably  dyes,  and  coal  tar 
derivatives,  also  "fibre"  silk,  zinc,  chemicals, 
optical  and  laboratory  glass,  potash  and  fer- 
tilizers— were  largely  if  not  wholly  imported. 
Under  the  stimulus  of  necessity  Amer- 
ican ingenuity  set  to  work  to  produce  in 
this  country  the  articles  formerly  imported. 
Such      has    been    the     success    of    these 


efforts  that  now  the  United  States  produces 
not  only  nearly  all  the  dyes  needed,  but 
exports  dyes  as  well.  The  United  States 
also  produces  "silk"  from  wood-pulp,  said 
to  be  more  durable  than  the  product  of  the 
silk  worm. 

2.  In  the  metal  industries  this  country 
has  made  tremendous  strides  in  four  years. 
Red  lead,  tungsten  and  graphite  are  now 
produced  here  to  the  extent  of  our  wants. 
Many  drugs  which  before  the  war  were  im- 
ported exclusively  from  Germany  are  manu- 
factured at  home.  Germany  once  said  that 
if  the  United  States  entered  the  war  she 
"would  put  a  halter  about  our  neck"  by 
withholding  Germany's  chemicals.  Now  this 
country  manufactures  nearly  all  the  chem- 
icals formerly  imported  and  last  year  sup- 
plied its  own  wants  and  exported  $175,000,- 
000  worth  in  addition. 

3.  Now  the  United  States  makes  the 
finest  optical  glassware,  also  high-grade 
watch-crystals  and  chemical  glassware,  for- 
merly imported.  Once  Germany  made  all  of 
the  finest  draughting  instruments  used;  now 
America  makes  her  own.  Before  the  war 
this  country  imported  more  than  $125,000,- 
000  worth  of  fertilizers  from  abroad.  Prac- 
tically there  was  no  potash  in  America.  Now 
this  country  produces  nearly  all  the  potash 
needed  for  domestic  use,  and  if  the  present 
progress  keeps  up  all  our  needs  will  be  sup- 
plied by  home  industries. 

4.  The  serious  problem  is  how  to  hold 
what  the  country  has  gained — how  to  pro- 
tect the  men  who  have  put  their  brains, 
genius  and  money  into  these  new  and  needed 
industries.  That  is  a  problem  for  Congress 
to  solve. 

111.  Preliminary  general  survey,  the  situation  as  it 
was  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  as  it  is  at  the 
time  of  writing. 

11112-3.     Rapid    summarizing   review   of    advance    made 
in  various  industries  individually.     Observe  the  alter- 
nating then-and-now  method  of  presentation. 
1[4.     The  review  given  a  timely   application. 

WORLDWIDE  UNREST 

Wall   Street  Journal 

1.  When  striking  truckmen  in  New  York, 
overpaid  on  any  cost  of  living,  without  a 
grievance,  but  obviously  looking  for  trouble 
to  the  point  of  making  it  where  it  does  not 
exist,  hold  up  the  New  York  consumer's 
necessaries  of  life,  we  are  all  too  ready  to 
take  a  local  view,  and  apply  local  remedies. 
We  prescribe  emollients  for  the  skin  irrita- 
tion, but  do  not  search  deeply  or  at  all  scien- 
tifically into  the  organic  trouble  beneath. 

2.  It  must  strike  everybody  that  the 
greatest  period  of  industrial  unrest  the 
world  has  ever  seen  is  accompanied  by  the 
highest  wages  industry  has  ever  been  able 
to  pay,  together  with  a  standard  of  living, 


58 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


in  a  time  when  no  man  need  be  out  of  work, 
which  would  have  been  considered  the  rank- 
est luxury  by  our  fathers.  The  problem  is 
not  one  of  New  York,  or  the  industries  of 
Ohio  or  the  railroads  of  the  country.  It  is 
world-wide,  subject  only  to  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions arising  out  of  war  as  evidenced  in 
central  Europe. 

3.  In  Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  for  in- 
stance, the  Kaffir  dock  hands,  paid  four 
shillings  a  day — a  sum  far  in  excess  of  their 
cost  of  living,  which  is  light,  although 
heavier  than  it  was,  to  the  extent  of  the 
higher  price  of  "mealies"  and  oil  for  per- 
sonal adornment — were  induced  to  strike  on 
the  advance  in  these  two  articles,  together 
with  cheap  perfumery. 

4.  Japan,  which  has  been  making  million- 
aires hand  over  fist  out  of  the  war  and  her 
exceptional  strategic  position,  has  not  only 
seen  a  startling  advance  in  wages,  but  has 
developed  organized  labor  activity  and  dis- 
content which  shows  her  the  seamy  side  of 
her  much  vaunted  assimilation  of  western 
civilization.  There  is  chronic  labor  unrest 
in  Argentina,  and  native  workers  in  the 
coffee  plantations  are  becoming  hard  to  find 
and  harder  still  to  handle.  There  is  not  an 
industrial  area  in  the  civilized  or  semi- 
civilized  world  where  this  subterranean  vol- 
canic action  is  not  rumbling. 

5.  Your  own  maid  servant,  untroubled  by 
the  cost  of  living  (for  you  attend  to  that), 
works  perfunctorily  and  discontentedly  at 
double  and  treble  the  wages  she  was  receiv- 
ing only  six  years  ago.  It  is  part  of  the 
same  problem,  and  it  is  a  condition  as  uni- 
versal as  the  belief  in  witchcraft,  up  to  the 
hanging  of  the  Salem  "witches"  on  Boston 
Common  in  1692.  Where  the  Zulu  paid 
"lobola,"  the  price  of  ten  cows,  to  his  future 
bride's  father  for  his  wife,  a  tolerable  wife 
now  costs  twenty.  She  does  all  the  work, 
even  that  in  the  fields,  except  plowing,  and 
missionaries  say  her  efficiency  has  fallen  off. 

6.  Here  is  the  most  astonishing  psycho- 
logical problem  with  which  the  world  has 
ever  been  confronted.  Is  it  the  unregistered 
tail  of  some  comet  that  has  turned  us  all 
crazy,  and  is  Congress,  in  its  floundering 
extravagance,  truly  representative  at  last, 
being  if  anything  crazier  than  the  people  it 
represents  ? 

A  survey  of  a  contemporary  condition,  based  upon 
an  array  of  facts  brought  together  from  widely  sep- 
arated places.  Its  main  purpose  is  to  illustrate  the 
situation  and  make  it  realizable — to  which  extent,  it 
may  be  called  interpretive. 

HOUSING  IDEAS  FROM  ENGLAND 

Springfield  Republican 

1.  Both  the  Government  and  organized 
labor  in  Great  Britain  are  going  at  the  hous- 
ing plan  with  a  vigor  and  radicalism  that 


contrast  interestingly  with  America's  cau- 
tious and  tentative  policy.  The  cities  that 
need  houses  are  undertaking  to  build  them 
and  the  building  workers  are  co-operating 
by  undertaking  to  furnish  the  labor  directly 
without  the  mediation  of  contractors.  Pa- 
ternalism and  the  guild  idea,  both  foreign 
as  yet  to  American  habits  of  thought,  are 
back  of  the  British  policy.  The  problems  in 
the  two  countries,  however,  are  not  dissim- 
ilar.   Both  need  all  the  light  they  can  get. 

2.  The  London  county  council  in  develop- 
ing a  program  for  the  building  of  29,000  new 
houses  for  150,000  people  in  the  outskirts  of 
the  city  has  bought  3000  acres  of  land  at 
Barking,  in  Essex,  and  plans  to  build  a  city 
there  within  five  years.  The  city  of  London 
proper  is  to  build  2000  houses  at  Ilford; 
Leeds  is  to  build  8155,  Edinburgh  10,000 — 
including  3000  to  be  reconstructed — and 
Sheffield,  Newcastle  and  Hull  5000.  The 
British  cities  are  backed  financially  by  the 
British  Government,  which,  by  the  housing 
act  of  1919,  has  accepted  responsibility  for 
most  of  the  municipal  building  enterprises. 
Under  the  terms  of  the  act  local  communi- 
ties were  required  by  November  1  last  to 
report  building  plans  to  meet  their  own 
needs,  and  under  this  requirement  3165 
sites,  covering  29,435  acres — room  for  ap- 
proximately 294,000  houses — have  been  ap- 
proved. 

3.  Labor's  contribution,  still  in  the  ex- 
perimental stage,  is  described  by  S.  G. 
Hobson,  a  well-known  writer  on  guild  so- 
cialism, who  first  suggested  the  plan,  as  an 
attempt  "to  marry  the  labor  monopoly  of 
organized  building  workers  to  the  credit  of 
the  public  authorities."  The  workers,  or- 
ganized into  a  guild,  supply  and  collectively 
control  the  labor  in  all  its  branches,  the 
Government  paying  the  cost  of  the  labor 
plus  ten  per  cent.  A  novel  arrangement  is 
an  all-weather  working  programme,  accom- 
plished by  having  all  the  workers  employed 
indoors  or  out  according  to  weather  condi- 
tions. Such  loss  of  time  as  is  unavoidable 
is  to  be  compensated  for  from  the  ten  per 
cent  reserve.  The  rest  of  the  reserve  is  to 
go  toward  the  purchase  of  working  plant  to 
be  owned  by  the  guild.  The  plan  is  to  be 
put  into  effect  first  at  Irlam,  in  the  out- 
skirts of  Manchester,  where  the  guild's  offer 
to  build  1000  houses  has  been  accepted.  The 
city  of  Manchester  itself  and  a  dozen  or 
more  other  towns  are  taking  preliminary 
steps  toward  adopting  the  plan  if  its  in- 
auguration proves  successful. 

4.  There  are  historic  reasons  why  the 
competitive  system  of  private  capital  is  like- 
ly to  continue  as  the  basis  of  most  housing 
enterprises  in  the  United  States,  at  least  for 


SURVEY   AND   REVIEW   EDITORIALS 


59 


good  while.  Whether  the  more  direct 
ritish  way  of  dealing  with  such  a  need  as 
le  present  will  gain  substantial  foothold 
;re  may  depend  largely  upon  how  the  Brit- 
h  experiments  work  out  and  especially 
Don  whether  the  spirit  expressed  by  the 
ew  York  landlords  who  are  bound  to  get 
1  they  can  from  the  rent-payers  continues 

dominate. 

British    policy   surveyed   in   contrast  with    Amer- 

an,  112.     R6sum6  of  municipal  building  opera- 

)ns   in    England  and    Scotland.    113.     Survey   of 

e  part   taken  by  labor  in   the   program. 

Concluding  speculation   concerning  the  likelihood 

a  similar  program  in  America.      (This  H  "ties  up" 

e   close  with    the   beginning,   by  turning   considera- 

Dn  again  to  the  subject  as  it  applies  to  the  United 

ates.) 

THE  AGRICULTURAL  CRISIS 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  "Not  since  the  Civil  War,"  says  Mr. 
dward  H.  Thompson,  president  of  the  Fed- 
ral  Land  Bank  in  Springfield,  and  a  man 
ery  close  to  the  farmers  and  their  produc- 
on,  "have  the  farmers  faced  such  a  short- 
ge  of  help.  In  many  communities,  at  the 
resent  time,  there  is  not  a  single  man  avail- 
ble  for  a  day's  work  on  the  farm.  Any  job 
fiat  requires  help  must  simply  wait  until  a 
eighbor  can  find  time  to  furnish  such  help. 
he  most  conservative  reports  from  prac- 
cally  all  districts  indicate  a  shortage  of  at 
?ast  15  per  cent  below  last  year,  and  many 
eports  range  from  25  per  cent  to  35  per 
ent  below."  Side  by  side  with  Mr.  Thomp- 
on's  statement  comes  a  report  from  the 
'ederal  Reserve  Board  at  Washington  de- 
laring  that  the  question  of  obtaining  labor 
or  the  farms  is  the  most  difficult  element  of 
he  labor  situation.  In  the  Southern  States, 
inhere  negro  labor  is  drifting  northward  to 
leet  industrial  and  construction  demands, 
armers  have  been  unable  to  obtain  more 
han  half  the  labor  they  need. 

2.  Food  prices  and  the  general  economic 
ituation  have  already  been  seriously  affect- 
d  by  the  scarcity  of  farm  labor.  If  the 
armer  reduces  his  production,  selling  his 
lens  instead  of  keeping  them  to  lay,  and  get- 
ing  rid  of  his  cows  for  beef  instead  of 
•etaining  them  to  produce  milk,  it  is  not 
rom  mere  perversity.  The  farmer,  and 
specially  the  New  England  farmer,  has  a 
leavier  load  than  he  can  carry.  Labor  is 
lenied  him,  or  is  too  expensive  to  leave  him 

margin  of  profit  on  his  operations.  He  is 
ompelled  to  restrict  his  production;  he  is 

lot  restricting  it  from  spite.  And  the  re- 
triction,   of  course,  means   decreased  pro- 

iuction  of  crops  and  live  stock.  According 
0  Mr.  Thompson  of  the   Springfield  Land 

Bank,  it  also  means  something  worse  than 

chat — it  lowers  the  morale  of  the  agricul- 


tural class.  The  farmer  becomes  discour- 
aged, regarding  his  business  as  a  hopeless 
and  hopelessly  bankrupt  one.  He  begins  to 
reconcile  himself  to  a  condition  of  things  in 
which  he  merely  exists,  ignoring  the  prob- 
lem and  duty  of  production.  With  every 
factor  against  him,  he  is  in  danger  of  total 
demoralization. 

3.  How  is  this  condition  to  be  remedied? 
What  circumstances  or  policy  will  supply 
the  farmer  with  his  needed  labor?  Will 
anything  do  it  except  a  surplus  of  labor  in 
the  general  industries  ?  Probably  not.  The 
farmer  gets  the  tail  end  of  the  labor  supply. 
It  is  the  last  run  of  shad  for  him.  Highly 
paid  industries  take  their  pick,  and  the  pres- 
ent scale  both  of  employment  and  of  wages 
leaves  practically  nothing  for  agriculture. 
When  wages  in  the  industries  are  deflated, 
either  by  a  process  of  liquidation  or  by  large 
immigration,  there  may  be  some  labor  left 
for  the  farmer.  By  way  of  encouragement 
for  the  consumer,  we  can  only  say  that 
somehow  or  other  the  crops  get  sown  and 
harvested,  and  that  thus  far  at  least  there 
has  been  no  marked  falling  off  in  agricul- 
tural production.  The  labor  outlook  on  the 
farms  is  alarming,  but  Providence,  we  are 
in  the  habit  of  saying,  is  good  to  the  Amer- 
ican people.  But  after  all,  heaven  helps  only 
those  who  help  themselves.  The  American 
agriculturist  has  a  strenuous  spring  and 
summer  before  him. 

This  is  merely  one  of  a  large  class  of  editorials 
that,  by  means  of  review,  survey,  and  interpretation, 
help  to  educate  the  public  at  large  upon  matters  of 
vital  concern  to  the  family  as  well  as  to  business  and 
industry. 

HI.     Survey  of   the  immediate  data.  1(2.     Survey 

of    the   results.   1[3.     Survey   of   the   chances   of 

improvement. 

SOVIET  RUSSIA:  A  SERVILE  STATE 

Youth's   Companion 

1.  The  practical  statesman  must  always 
be  an  opportunist.  Instead  of  taking  the 
precise  course  that  he  expects,  events  are 
continually  creating  situations  from  which 
he  needs  all  his  ingenuity  and  pliancy  to 
extricate  himself  with  credit.  Even  Oliver 
Cromwell,  who  had  as  definite  a  body  of 
ideals  and  as  much  ability  and  firmness  as 
any  public  man  who  ever  lived,  found  him- 
self while  governing  England  driven  to  ex- 
pedients and  compromises  quite  at  variance 
with  his  own  convictions. 

2.  In  like  manner  Lenine  has  been  forced 
to  modify  in  practice  many  of  the  rigid 
theories  that  he  determined  to  realize  when 
he  seized  power  in  Russia.  The  Bolshevik 
government  is  by  no  means  what  he  pro- 
claimed, what  the  Russian  masses  looked  for, 
or  what  its  defenders  in  the  United  States 
pretend  it  to  be. 


60 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


3.  First,  Lenine  had  to  abandon  the  idea 
of  complete  communism.  He  found  that,  al- 
though the  indigent  industrial  worker  would 
accept  it,  the  peasant  who  had  land,  or  who 
saw  a  chance  to  get  it,  would  not — and  the 
peasant  stands  for  the  Russian  people.  So 
private  ownership  of  land — within  limits — 
is  conceded  and  seems  likely  to  spread  to 
personal  property. 

4.  Next,  Lenine  found  that  the  proletariat 
(even  including  intellectual  revolutionists 
like  himself  and  Trotzky)  had  not  the  prac- 
tical ability  to  run  the  industries  of  the 
country.  The  general  murder  of  the 
bourgeois  is  no  longer  in  fashion.  Contrary 
to  all  his  principles,  Lenine  permits  tech- 
nically educated  men  of  business  experience 
to  become  managers  of  industrial  works  at 
comparatively  high  salaries.  It  is  the  only 
way  he  can  prevent  production  from  break- 
ing down  completely. 

5.  Finally,  Lenine  has  found  that  the 
workers  take  freedom  to  mean  freedom 
from  work,  freedom  to  be  idle,  maintenance 
without  exertion.  He  has  had  to  enact  laws 
that  force  men  to  work  more  hours  than 
they  were  accustomed  to  under  the  old 
regime.  Systems  of  "scientific"  efficiency 
like  the  Taylor  system  are  being  introduced. 
Strikes  are  not  permitted;  those  who  try  to 
organize  them  are  shot  down  in  cold  blood. 
In  practice  the  "dictatorship  of  the  prole- 
tariat" turns  out  to  mean  the  servile  state, 
in  which  men  work  under  compulsion. 
There  is  as  much  corruption  among  the  Bol- 
sheviki  as  there  was  under  the  czars,  though 
it  is  by  no  means  so  expertly  organized. 
Those  in  high  office  are  not  so  selfish  or  so 
extravagant  as  the  old  ruling  class,  but 
they  are  less  human;  the  peasants,  who  are 
in  large  measure  beyond  the  active  author- 
ity of  Moscow,  are  better  off  because  of  the 
revolution  and  in  a  position  to  improve  their 
lot  still  further  when  peace  and  order  re- 
turn. But  the  proletariat,  for  whose  espe- 
cial benefit  the  communist  regime  was  en- 
acted, have  their  choice  between  gradual 
starvation  and  work  under  conditions  of 
state  control  that  make  them  little  better 
than  serfs.  There  is  no  other  country  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  where  there  is  so  little 
real  liberty  as  there  is  under  the  govern- 
ment at  Moscow. 

CL   r~  By   a   review  of  the  failures    and  actual   results   of 
^•^      the    Russian    attempt    to    establish    communism,    the 
}        I  fundamental   impracticability    and   the   basic   error   of 
'  the    theory    are    interpreted.      We    have    therefore    an 
editorial    of    interpretation,    by    way    of    review    and 
survey,  with  the  ultimate  purpose  of  conviction,     (Ob- 
serve  how   the   generalized    exposition   of   |1,    disclos- 
ing  the  universal  necessity  of  adaptation   in  govern- 
ment, prepares  for  the  account  of  Lenine's  failure.) 


SOME  "INFANT  PRODIGIES" 

Boston   Herald 

1.  Europe  is  ringing  with  the  exploits  of 
Samuel  Rzechewski,  the  Polish  boy  who 
came  out  of  Lodz  a  few  years  ago  to  teach 
skill  to  the  masters  of  chess  and  carry  off 
their  laurels.  At  the  age  of  six  he  encoun- 
tered them  in  Vienna  and  won  several 
medals;  his  play  in  Berlin  gave  him  ninety- 
one  games  out  of  ninety -two;  in  forty  con- 
tests arranged  for  him  in  Paris  he  lost  two 
and  won  thirty-eight.  The  latest  news  of 
his  triumphal  progress  tells  of  a  single- 
sitting  encounter  in  Paris  with  "twenty  of 
the  best  players  of  the  Palais  Royal  So- 
ciety," and  of  its  issue  in  the  complete  de- 
feat of  his  "grey-bearded  and  bald  antagr 
onists."  Against  this  "frail  child  with  a 
pale,  thoughtful  face,"  now  eight  years  old, 
their  most  subtle  plans  and  wiles  avail  noth- 
ing; "he  mated  them  when  they  least  ex- 
pected it."  And  in  each  case,  moving  with 
impassive  face  from  board  to  board,  he  took 
in  the  situation  at  each  as  if  he  had  spent 
hours  in  puzzling  it  out. 

2.  Chess  prodigies  are  as  rare  in  Eu- 
rope as  musical  prodigies  are  plentiful 
everywhere,  but  the  balance  is  restored 
when  old-world  mathematical  and  literary 
prodigies  are  taken  into  account.  At  the 
head  of  them  we  usually  class  C.  H.  Heink- 
sen,  the  infant  who,  on  the  completion  of 
his  first  year,  could  summarize  the  chief 
facts  in  the  five  books  of  Moses,  and  by 
the  time  he  was  four  years  old  had  com- 
mitted to  memory  the  whole  history  of  the 
Bible,  the  histories  of  several  countries, 
eighty  psalms,  200  hymns  with  their  tunes, 
and  1500  verses  and  sentences  from  the 
Latin  classics.  Johann  Dase,  the  Dutch  boy, 
was  another  European  "phenomenon";  he 
could  mentally  multiply  numbers  of  eight 
figures  in  "less  than  a  minute,"  and  is  known 
to  have  multipled  two  numbers,  each  con- 
sisting of  m.ore  than  thirty-nine  figures, 
without  aid  from  pencil  and  paper.  Heink- 
sen,  dying  early,  went  into  history  merely 
as  "the  learned  child  of  Luebeck";  Dase  did 
nothing  more  in  life  than  calculate  a  few 
mathematical  tables.  Contrast  this  disparity 
between  promise  and  performance  with  the 
achievement  of  Macaulay,  who  produced  a 
compendium  of  universal  history  at  the  age 
of  seven,  or  with  that  of  Flammarion,  who 
wrote  a  cosmogony  when  he  was  sixteen. 

3.  Should  the  young  Polish  chess  player 
visit  the  United  States,  and  he  is  reported  to 
be  on  his  way,  he  will  find  the  ground  richly 
prepared  for  "precocious"  attainments. 
Some  of  us  still  remember  James  Broone 
of  Boston,  a  lad  of  twelve,  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  match  his  skill  in  recondite  sub- 


SURVEY   AND    REVIEW    EDITORIALS 


61 


jects  against  that  of  the  brainiest  of  Har- 
vard's professors,  and  is  said  to  have  argued 
on  one  occasion  with  President  Eliot  himself. 
When  the  Indiana  lad,  Arthur  Griffiths,  was 
suddenly  asked  for  the  cube  root  of  1,367,- 
631,  he  promptly  replied  111.  Byron  Howse 
of  Atchison,  Kan.,  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  the  age  of  7  after  passing  "a  rigid  exam- 
ination before  the  justices  of  the  supreme 
court,"  and  at  the  age  of  5  Edward  Roche 
Hardy  matriculated  from  the  University  of 
New  York.  It  took  just  thirty-seven  seconds 
for  young  Arthur  A.  Gamble  of  Chicago  to 
tell  his  psychology  class  the  exact  number 
of  minutes  which  had  elapsed  since  the  sign- 
ing of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  And 
since  these  examples  we  have  had  boy 
mathematicians,  metaphysicians,  naturalists, 
lecturers,  and  preachers  by  the  score.  Not 
all  of  them  win  other  fame  than  that  of 
being  prodigies,  but  they  attract  attention, 
and  they  interest  the  psychologists  and  the 
educators  most  of  all. 

A  review  of  curious  instances  of  precocity  or 
supernatural  ability,  the  subject  being  suggested  by 
a  youthful  chess  "prodigy"  of  the  hour.  The  inter- 
est in  this  subject  is  almost  entirely  that  which  we 
take  in  the  unusual — our  human  interest  in  the 
strange  or  curious.  On  the  whole,  in  newspaper  pub- 
lication, these  curious-interest  subjects  are  better 
adapted  for  presentation  in  feature-articles  or  syndi- 
cated feature-series  than  in  editorials.  Nevertheless, 
they  are  readily  adaptable  to  reader-interest  edito- 
rials, and  enough  of  the  sort  are  written  to  form  a 
distinct,  though  small,  sub-class  of  editorials.  One 
merit  that  they  have  is  that  of  introducing  variety 
and  novelty   into  the  editorial  columns. 

FICTION  AND  FACT 

Kansas   City  Star 

1.  Dickens  always  had  a  rollicking  time 
when  he  touched  on  the  subject  of  his 
majesty's  government.  The  national  cinder 
heap  he  calls  it,  in  "Hard  Times,"  and  pic- 
tures ministers  and  members  of  parliament 
scratching  away  in  it,  filling  all  eyes,  includ- 
ing their  own,  with  dust.  Then  there  is  the 
delicious  account  in  "Mutual  Friend"  of 
Veneering's  being  brought  into  parliament 
froni  Pocket  Breeches,  and  the  exuberant 
detail  of  the  formation  of  a  government 
when  Lord  Doodle  went  out  and  Lord  Coodle 
wouldn't  come  in. 

2.  England  was  in  a  terrible  way  for  a 
short  time.  Coodle  and  Moodle  and  Roodle 
and  the  rest  (if  we  have  the  names  right) 
just  couldn't  agree  on  who  should  have  the 
woods  and  forests  and  other  offices,  and  in 
the  meanwhile  England  was  without  a  gov- 
ernment. But  finally  Coodle  (if  not  one  of 
the  others)  not  only  consented  to  come  in, 
but  brought  his  whole  family  in  with  him. 

3.  This  makes  us  a  good  example  of 
Dickens's  exaggerated  methods,  but  we 
would  make  a  mistake  if  we  dismissed  it  as 
merely  that.    Dickens  is  giving  us  the  truth 


by  the  fiction  process.  He  is  telling  us  that 
the  business  of  governing  Britain  is  the  busi- 
ness of  a  few  families.  Until  Lloyd  George 
became  premier  Britain  never  knew  what 
it  was  to  be  governed  by  anybody  outside 
the  Coodle  and  Doodle  circle — ^the  circle  of 
the  governing  class.  The  way  the  woods 
and  forests  and  the  other  offices  are  parceled 
is  exaggeration  in  fiction,  but  in  history  and 
fact  it  is  very  near  truth. 

4.  In  Lord  Morley's  "Recollections"  we 
have  a  picture  not  essentially  different  in 
the  account  he  gives  of  the  formation  of 
the  Rosebery  government,  of  which  Morley 
himself  was  a  member.  When  Gladstone  was 
starting  to  Windsor  to  tender  his  resigna- 
tion he  had  reason  to  believe  the  queen 
would  sound  him  as  to  his  successor.  He 
asked  Morley:  "If  you  were  in  my  place, 
now,  whom  would  you  advise?"  "If  I  were 
in  your  place,"  said  Morley,  "I  should  be 
disposed  to  decline  advice."  Gladstone:  "No, 
I  could  not  do  that.  It  would  not  be  con- 
sistent with  my  view  of  my  duty."  Morley: 
"Then  I  am  bound  to  say  I  should  advise 
Rosebery."  Gladstone:  "I  shall  advise 
Spencer." 

5.  Rosebery  it  was,  and  then  began  the 
negotiations.     Morley's  diary  continues: 

Toward  4  in  the  afternoon  Spencer 
came.  Much  alarm  felt  at  B.  Square 
and  by  himself  at  the  news  brought  by 
Acland  that  I  would  not  join  if  the  F.  O. 
arrangement  for  Kimberley  were  per- 
sisted in.  .  .  .  Spencer  and  I  in  a 
hansom  to  B.  Square.  R.  very  pleasant. 
Others  came  in.  He  and  I  withdrew  to 
the  inner  room.  We  discussed  the  mat- 
ter of  the  F.  O.  .  .  .  He  then  asked 
me  whether  I  would  stay  in  Ireland  or 
go  to  India.  .  .  .  J.  M.  (head 
plunged  between  his  hands),  "Do  not 
ask  me  that."  ...  He  offered  that 
I  should  be  lord  president  or  privy  seal. 
J.  M.,  "No,  no."  ...  He  ordered 
his  phaeton,  and  off  we  drove  in  the 
darkness  and  east  wind  to  my  house. 
.  .  .  R.  said  it  would  be  right  to 
put  it  in  the  newspapers  that  I  might 
have  been  a  secretary  of  state  if  I  liked. 
...  I  found  R.  and  G.  sitting  up. 
They  knew  very  well  what  to  expect. 
"It's  precious  hard  lines,"  cried  G.  with 
youthful  vehemence.  "I  knew  you 
would,"  said  R.  with  profound  vexation. 

6.  That  might  almost  be  a  page  in  Dick- 
ens. But  it  is  a  true  account  of  how  a 
British  government  was  formed  as  late  as 
1894.  A  Liberal  government,  too,  and 
headed  by  a  peer  who  couldn't  even  lead  it  in 
the  house  of  commons.  Morley's  whole  ac- 
count, if  lifted  bodily  and  placed  in  a  page 


62 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


of  fiction,  would  go  very  readily  for  satire. 
Dickens's  account  if  placed  on  Morley's  book 
might  go  equally  well  for  fact. 

A  somewhat  discursive  and  literesque  editorial  of 
historical  survey,  illustrating  political  conditions  in 
Great  Britain  as  they  remained  toward  the  close  of 
the  nineteenth  century;  but  it  is  almost  as  much  an 
essay  in  literary  criticism  as  in  political  exposition. 
Observe  the  literary  "frame"  (Hill,  2,  3  and  6)  with- 
in which  the  historical  review  (1114  and  5)  is  mounted. 
The  ultimate  effect  of  the  editorial  is  interpreta- 
tion either  of  Dickens  as  an  accurate  burlesquer  of 
politics  or  of  actual  politics  as  revealed  by  Dickens — 
whichever  the  reader  prefers.  Either  way,  he  has 
been  entertained  and  informed  at  one  and  the  same 
time. 

NEWSPAPERING  FIFTY  YEARS  AGO 

Building  Trade  With  Farmers 

1.  That  newspaper  conditions  have  vastly 
changed  in  the  past  fifty  years  is  amply 
proven  by  a  comparison  of  the  first  volume 
of  the  American  Newspaper  Drectory  issued 
January  1,  1869,  with  the  one  for  1920. 
This  comparison  has  been  made  by  N.  W. 
Ayer  &  Son,  the  present  publishers,  and  is 
as  follows: 

2.  In  1869  there  were  5,411  publications. 
The  present  volume  lists  22,428.  The  1869 
book  listed  367  Canadian  publications. 
Canada  shows  1,416  this  year. 

3.  The  nine  territories  of  that  day, 
Arizona,  Colorado,  Dakota,  Idaho,  Montana, 
New  Mexico,  Utah,  Washington  and  Wyo- 
ming, had  a  total  of  59  newspapers  among 
them.  The  ten  states  formed  out  of  these 
territories  have  today  2,216.  Kansas  had 
53,  now  it  has  652.  Nebraska  had  27,  today 
it  has  584.  Oregon  had  31,  today  it  has  263. 
The  eastern  states  show  large  increases,  as 
our  population  today  is  about  three  times 
as  large  as  in  1869,  but  the  chief  increases 
are  shown,  of  course,  in  the  Western  coun- 
try, which,  fifty  years  ago,  except  for  a  few 
isolated  communities  like  Cheyenne,  Denver, 
Pueblo,  Santa  Fe,  Salt  Lake  City,  Helena 
and  others,  was  almost  a  wilderness  from 
the  eastern  parts  of  Kansas,  Nebraska  and 
Dakota  to  within  a  few  score  miles  of  the 
Pacific. 

4.  Conditions  at  that  period  are  indicated 
by  the  advertisement  of  the  Kenosha,  Wis., 
Telegraph,  appearing  in  the  1869  directory, 
which  states,  "The  town  is  renowned  for 
the  manufacture  of  wagons,  which  find  a 
market  all  the  way  to  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  even  in  Oregon,  being  shipped  by  way 
of  New  York." 

5.  In  the  first  edition  William  CuUen 
Bryant  is  named  as  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
New  York  Evening  Post.  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe  was  editor  of  a  New  York  weekly 
publication  named  Hearth  and  Home,  at  37 
Park  Row.  Mrs.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
edited  a  monthly,  The  Mother  at  Home  and 


Household  Magazine.  Theodore  Tilton  was 
editor  of  the  Independent.  The  late  Robert 
Bonner,  chiefly  known,  in  his  later  days,  as 
the  owner  of  Maud  S.,  was  running  the  New 
York  Ledger.  Louisa  M.  Alcott  was  editor 
of  Merry's  Museum  of  Boston,  an  illustrated 
monthly.  And  some  of  our  suffragist  friends 
may  be  interested  to  know  that  a  "Woman's 
Rights"  weekly,  under  the  title  of  Revolu- 
tion, was  edited  by  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton 
and  owned  by  Susan  B.  Anthony. 

6.  There  was  still  an  anti-slavery  weekly 
published  in  New  York,  The  National  Anti- 
Slavery  Standard.  It  was  balanced  by  the 
States  Rights  Democrat,  published  by  Mr. 
Victor  W.  Thompson  in  La  Grange,  Texas. 
We  suspect  Brother  Thompson  was  em- 
phatically "Unreconstructed."  George  Wash- 
ington Childs  was  busy  making  a  reputation 
for  the  Public  Ledger  of  Philadelphia. 
Godey's  Lady's  Book  and  Peterson's  Ladies' 
National  Magazine,  which  might  be  consid- 
ered as  the  Ladies'  Home  Journal  and 
Woman's  Home  Companion  of  that  day, 
were  both  published  in  Philadelphia  and 
claimed  the  huge  circulations  of  106,000  and 
140,000,  respectively.  The  largest  circula- 
tion in  the  country  was  275,000,  the  proud 
boast  of  Pomeroy's  Democrat  of  New  York. 

7.  In  Louisville,  Ky.,  we  find  the  Courier- 
Journal,  with  a  gentleman  mis-named  Henry 
Matterson  as  editor-in-chief.  "Marse 
Henry"  is  too  well  known  and  too  highly 
regarded  today  for  anybody  to  spell  his 
name  with  an  M.  We  note  the  name  of 
George  W.  Peck,  afterward  Governor  of 
Wisconsin,  and  famous  as  the  author  of 
"Peck's  Bad  Boy,"  and  of  the  thrilling  his- 
tory of  "How  Private  Peck  Put  Down  the 
Rebellion,"  etc.  Our  first  edition  shows  him 
up.  He  was  then  just  George  W.  Peck, 
editor  and  publishers  of  the  Representative, 
a  Ripon  (Wis.)  weekly.  "Parson"  Brown- 
low,  known  to  almost  every  soldier  of  the 
Civil  War,  who  did  as  much  to  keep  the 
Union  flag  flying  in  eastern  Tennessee  as 
any  man  in  America,  was  publishing  the 
Whig  at  Knoxville. 

8.  The  Saturday  Evening  Post  of  that 
day  claimed  a  modest  20,000  circulation.  It 
has  several  more  now.  The  Brooklyn  Eagle 
confessed  to  "the  largest  circulation  of  any 
evening  paper  in  the  United  States."  The 
Eagle  is  a  good  paper,  but  if  it  should  make 
such  a  circulation  claim  today,  there  might 
be  some  objections. 

9.  The  newspapers  advertised  liberally 
in  the  first  Directory,  there  being  between 
four  and  five  hundred  advertisements,  a 
great  number  of  them  treating  of  two  or 
more  publications  issued  from  the  same 
office.    One  of  the  chief  points  they  enlarged 


SURVEY   AND   REVIEW    EDITORIALS 


63 


upon  in  that  day  was  their  size.  "A  large 
40  column  newspaper,"  "One  of  the  largest 
papers  in  New  England,"  "32  large  col- 
umns," "A  large  folio  newspaper,"  "The 
largest  sheet  published  in  the  county,"  etc., 
appears  frequently.  Forty  columns  do  not 
make  a  very  large  paper  today. 

10.  That  the  value  of  good  advertising 
agencies  was  appreciated  half  a  century  ago 
is  proved  by  some  of  the  advertisements. 
One  paper  in  Fultonville,  N.  Y.,  says,  "Our 
paper  is  on  file  with  the  best  advertising 
agents  in  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Chicago,  and  other  large  cities.  Advertisers 
will  find  it  to  their  interest  to  contract  with 
our  agents,  as  we  charge  an  extra  price  for 
the  trouble  and  annoyance  of  treating  with 
separate  parties."  The  McMinnville,  Tenn., 
New  Era  says :  "We  prefer  transacting  busi- 
ness through  well-established  advertising 
agents,  but  where  parties  desire  to  contract 
directly,  a  cash  payment  of  one-fourth  of  the 
amount  will  be  required."  Others  show  the 
same  preference. 

11.  Honesty  and  morality  in  the  adver- 
tising columns  is  not  a  new  idea.  We  find 
many  of  the  papers  stating  that  "Only  first- 
class  advertising  will  be  accepted,"  "Ob- 
scene advertisements  not  inserted  at  any 
price,"  "No  advertisements  inserted  unless 
they  are  strictly  unobjectionable,"  "No 
swindling  or  humbug  advertisements  re- 
ceived," "As  we  admit  none  but  first-class 
advertisements,  our  people  have  great  con- 
fidence in  our  advertisers." 

12.  Verily,  honesty  is  the  best  policy, 
both  for  newspapers  and  advertisers.  It 
was  so  half  a  century  ago,  is  today  and  will 
be  forever. 

A  running  review,   or  chronological  survey. 

AVIATION  TRIUMPHANT 

New  York   Times 

1.  A  year  ago — aviation  was  torpid  then 
— who  would  have  predicted  that  the  colleges 
would  soon  be  holding  races  in  the  air? 
But  Mineola,  on  those  level  fields  dedicated 
to  the  training  of  soldiers  and  mail-carriers, 
has  seen  the  college  youngsters,  from  Yale, 
Harvard,  Princeton,  Columbia,  Cornell, 
Pennsylvania,  and  even  Williams,  Rutgers 
and  Wesleyan,  cleaving  the  air  in  ardent 
competition  and  complete  masters  of  their 
frail  craft.  Yale  had  the  distinction  on 
Friday  of  winning  the  opening  event,  a 
25-mile  race,  in  sixteen  minutes.  Several 
scores  of  pilots  were  entered  for  different 
distances,  and  some  of  them  had  flown  to 
the  field  from  New  England.  And  it  seems 
only  the  other  day  that  the  Wrights  were 
giving  exhibitions  above  the  Hudson  with  a 
weather  eye  for  rude  winds  of  ten  miles  an 


hour  before  ascending.  A  dead  calm  was 
prayed  for,  a  breeze  of  six  miles  was  con- 
sidered none  too  safe.  But  that  was  the 
infancy  of  the  science.  No  one  talked  of 
flying  as  a  sport  then. 

2.  The  college  air  races  confound  the 
prophets  of  a  year  ago,  who  saw  little  hope 
for  American  aviation.  As  usual,  the  opti- 
mists were  thought  to  imagine  vain  things. 
They  did  not  care  if  the  campaign  to  obtain 
large  aviation  appropriations  for  the  army 
and  navy  had  failed.  The  American  manu- 
facturer could  get  on  without  Government 
aid,  they  asserted.  And  they  were  right. 
The  Government  has  not  done  much  for  the 
science  of  flying  in  the  last  year.  Four  thou- 
sand planes  have  been  sold  in  a  twelve- 
month, and  half  of  them  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  optimists — ^that  is  to  say,  in  use.  It 
required  courage  to  invest  capital  in  the 
industry  and  go  ahead  when  so  many  had 
lost  faith  and  were  saying  that  the  industry 
was  dead,  killed  by  the  indifference  of  the 
Government.  The  flourishing  state  of  manu- 
facturing proves  that  when  the  demand  for 
a  medium  of  transportation  is  growing 
apace  subsidies  are  not  necessary. 

3.  If  any  aeronautical  journal  is  exam- 
ined, the  evidence  of  the  progress  of  avia- 
tion may  be  seen  on  every  page.  At  random 
in  a  late  issue  one  reads  that  Spokane,  out 
in  Washington,  is  to  have  two  flying  fields; 
the  Salvation  Army  uses  planes  in  this  State 
to  scatter  its  pamphlets;  corporations  estab- 
lish air  ports;  Newark  finds  it  necessary  to 
adopt  ordinances  to  control  flying  because 
the  carelessness  and  rashness  of  aviators 
over  the  city  have  become  dangerous; 
schools  of  instruction  are  starting  all  oyer 
the  country;  manufacturers  are  delivering 
their  goods  by  planes  over  distances  of  100 
and  200  miles.  Some  of  the  news  of  prog- 
ress is  stimulating  to  the  imagination.  In 
the  County  of  San  Francisco  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  calls  for  bids  for  a  plane  to  be 
used  in  carrying  a  payroll  from  City  Hall 
into  the  High  Sierras,  where  men  are  em- 
ployed on  dam  sites  and  sawmills  belonging 
to  the  city,  the  journey  at  present  by  boat, 
train  and  motor  car  being  difficult,  slow  and 
expensive. 

4.  At  an  exposition  at  Santa  Barbara  a 
horse  arrived  by  airplane.  Officers  of  the 
S.  P.  C.  A.  protested  against  the  carrying 
of  the  beast,  but  it  was  proved  to  them  that 
it  would  be  crated  and  properly  secured. 
The  horse  seemed  to  enjoy  the  trip.  In 
Washington  a  plane  is  used  by  a  farmer, 
who  might  be  called  a  farming  magnate, 
because  he  lives  at  Spokane,  a  great  many 
miles  from  the  lands  he  is  cultivating.  By 
automobile  the  trip  takes  nine  hours  and  a 


64 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


half.  Stepping  into  his  "bus"  in  the  city, 
he  arrives  at  his  farm  in  one  hour  and 
twenty  minutes. 

5.  Aviation  is  already  popular.  The 
Aero  Club  of  America  plans  to  make  the 
plane  compete  with  the  automobile.  There 
is  to  be  a  "drive"  for  100,000  members,  but 
it  is  one  thing  to  call  for  enthusiasts,  an- 
other thing  to  get  them.  The  club's  method 
will  be  to  hold  exhibitions  that  will  attract 
attention  all  over  the  country;  indeed,  all 
over  the  world.  The  Aerial  Derby  Around 
South  America  seems  at  first  like  a  flight  of 
the  imagination,  an  essay  in  audacious  ad- 
vertising; but  since  Australians  have  flown 
from  London  to  their  island  continent,  there 
is  no  practical  reason  why  Americans  should 
not  succeed  in  flying  from  Florida  down  the 
east  coast  of  South  America  and  up  the 
west  coast — it  is  a  matter  of  equipment  and 
landing  fields.  The  Derby  around  the  world 
would  once  have  been  regarded  as  a  Jules 
Verne  dream,  but  the  proposal  is  being  taken 
up  in  Japan,  China,  Siam  and  India,  and 
nobody  laughs  at  it  now. 

|1.     Newspeg  plus   retrospective  contrast. 
"|[2.     Survey   of   private   compared   with    governmental 
share  in  advance. 

113.     Evidence    of    advance    reviewed    by    citing    indi- 
vidual instances  of  practical  employment  of  planes. 
14.     Evidence   of    extension    of    employment    in    more 
unusual  ways. 

115.  Assertion  of  achieved  progress,  with  evidence 
thereof  in  further  plans. 

THE  LONG  DARK  YEAR 

New  York  Times 

1.  It  is  a  year  since  hostilities  in  the 
Great  War  came  to  an  end  in  France  with 
the  signing  of  the  armistice.  The  German 
emperor  had  abdicated  on  Nov.  9,  1918,  and 
Emperor  Charles  of  Austria-Hungary  sur- 
rendered his  crown  on  the  day  the  German 
plenipotentiaries  signed  the  historic  docu- 
ment that  stilled  the  roar  of  cannon  in 
France  and  Flanders  and  wherever  the 
troops  of  America  and  her  allies  faced  their 
enemy.  Crowns  fell  in  every  German  State. 
The  revolution  came  as  the  Kaiser  crossed 
the  frontier  to  Holland.  On  Nov.  16  a  Gov- 
ernment of  the  people  was  formed  in  Ger- 
many with  Friedrich  Ebert  at  its  head. 
Forthwith  it  had  to  deal  with  the  Sparta- 
cans,  whose  evil  inspiration  came  from  the 
Russian  Bolsheviki,  but  by  the  middle  of 
January  of  this  year  the  streets  of  Berlin 
had  been  cleared  with  machine  guns  and  the 
new  government  was  secure.  The  Czecho- 
slovak Republic  was  proclaimed  in  Prague 
on  Oct.  28,  the  Polish  Republic  at  Cracow 
on  Nov.  9.  In  the  end  of  that  month  a  re- 
public was  set  up  in  Lithuania.  The  Monte- 
negrin Assembly  declared  for  union  with 
Serbia  under  King  Peter  on  Dec.  2. 


2.  Royalty  had  not  entirely  passed  in  Eu- 
rope, but  the  young  nations  turned  joyously 
to  republicanism.  "It  will  be  a  new  world 
in  this  twentieth  century,"  wrote  the  vet- 
eran Frederic  Harrison  about  this  time. 
"Shall  we  be  new  men,  new  women,  worthy 
to  use  it  rightly?"  And,  looking  back  over 
his  long  life,  he  said: 

In  these  87  years  the  change  has  been 
as  great  as  in  700  years  since  Magna 
Charta.  When  I  was  a  boy  the  only 
republic  was  in  America.  Russia,  it  was 
thought,  might  overwhelm  Europe. 

3.  That  is  what  the  Bolsheviki,  under 
Lenine  and  Trotzky,  are  planning  to  do  in 
the  new  era  heralded  and  celebrated  by  Mr. 
Harrison,  and  the  menace  is  still  something 
more  than  a  vapor  on  the  horizon.  States- 
manship must  grapple  with  it.  On  the  eve 
of  negotiations  to  draw  up  a  peace  treaty. 
President  Wilson — the  occasion  of  his  ad- 
dress was  the  announcement  of  the  armis- 
tice to  Congress — ^proclaimed  his  faith  in  the 
establishment  of  the  new  era  in  the  follow- 
ing eloquent  passage: 

The  great  nations  which  associated 
themselves  to  destroy  the  arbitrary 
power  of  the  military  caste  of  Germany 
have  now  definitely  united  in  the  com- 
mon purpose  to  set  up  such  a  peace  as 
will  satisfy  the  longing  of  the  whole 
world  for  disinterested  justice,  embodied 
in  settlements  which  are  based  upon 
something  much  better  and  more  lasting 
than  the  selfish  competitive  interests  of 
powerful  States. 

4.  Russia  had  to  be  left  out  of  the  pre- 
liminaries, with  a  dubious  prospect  that  her 
people  would  soon  realize  the  blessings  of 
peace  and  industry  and  the  boon  of  "dis- 
interested justice."  Millions  of  Russians 
had  gone  mad  with  their  new-won  liberty, 
and  the  armed  mobs  of  their  leaders  were 
running  amuck,  cruelly  tyrannizing  over  an 
impotent  majority.  But  the  cause  of  the 
majority  was  not  lost.  Eight  days  after  the 
armistice  that  brought  peace  to  western 
Europe,  Admiral  Kolchak  became  virtual 
dictator  of  the  great  body  of  the  Russian 
people  and  commander  of  the  All-Russian 
army  and  fleet,  with  an  organized  govern- 
ment at  Omsk;  while  in  the  south,  on  Nov. 
20,  General  Denikin  captured  Kiev,  over- 
turned the  Ukrainian  Government,  and 
began  his  robust  campaign  against  the 
Soviet  government. 

5.  While  civil  war  desolated  Russia  and 
many  thousands  perished  of  hunger  and  cold, 
and  while  little  wars  blazed  up  in  other  parts 
of  Europe  and  new  republics  were  shaken  in 
the  convulsions  that  the  negotiators  at  Paris 
had  no  time  to  deal  with,  the  framing  of  the 


SURVEY   AND   REVIEW   EDITORIALS 


65 


great  Treaty  went  on  and  the  League  of 
Nations  was  grafted  on  it.  Slow  seemed  the 
deliberations,  leisurely  so,  as  if  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Allies  were  deaf  to  the 
turmoil  elsewhere  and  blind  to  the  misery 
that  was  reducing  millions  to  despair.  But 
at  last  the  work  was  done,  and  on  June  28, 
1919,  the  formal  ceremony  of  signing  took 
place  in  the  Hall  of  Mirrors  at  Versailles. 
From  Paris,  President  Wilson  cabled  an  ad- 
dress to  the  American  people,  in  which  he 
said  of  the  consummation  of  the  long  drawn 
out  and  difficult  negotiations: 

It  is  more  than  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Germany.      It    liberates    great    peoples 
who  have  never  before  been  able  to  find 
the  way  to  liberty.    It  ends,  once  for  all, 
an  old  and  intolerable  order  under  which 
small  groups  of  selfish  men  could  use 
the  peoples  of  great  empires  to  serve 
their  ambition  for  power  and  dominion. 
It  associates  the  free  Governments  of 
the   world   in   a   permanent   League   in 
which   they   are   pledged   to    use    their 
united  power  to  maintain  peace  by  main- 
taining right  and  justice. 
6.     More  than  four  months  have  passed 
since  that  solemn  ceremony  in  the  Hall  of 
Mirrors,   but   the   momentous   Treaty,   with 
its  League  of  Nations,  the  hope  of  a  dis- 
tracted world,  is  still  unratified  by  the  United 
States,  which  was  the  last  nation  to  enter 
the  war.     Great  Britain  ratified  as  long  ago 
as  July  31,  Belgium  on  Aug.  8,  and  France 
on  Oct.  13.     Japan  has  ratified.     The  king 
of  Italy  signed  on  Oct.  7,  but  the   Italian 
Parliament  must  give  its  approval  before  the 
compact  becomes  a  law  of  the  realm.  France 
and  Great  Britain  are  marking  time,  waiting 
for  the  United  States  to  make  up  its  mind. 
As  soon  as  the  Senate  ratifies  the  Treaty 
will  become  effective.     In  this  belated  hour 
in   America   there   sounds   like   an   echo   of 
hope  that  simple  but  noble  sentiment  uttered 
by  President  Poincare  at  the  celebration  in 
Paris  of  the  redemption  and  return  of  Alsace 
and  Lorraine:  "All  honor  to  the  dead,  the 
immortal  ones  who  shall  teach  us  how  to 
live." 

An  editorial  of  review  and  survey  with  the  purpose 
of  persuading   to  action. 
HI.     Events  at  or  soon  after  the  date  of  the  armistice. 

i[2.     Opportunity  of  the  people  in  republicanism.  

1[3.     Threat  and   promise   in   the   "new  era." 

114.     The  situation    in    Russia. 

fS.     Confusion  and  suffering  in  the  period  before  the 

completion   and   signing  of  the  treaty  of   peace,   with 

its    league-of -nation  3    pendant.        What    its    promoters 

hoped   from  the  leafrue. 

%6.     Status  of  world  awaiting  the  ratification  by  the 

United  States.     Appeal  for  action. 

Chapter  V.    Exercises. 

1.     Examine  a  current  issue  of  a  periodi- 
cal like  The  Literary  Digest.    What  propor- 


tion of  its  articles  are  of  the  summarizing 
class?  Are  they  in  the  nature  of  news- 
summary,  or  of  review-and-survey  sum- 
mary? If  you  can  procure  clippings, 
prepare  an  article  of  like  kind  dealing  with 
a  current  topic. 

2.  Follow  the  editorials  of  a  good  daily 
until  you  have  found  at  least  three  satis- 
factory examples  of  the  summarizing  edi- 
torial of  review  or  survey.  Paste  these  on 
separate  sheets  of  paper.  Opposite  each 
write  in  a  thorough  analysis  of  the  editorial 
and  to  this  add  a  paragraph  of  instructive 
comment. 

3.  Examine  the  editorials  and  editorial 
articles  in  eight  recent  issues  of  a  good 
weekly  magazine.  Select  the  three  best 
examples  of  review  and  survey,  and  do  with 
them  as  in  No.  2. 

4.  Carefully  scan  the  news-columns  of  a 
good  daily,  and  note  in  writing  all  the  ideas 
you  find  for  summarizing  review  or  survey 
editorials.  Put  your  suggestions  into  form 
to  submit  to  the  instructor  if  he  calls  for 
them. 

5.  Selecting  one  of  your  hints  from  No. 
4,  gather  the  material  and  write  the  edi- 
torial. 

6.  Repeat  No.  4,  using  another  paper 
of  another  date. 

7.  Repeat  No.  5,  using  a  hint  from  the 
No.  6  list,  about  a  different  subject. 

8.  Do  one  of  the  editorials  here  directed: 

A.  Go  through  the  files  of  the  campus 
(or  the  local)  paper,  and  write  a  review  of 
the  football  season.  Make  it  really  a  sur- 
vey, not  merely  a  repetition  of  old  news. 

B.  As  in  A,  reviewing  the  baseball 
season. 

C.  As  in  A,  reviewing  the  tennis  or  the 
track  season  . 

D.  As  in  A,  reviewing  the  hockey,  the 
golf,  or  some  other  outdoor-sports  season. 

E.  As  in  A,  reviewing  the  dramatic 
season. 

F.  As  in  A,  reviewing  the  glee  club 
season  (in  town,  the  "entertainment"  or 
"lecture-course"  season). 

G.  As  in  A,  reviewing  the  debating  sea- 
son or  the  year's  achievement  of  the  college 
papers. 

9.  Do  another  of  the  editorials  directed 
in  No.  8. 

10.  Do  yet  another  of  the  editorials 
directed  in  No.  8. 

11.  Do  a  survey  of  the  boarding  or 
dining-hall  situation  at  the  college,  or  in 
the  town  where  you  live. 


66 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


12.  A  survey  of  the  dormitory  or  the 
housing  situation  at  the  college,  or  in  the 
town  where  you  live. 

13.  Do  a  review  and  survey  on  one  of  the 
following: 

A.  The  year's  work  in  the  local  school, 
or  schools,  or  the  college. 

B.  The  year  in  your  home  church,  or  in 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  Y.  M.  H.  A., 
etc. 

C.  The  year  in  your  club,  sorority, 
fraternity,  or  lodge. 

D.  The  hunting  or  the  fishing  season. 

14.  Do  a  survey-review  on  one  of  the 
following: 

A.  The  local  school  "situation,"  or  some 
aspect  of  it. 

B.  The  status  of  the  church  in  your 
community. 

C.  Business  conditions  in  the  occupation 
in  which  you  are  employed. 

15.  Do  a  survey-editorial  on  the  outlook 
in  some  one  of  the  interests  named  below. 
Keep  it  local. 

A.  Stock-raising. 

B.  Poultry-raising. 

C.  Fruit-raising. 

D.  Viticulture. 

E.  Grain-farming. 

F.  Truck-gardening. 

G.  Automobile-trade. 
H.   Implement- trade. 
I.     Milling. 

J.     Manufacturing. 

K.    Trolley  or  jitney  transportation. 

L.    Dray-and-trucking  business. 

M.  The  building-trades. 

N.    Public  improvement. 

O.    Community  growth. 

P.    Baseball  or  football,  etc. 

Q.    Hunting  or  fishing. 

16.  Do  another  of  the  editorials  directed 
in  No.  15. 

17.  Do  a  third  one  of  the  editorials 
directed  in  No.  15. 


18.  Our  South  American  trade. 

19.  The  Russia  of  today. 

20.  France  resurgent. 

21.  The  new  Ireland. 

22.  New  departures  in  education.  (This 
may  be  limited  to  a  survey  of  education  in 
particular  countries  or  in  particular  direc- 
tions, etc.) 

23.  Christmas  then  and  now. 

24.  Grandmother's  grand- daughter. 
(Changed  status  of  woman.) 

25.  Electricity  in  Franklin's  day. 

26.  What  his  times  thought  of  Darwin. 

27.  The  surgeon  of  1865. 


28.  When  the  telephone  came. 

29.  Old-fashioned  jewelry. 

30.  Our  cut  of  coat  and  father's.  (Men's 
styles  then  and  now.) 

31.  Bakery-brewed  bread.  (Our  period  of 
machine-made  bread.) 

32.  The  trend  in  land-prices. 

33.  Our  absentee-landlordism. 

34.  From  dress-maker  to  modiste. 

35.  The  postponed  marriage  age.  (The 
tendency  to  later  marriage.) 

36.  The  vanished  pulpit-pounder. 
(Changes  in  the  manner  of  preaching.) 

37.  The  prehistoric  "spring"  wagon. 
(The  family  vehicle  previous  to  the  auto- 
mobile.) 

38.  Charity  as  she  was.  (Changed 
theory  and  practice  in  poor-relief.) 

39.  Making  the  "pen"  a  pleasure.  (Sur- 
vey of  the  new  "penology.") 

40.  Modern  small-town  advertising.  (It's 
different  from  the  old.) 

41.  The  farmer  advertises.  (So  he  does. 
Another  changed  practice  producing  new 
conditions.) 

42.  The  age  of  pewter.  (Those  days — 
"primitive"  or  "thrifty"  according  as  you 
look  at  it — when  pewter  not  quadruple-plate 
or  sterling  was  the  common  metal  for  table- 
ware.) 

43.  Chemistry  sixty  years  past. 

44.  This  peaceful  world  (or,  This  uneasy 
world.  A  survey  of  the  conditions  tending 
toward  quiet  or  toward  unrest). 

45.  Recent  ideas  in  architecture. 

46.  New  needs  in  housing. 

47.  Cities  that  "jest  grow."  (A  survey 
of  the  slow  advance  of  the  principle  of 
city-planning.) 

48.  Must  the  farmer  quit  the  job  ?  (Sur- 
vey of  conditions  affecting  agriculture.) 

49.  Do  it  by  law.  (A  survey  of  the 
tendency  to  "pass  a  law"  whenever  any- 
thing is  thought  to  need  adjustment.) 

50.  Youthful  college  graduates.  (In- 
stances of  early  graduation — and  what  hap- 
pened to  the  precocious  grads.) 

51.  Classic  class  legislation.  (Notorious 
past  instances  of  legislation  in  behalf  of 
"special  interests."  They  should  be  specific 
and  acknowledged.) 

52.  Politics  is  an  old  game.  (Review 
of  past  political  schemes  and  tricks.) 

53.  Earth's  easing  pains.  (Present 
freedom  from  volcanic  action,  earthquakes, 
etc.,  in  comparison  with  the  mountain-form- 
ing geological  period.) 

54.  Future  of  electricity  as  power. 

55.  Politics,  that  simmer.  (They  used  to 
boil.    See  the  histories.) 


SURVEY   AND   REVIEW   EDITORIALS 


67 


56.  A  moral  people.  (Americans'  sensi- 
tiveness to  reform  ideals.  See  the  histories.) 

57.  The  last  frontier.  (Survey  of  Ameri- 
can pioneering;  apparently  it  must  end  with 
Alaskan  development.) 

58.  Freak  reforms.  (Review  of  ab- 
surdities in  reform  theory  and  legislation.) 

59.  Laid  at  last?  (Survey  of  the  long 
struggle  over  the  tariff  question.  See  the 
histories.     Has  the  "ghost"  been  laid?) 

60.  The  fighting  editor.  (Editing  as  it 
was  and  as  it  is.) 

61.  Has  boyhood  grown  pale  ?  (Boyhood 
today  and  boyhood  50  years  ago.) 

62.  Big  agriculture.  (The  tendency  to 
consolidation  and  industrial  methods  in 
farming.) 

63.  Denuded  hills.  (Survey  of  the 
"timber  crisis."  If  reforesting  occurs,  the 
title  may  read  "Reclothed  hills.") 


64.  Presidential  vocations.  (Review  of 
the  vocations  of  our  presidents  in  private 
life.) 

65.  The  woman  with  the  hoe.  (Survey 
of  female  field-labor  in  the  United  States.) 

66.  Our  Japanese  troubles. 


Make  lists  of  subjects  for  summarizing 
editorials  of  review  or  survey,  as  follows: 

67.  Five  historical  and  five  literary. 

68.  Five  commercial  and  five  financial. 

69.  Five  industrial  and  five  political. 

70.  Five    religious    or    moral,    and    five 
social. 

71.  Make  an  unclassified  list  of  15  addi- 
tional subjects. 

72.  Another  list  of  15,  as  in  No.  71. 


CHAPTER   VI 
THE  EDITORIAL  OF  INTERPRETATION 


Interpretation  for  the  sake  of  in- 
struction.— We  have  seen  that  most 
of  the  purposes  of  the  editorial  article 
closely  associate  themselves,  in  one 
way  or  another,  vi^ith  the  ultimate 
aim  of  teaching,  of  conveying  instruc- 
tion. The  editorial  is  written  by  men 
and  women  whose  business  it  is  to 
study  and  understand,  for  the  infor- 
mation and  guidance  of  the  more 
thoughtful  and  serious  part  of  the 
paper's  readers.^ 

As  one  of  the  most  important 
means  of  instruction,  interpretation 
must  enter  largely  into  the  purpose 
of  editorial-writing,  and  the  editorial 
of  interpretation  is  now  exceedingly 
common.  In  the  older  journalism, 
however,  which  was  primarily  parti- 
san or  combative  in  spirit,  it  was 
much  less  prominent.  When  inter- 
pretation was  offered  at  all,  it  usually 
was  offered  less  for  the  sake  of  in- 
forming the  reader  than  for  the  sake 
of  controversial  appeal.  Hence  it  was 
prejudiced,  insincere,  or  dishonest, 
and  therefore  undependable. 


The  modern  spirit  of  interpreta- 
tion. To  find  editorials  that  offer  in- 
terpretation in  this  spirit  is  not  yet 
difficult.  Nevertheless,  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  modern  standard  of 
news — the  facts  for  their  own  sake, 
fully  and  impartially  reported,  "let 
the  chips  fall  where  they  may" — a 
great  change  came  also  in  the  ideal  of 
the  editorial. 

It  did  not  give  up  its  function  as  a 
means  of  argument — of  debate  and 
conviction — for  it  could  not  do  that 
without  surrendering  its  duty  to  urge 
opinion  and  principle.  But  it  as- 
sumed a  new  function  in  addition 
thereto.  It  became  a  medium  of  im- 
partial explanation,  and  turned  a 
large  part  of  its  energy  into  the  pro- 
duction of  unbiased,  informative  in- 
terpretation. Only  in  periods  of 
emergency  and  crisis  do  we  now  find 
the  intensely  controversial  editorial 
unmistakably  ousting  the  editorial  of 
educative  interpretation  from  its 
place  of  equality,  if  not  of  supremacy. 

Indeed,  a  shrewd  surmise  began  to 
renew  itself  in  a  good  many  minds. 


^It  is  true  that  some  newspaper  publishers 
minimize  the  value  of  the  editorial,  and  that 
a  few  would  abolish  it  entirely.  It  is  also 
true  that  the  editorial  function  of  the  news- 
paper (as  a  newspurveyor)  can  be  empha- 
sized excessively.  When  this  happens,  the 
journal  loses  in  all-round  interest,  is  likely 
to  decline  in  money-returns,  and  may  fail  as 
a  business  undertaking.  But  it  is  also  true 
that  deterioration  in  its  news-function  fol- 
lows when  the  editorial-function  of  the 
paper  is  neglected.  The  journal  then  be- 
comes a  chronicle  of  undigested  and  un- 
interpreted fact,  and  faces  the  constant 
temptation  to  overdo  the  sensational  in  some 
of  its  numerous  varieties,  in  order  to  create 
and    sustain    interest.     Under    this    policy, 


large  and  paying  "circulations"  are  some- 
times built  up.  Yet  the  final  judgment 
founded  upon  a  study  of  such  papers  is 
almost  inevitable.  They  do  not  discharge 
the  full  obligation  that  they  owe  to  their 
readers  and  to  the  community  and  nation. 
This  failure  appears  even  in  their  news- 
columns,  which  gradually  become  less  in- 
structive and  less  substantial  than  are  the 
news-columns  in  which  the  selection  and 
presentation  of  news  is  more  guided  by 
standards  set  in  the  department  of  the 
editorial-writer.  When  these  standards  are 
removed,  or  become  low,  slovenly,  indif- 
ferent, or  superficial,  deterioration  in  the 
quality  of  the  news-columns  can  soon  be 
observed. 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


69 


luring  the  war  with  Germany  and 
he  time  of  agitation  and  unrest  fol- 
owing  it,  that  the  most  effective  edi- 
orials  upon  the  problems  before  the 
Dublic  are  not  those  of  heated  and 
)assionate  argument,  but  those 
ather  of  cool,  sensible,  reasoned 
inalysis  and  interpretation.  A  plain, 
;incere  explanation  is  often  the 
trongest  kind  of  proof. 

The  ideal  of  the  strictly  interpre- 
;ive  editorial  is  the  same  as  that 
vhich  gives  us  the  highest  quality  of 
nodern  news-report.  The  ideal  of  the 
•eporter  is  to  put  the  facts  fully  and 
airly  before  the  reader,  leaving  him 
:o  form  his  own  judgment  from  them. 
The  ideal  of  the  editorial  of  interpre- 
tation is  to  put  a  just,  fair,  well-in- 
lormed  explanation  of  facts,  events, 
principles,  or  tendencies  before  the 
-eader,  leaving  him  to  accept,  amend, 
)r  reject  it  as  he  will.  If  it  be  sound 
md  just,  it  will  inevitably  influence 
lim. 

Resemblance  to  the  news-story. — 
!n  this  respect,  the  difference  between 
he  interpretive  editorial  and  the 
lews-story  is  principally  one  of  sub- 
stance, as  determined  by  purpose. 
The  matter  of  the  news-story  is  actual 
fact;  the  interpretive  editorial  con- 
sists of  matters  of  judgment,  under- 
standing, and  inference.  The  matter 
of  the  news-story  is  concrete  and 
verifiable ;  the  matter  of  the  interpre- 
tive editorial  is  abstract.  If  the  re- 
porter be  fully  informed,  carefully  ac- 

To  counteract  this  inevitable  effect  is 
ometimes  undertaken  by  ''making  the  selec- 
ion  and  presentation  of  news  the  means  of 
effecting  and  guiding  public  opinion."  But 
this  policy  is  thoroughly  vicious,  leading  to 
he  supnression  of  news,  and  to  all  the  evils 
of  colored  and  manipulated  news.  Were  it 
to  establish  itself  widely,  it  would,  by  cor- 
rupting the  news-honesty  of  journalism,  de- 
stroy its  usefulness  as  an  institution  of  de- 
pendable public  information.  The  remedy  is 
far  worse  than  the  condition. 

Observers  of  the  press-agent  and  propa- 
ganda publicity  that  began  about  1914,  and 


curate,  truthful  and  impartial,  one 
can  depend  upon  the  facts  of  his 
news-story.  If  the  editorial-writer 
be  well-informed,  sincere,  honest,  and 
straight-thinking  in  arriving  at  his 
theory  or  conclusion,  one  can  depend 
upon  his  interpretation.  At  the  least, 
his  statement  of  the  logical  data  will 
be  illuminative  and  thought-provok- 
ing, whether  his  interpretation  of 
them  be  acceptable  or  not. 

Demand  for  interpretive  editorials. 
— This  ideal  of  earnest,  honest,  care- 
ful, educative  explanation  has  made 
the  contemporary  interpretive  edi- 
torial perhaps  the  most  effective  and 
the  most  desired  kind  of  editorial- 
writing  among  thinking  readers — 
and  their  tribe  increases. 

Definite  in  purpose,  but  varied  in 
plan. — There  is,  and  there  can  be,  no 
set  plan  nor  standard  method  for 
such  editorial  articles.  Their  method, 
their  structure,  and  their  manner, 
will  vary  according  to  the  subject, 
the  circumstances,  the  body  of  read- 
ers, and  the  writer.  The  one  fixed 
and  determined  thing  about  them  is 
their  intent.  They  are  written  to 
show  forth  the  significance  of  a  set  of 
facts;  the  relations  of  these  facts  to 
one  another  or  to  other  facts;  the 
tendency  of  events;  or  the  nature  of 
the  premises  underlying  a  theory  of 
action.  To  describe  it  briefly,  the  in- 
terpretive editorial  exists  to  make 
clear  the  true  inwardness  and  bearing 
of  the  matter  it  discusses. 

was  still  flourishing  years  thereafter,  testify 
to  a  resultant  deterioration  of  our  press. 
Its  news,  they  say,  declined  in  both  thorough- 
ness and  completeness,  in  accuracy  and  au- 
thenticity, in  impartiality  and,  therefore,  in 
honesty,  dependability,  and  value. 

But  between  the  minimized  and  the  over- 
emphasized editorial  function  there  is  a  safe 
and  necessary  middle  ground.  Too  much 
stress  on  the  editorial  element  can  be 
avoided;  the  other  extreme  must  be,  because 
it  vitiates  the  news — the  very  blood  of 
healthy  journalism. 


70 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


To  accomplish  this  expository  pur- 
pose, it  is  free  to  employ  any  plan  of 
structure  and  any  method  of  presen- 
tation that  is  clear,  forcible,  logically 
sound,  and  adapted  to  the  standards 
of  appropriateness  and  the  practical 
psychology  of  commanding  attention 
and  respect. 

Available  plans  for  building  the  in- 
terpretive editorial. — Some  of  the 
most  usual  methods  employed  in 
building  the  editorial  of  interpreta- 
tion are : 

1.  The  newspeg  method.  The  facts 
to  be  interpreted  are  stated  in  the 
newspeg;  the  body  of  the  editorial 
(in  which  the  peg  may  appear  at  al- 
most any  point,  though  it  is  likely  to 
be  placed  near  the  opening)  enlarges 
upon  this  in  some  explanatory  or  il- 
luminative way. 

2.  The  method  of  the  annuncia- 
tory  beginning.  The  first  part  of  the 
editorial  announces  its  subject  and 
introduces  the  thought ;  what  follows 
proceeds  with  the  exposition  in  such 
detail  and  in  such  arrangement  as  are 
dictated  by  the  subject,  the  circum- 
stances, and  the  writer's  technique. 
Really,  this  is  often  the  three-stage 
plan,  though  it  frequently  stops  short 
of  an  explicit  statement  of  the  con- 
clusion or  application.  But  to  add 
the  third  stage  is  quite  permissible; 
and  the  editorial-writer  may  do  so 
with  small  fear  of  detracting  from 
the  effect  of  his  interpretation,  pro- 
vided that  the  interpretation  itself 
reveals  accuracy  and  sincerity. 

3.  The  method  of  summarizing. — 
The  facts  to  be  interpreted  are 
brought  together  and  set  in  perspec- 
tive in  a  summary  similar  in  method 
to  that  of  the  news-summary  (Chap- 
ter IV)  or  to  the  summarizing  edi- 
torial of  review  or  survey.  Fre- 
quently, the  mere  statement  of  the 
facts  in  such  a  form  is  enough  to 
make    their    meaning    clear.    When 


this  is  not  enough,  explanatory  com- 
ment completes  the  interpretation. 

4.  Informal  methods.  The  skilled 
writer,  besides  following  the  more 
customary  editorial  practice,  may  occa- 
sionally employ  narrative  or  descrip- 
tive presentation,  incident,  anecdote, 
fable,  parable,  and  so  on.  Sometimes 
the  exceptional  form  will  constitute 
the  entire  editorial,  and  some- 
times it  will  be  introduced  into  the 
article  merely  as  a  means  of  develop- 
ment or  emphasis  at  some  particular 
stage  of  the  thought.  Only  writers 
of  sure  experience  and  judgment, 
however,  can  safely  venture  on  a  no- 
ticeable degree  of  informality  in  edi- 
torial presentation,  for  only  they  will 
know  how  to  keep  the  informality 
surely  within  judicious  bounds. 

Schema. — Interpretation  may  ap- 
pear in  various  forms  of  editorials. 
Loosely,  these  belong  to  one  or  an- 
other of  three  overlapping  categories ; 
namely : 

A.  The  editorial  of  direct  inter- 
pretation. 

B.  The  didactic  editorial,  that  di- 
rectly instructs  or  teaches. 

C.  The  editorial  of  indirect  or 
casual  interpretation. 

Representative  editorials. — Ways, 
means,  and  manners  of  interpreting 
are  illustrated — but  yet  not  exhaus- 
tively— by  the  editorials  that  follow: 

OUR  DEBT  TO  INDUSTRIAL  GIANTS 

The    Churchman 

1.  In  the  death  of  Theodore  N.  Vail  the 
nation  loses  another  of  its  industrial  giants. 
It  takes  two  to  make  each  of  the  great  in- 
ventions which  help  to  conquer  time  and 
space.  First,  we  must  have  the  man  who 
reveals  one  of  the  secrets  of  science.  Bui 
that  revelation,  were  the  revealer  to  stand 
alone,  would  be  impotent  to  serve  the  ra 
The  other  inventor  is  the  man  who  tak 
the  secret,  organizes  it,  finances  it,  hai 
nesses  it  into  a  great  system,  making  i1 
available  for  the  profit  and  comfort  of  th( 
millions.  Mr.  Vail  may  be  said  to  be  n( 
less  of  an  inventor  of  the  telephone  thai 
Alexander  Graham  Bell. 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


71 


2.  There  is  a  tendency  among  certain 
eople  to  underestimate  the  contribution  of 
ur  great  administrators.  Their  genius  has 
ndeed  been  lavishly  rewarded;  but  without 
he  administrators,  financiers  and  organizers 
ur  creative  geniuses  who  make  the  inven- 
ions  would  be  impotent  to  make  them  effec- 
ive  for  service.  Men  like  Mr.  Vail  no  less 
han  inventors  like  Bell  deserve  the  grati- 
ude  and  honor  of  mankind. 

Material  for  editorial  interpretations  is  always  at 
land,  because  life  infinitely  repeats  itself,  and  each 
lew  generation  must  have  life's  abiding  truths 
xplained  to  it  through  exposition  of  the  men  and 
natters  of  its  own  passing  day.  This  editorial  at- 
;empts  to  give  guidance  by  interpreting  social  value 
is  corresponding  to  helpful  service. 

POST-WAR  POLITICAL  ECONOMY 

Shoe  and  Leather  Reporter 

1.  One  of  the  consequential  results  of  the 
greatest  war  of  all  time  is  double,  treble 
and  even  quadruple  wages  and  enormous 
profits.  The  country  has  been  translated  to 
a  sort  of  financial  seventh  heaven.  The 
problem  is  how  to  get  our  feet  safely  back 
to  earth  again.  If  the  transition  is  not 
gradual  there  will  be  low  prices  with  the 
usual  accompaniment  of  soup  houses  and 
bread  lines  for  the  employees  and  fore- 
closures and  sheriff's  sales  for  the  employ- 
ers. A  few  deluded  creatures  running 
about  wearing  blue  pants  and  hickory  shirts 
may  make  an  amusing  diversion,  but  they 
will  contribute  nothing  to  the  solution  of 
the  post-war  emergency. 

2.  Thus  far  we  have  not  learned  the  first 
letter  of  the  alphabet  of  political  economy, 
which  is  that  individuals  and  nations  can 
revel  in  extravagance  upon  borrowed  money 
only  to  fret,  fume  and  protest  when  the  day 
of  settlement  comes.  The  high  prices  of 
today  are  as  logical  as  indigestion  after  plum 
pudding.  Swearing  you  will  never  eat  such 
a  compound  again  may  be  salutary  as  an 
exercise  of  conscience,  but  it  does  not  repair 
the  damage  already  done. 

Explanation  of  an  industrial  and  economic  condi- 
tion.    Observe  its  brevity. 

THE  REAL  MAGIC 

Haverhill  Gazette 

1.  Thurston,  the  famous  magician,  says 
he  wonders  at  times  why  people  come  to  his 
show  when  there  is  so  much  free  magic  all 
about  them. 

2.  The  bursting  bud,  the  growing  child, 
the  nesting  bird — these  are  manifestations 
of  the  real  magic,  yet  who  takes  but  passing 
note  of  them?  he  asks.  And  man's  own 
wizardry  has  become  but  a  commonplace  of 
his  everyday  life. 

3.  A  bell  rings  at  one's  elbow  and  one 
places  an  instrument  to  his  mouth  and  talks 
to  a  man  who  may  be  a  thousand  miles  away. 


4.  Magic,  indeed!  But  it  thrills  no 
longer,  any  more  than  the  casual  conversa- 
tion one  had  with  his  neighbor  on  the  street 
in  the  morning. 

5.  A  slight  pressure  of  the  hand  on  a 
lever  lights  up  a  city.  A  spark  of  elec- 
tricity ignites  a  vapor  and  sets  in  motion 
the  wheels  of  a  vehicle.  The  touch  of  a 
finger  on  a  key  sends  messages  through  air 
and  overseas. 

6.  It  is  related  in  the  story  of  Aladdin 
that  he  had  but  to  rub  his  wonderful  lamp, 
express  a  wish,  and  it  would  be  forthwith 
magically  fulfilled. 

7.  The  fairy-tale  of  yesterday  is  the  fact 
of  today. 

8.  One  man  makes  a  wish  today  and  on 
the  morrow  another  man  invents  some  new 
marvel  that  fulfills  that  wish. 

Eight  tabloid  IJIf  of  human -interest  interpreting  the 
wonder  of  well-known  things.  (Let  the  student 
diagram    its  3-stage  structure.) 

Query. — Does  the  shortness  of  the  HI  produce  an 
effect  of  scrappiness?  Are  there  some  readers  who 
will  follow  the  thought  better  because  it  is  thus 
marked  off  into  fragmentary  stages?  What  class  of 
readers  would  these  be? 

THE  COUNTRY  DOCTOR 

Ohio  State   Journal 

1.  From  early  days  the  country  doctor 
has  worked  hard  and  made  little  money. 
Considering  the  importance  of  his  relation 
to  the  happiness  and  well-being  of  the  com- 
munity, he  gets  the  smallest  reward  society 
offers  any  of  the  men  in  learned  professions. 
His  office  hours  are  day  and  night.  Dis- 
tance never  interferes,  weather  has  no  ter- 
rors to  stop  him.  He  gets  no  cash  in  ad- 
vance. He  cannot  exact  the  higher  fee  for 
night  services.  When  there  is  a  call  he 
goes,  for  they  are  all  his  neighbors.  If  they 
pay  he  is  fortunate.  If  they  wait  he  gets 
along  some  other  way.  The  largest  item  on 
his  ledger  is  the  charity  service.  The  next 
is  the  unpaid  bills.  From  the  latter  he  hopes 
to  get  payment  some  time.  When  he  dies 
he  has  many  thousands  due  him  but  few 
dollars  in  the  bank. 

2.  Larger  fees  and  more  of  them  are 
offered  in  the  cities.  In  New  York  State 
there  is  talk  of  the  State's  subsidizing  the 
country  doctor,  guaranteeing  him  a  fair 
living  and  inducing  him  to  stay  in  the  small 
places. 

An  exposition  of  the  economic  situation  of  an  im- 
portant social  class.  The  news  noted  in  112  is  men- 
tioned, not  as  a  newspeg,  but  as  an  item  that  further 
interprets   the  situation. 

Does  a  body  of  type  appear  well-balanced  to  the 
eye  when  made  up  of  one  long  H  followed  by  a 
short  H?  Would  this  set-up  be  more  satisfying  if  Ifl 
were  broken  into  two  HH?  Could  the  division  be 
made  on  a  logical  principle,  or  would  it  be  arbitrary? 
(Most  HH,  if  themselves  well  constructed,  consist  of 
sub-units,  or  groups,  of  sentences,  that  can  stand  as 
shorter  %^.     How  is  it  here?) 


72 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


BUT  THE  DEMS  WANT  A  RUNNER 

Baltimore    American 

1.  Scene — The  Polo  Grounds,  somewhere 
within  the  precincts  of  Greater  Gotham. 
Time — Sunday  afternoon,  May  2.  Actors — 
Members  of  the  New  York  baseball  team 
and  members  of  the  Boston  team.  In  the 
grandstand  and  the  bleachers  25,000  keyed- 
up-to-the-cracking-point  B.  B.  fans.  Game 
opens  with  Boston  at  the  bat — no  score. 
New  York  goes  to  bat — no  score.  Five  in- 
nings played,  not  a  run  scored  on  either  side 
— judge  the  psychic  strain  in  the  grandstand 
and  the  bleachers.  Boston  goes  to  bat  in 
the  sixth  and  scores  one  run — death  cham- 
ber silence  and  solemnity  pervades  grand- 
stand and  bleachers  when  the  New  Yorks 
shamble  across  to  home  base. 

2.  On  called  balls  and  bunts  the  New 
Yorks  manage  to  get  three  on  the  bases,  and 
then  the  mighty  Babe  takes  the  bat.  No 
sound  breaks  the  awful  silence  except  the 
rasp  of  a  tree  locust  sawing  his  legs  in  a 
maple  just  behind  the  grandstand.  And 
then  the  sublime  thing  happens.  According 
to  25,000  fans  who  were  there  and  saw  that 
phenomenal  drive,  the  ball  is  heading 
straight  for  the  other  side  of  the  Harlem 
River  when  it  is  stopped  by  a  granite  wall. 
Five  runs  for  New  York  that  hit  of  the 
mighty  Babe  scores,  and  language  utterly 
fails  to  describe  the  tumult  that  followed. 

3.  But,  right  here,  let  us  pause  to  deliver 
an  inspired  suggestion.  The  Democratic 
party  is  wandering  around  in  the  wilderness, 
looking  for  a  likely  candidate,  but  finding 
none  that  has  not  the  jinx  sign  pinned  to 
him.  But  there's  Babe  Ruth,  at  the  mention 
of  whose  name  New  York  breaks  into 
tumultuous  joy.  No  gloom  imps  are  dancing 
around  the  mighty  Babe.  Maybe  he  can 
knock  'em  over  the  fence  in  politics  just 
like  he  does  in  b.  b. 

An  interpretation  (US)  by  means  of  dramatic  nar- 
rative. The  editorial  is  in  the  tone  of  the  casual- 
essay  or  the  human-interest  editorial,  A  "surprise" 
effect  is  gained,  quite  in  the  manner  of  drama  and 
fiction,  by  the  sudden  swing  of  |3  to  a  political 
application. 

THE  ANTI-THIRD  TERM  ARGUMENT 

New  York  World 

1.  In  the  face  of  precedents  that  might 
have  given  him  warning,  Venustiano  Car- 
ranza  decreed  his  fate  when  he  yielded  to 
temptation  to  override  the  Constitution  and 
establish  a  dictatorship.  There  was  a  small 
chance  of  temporary  success,  but  the  prob- 
able result  was  the  grim  alternative  present- 
ed to  most  of  his  predecessors.  If  not  death, 
exile. 

2.  Mexican  leaders  thus  far  have  had  one 
delinquency  in  common.  They  are  all  pro- 
fuse in  promising  the  things  that  they  may 


not  have  the  power  to  bring  about,  such  as 
peace  and  justice.  Where  they  all  fail  is  in 
personal  conduct,  in  the  matters  that  depend 
altogether  upon  themselves. 

3.  "That  I  should  lay  down  my  charge  at 
a  proper  period  is  as  much  a  duty  as  to 
have  borne  it  faithfully,"  said  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson when  he  was  nominated  for  a  third 
term;  "if  some  termination  of  the  services  of 
the  Chief  Magistrate  be  not  fixed  by  the 
Constitution,  or  supplied  by  practice,  his 
office,  nominally  for  years,  will,  in  fact,  be- 
come for  life,  and  history  shows  how  easily 
that  degenerates  into  an  inheritance." 
Mexico's  long  and  tragic  record  of  misgov- 
ernment  is  primarily  due  to  the  fact  that  it 
never  has  had  a  chieftain  able  to  conquer  his 
own  greed  for  power  and  wealth. 

An  explanation  of  the  course  of  Mexican  affairs  by 
an  analysis  of  Mexican  ideals. 

SAVING  THE  COUNTRY 

Boston   Evening    Globe 

1.  Boston  survived  May  Day,  and  so  did 
the  rest  of  the  country.  To  be  sure,  there 
were  demonstrations  and  killings,  but  in 
Paris — and  not  Paris,  Maine,  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  Tennessee  or  Texas,  but  in  Paris, 
France. 

2.  Our  Federal  Attorney  General  appears 
to  be  precisely  as  successful  in  fortelling 
revolution  as  he  is  reducing  the  high  cost 
of  keeping  alive. 

3.  The  only  unusual  event  of  the  day 
was  a  26-inning  ball  game,  but  even  that 
had  its  tame  side,  since  it  was  a  tie.  And 
yet  those  who  had  hung  on  Mr.  Palmer's 
words  expected  to  hear  bombs  exploding  all 
day  long  and  to  cower  terror-stricken  while 
fragments  of  the  State  House  pattered  like 
rain  on  the  top  of  the  fifth-floor  flat. 

4.  Even  Washington,  D.  C,  a  town  sup- 
posed to  know  the  secrets  of  all  booms,  took 
so  much  stock  in  Mr.  Palmer's  May  Day 
that  some  of  its  citizens  telephoned  to  police 
headquarters  when  a  band  of  Harvard  grad- 
uates paraded  with  their  crimson  banners. 

5.  No  doubt  Mr.  Palmer,  or  someone  ac- 
tive in  his  behalf,  will  explain  that  the  red- 
eyed,  fire-spitting,  bloody-minded  "Reds" 
were  overawed  by  the  public  intimations 
that  agents  of  the  Department  of  Justice 
lurked  with  machine  guns  along  all  thor- 
oughfares where  the  Leninites  would  have 
paraded,  if  they  had  not  been  scared  out  of 
their  boots. 

6.  Being  jumpy  never  does  any  good, 
and,  if  it  is  repeated  often  enough,  may  do 
considerable  harm.  There  is  an  old  story 
about  giving  a  dog  a  bad  name  and  so 
inciting  him  to  violence.  If  the  word 
"Bolshevist"  is  thrown  frequently  enough 
in  the  general  direction  of  everybody  who 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


73 


does  not  pay  a  supertax,  Bolshevists  may  be 
produced  even  from  our  native  American 
stock. 

7.  The  real  reason  for  the  May  Day 
flivver  is  the  quadrennial  necessity  for  sav- 
ing the  country.  Politicians,  especially  those 
mentioned  for  the  Presidency,  are  firm  in 
the  idea  that  the  oftener  the  country  is 
saved  the  better.  The  rest  of  us  might  as 
well  get  used  to  being  "saved"  from  high 
prices  and  revolutions  until  after  the  cam- 
paign is  over. 

At  bottom,  this  editorial  is  about  half  and  half 
an  exposition  of  the  unwisdom  of  growing  panicky 
over  threats  of  public  disorder  or  upheaval,  and  a 
criticism  of  the  Attorney  General  on  the  assump- 
tion that  he  was  "playing  politics."  The  editorial 
refers  to  a  warning  sent  out  against  probable  revo- 
lutionary   outbreaks. 

THE  BOSS  WHO  PULLS 

Brockton  Times 

1.  Long,  serious  articles  have  been  writ- 
ten to  prove  the  folly  of  attempting  to 
establish  lines  or  sharp  distinctions  between 
capital  and  labor  in  this  country,  but  really 
such  grave  dissertations  are  unnecessary. 
The  observant  eye  sees  proof  of  this  folly 
every  day  on  the  public  street. 

2.  A  case  in  point:  Three  men  were 
taking  a  piano  up  the  steps  of  a  house.  The 
man  at  the  front  end  was  well  dressed,  spec- 
tacled, overcoated.  The  two  at  the  other  end 
of  the  box  were  dirty,  overalled,  rough- 
handed.  But  just  as  it  came  to  the  final  tug, 
one  of  the  overalled  pair  exclaimed  to  the 
white  shirt  at  the  front,  "Git  straight  around 
in  front  of  her,  George,  an'  pull!"  And 
George  did  as  he  was  told. 

3.  Now  George  is  a  member  of  the  firm 
that  sold  the  piano.  A  few  years  ago  he  was 
one  of  the  teamsters  that  delivered  the 
pianos.  Being  short  of  help  in  his  store,  he 
lends  a  hand  himself  where  the  need  arises, 
and  his  men  called  him  by  his  first  name, 

4.  This  country  is  swarming  with  just 
such  cases.  They  are  the  finest  argument 
for  free  America  that  we  have.  They  offer 
the  greatest  incentive  to  ambition  that  any 
country  in  the  world  has  to  offer.  So  long 
as  this  country  remains  one  in  which  the 
men  call  the  boss  by  his  first  name,  and 
when  need  arises  the  boss  gets  round  in 
front  and  pulls  with  the  men,  all  the  agi- 
tators in  the  world  can't  do  any  lasting 
harm. 

The  Times  here  gives  us  a  common-sense  view  of 
what  it  regards  as  the  right  spirit  betAveen  employers 
and  employed,  illustrated  by  an  incident  from  every- 
day life.  Besides  being  an  editorial  of  interpreta- 
tion, it  is  a  "purpose"  editorial ;  or  it  may  be  called 
a  human-interest  editorial,  since  it  touches  us  as 
much  on  the  side  of  human  as  on  that  of  industrial 
relationships.  In  structure  it  is  of  the  3-stage  plan. 
Note   the    effectiveness    of    the   head. 


LAYING  THE  BASIS  FOR  NEW  WARS 

Springfield  Republican 

1.  Dispatches  from  Warsaw  throw  addi- 
tional light  on  the  objectives  of  the  Polish 
campaign  and  the  imperial  project  which  in- 
spires it.  The  Poles  are  to  assist  the 
Ukrainian  partisan  leader  Petlura  to  set  up 
a  government  under  Polish  protection  and 
with  Poland  represented  in  its  cabinet. 
Poland  is  to  have  control  of  the  railways  of 
the  Ukraine,  and  in  return  agrees  to  give 
the  Ukraine  military  support  for  ten  years. 

2.  Polish  troops,  however,  are  not  to  in- 
vade the  region  beyond  the  Dnieper,  and 
this  detail  is  significant.  Evidently  the 
Dnieper,  if  Pilsudski's  plans  succeed,  is  to 
be  the  frontier  of  the  new  Polish  empire 
which  will  stretch  from  Danzig  on  the  Baltic 
to  Odessa  on  the  Black  Sea.  The  Ukraine 
would  thus  be  divided  into  three  parts,  the 
provinces  which  like  east  Galicia  have  been 
annexed,  the  provinces  which  like  those  now 
seized  are  to  be  nominally  Ukrainian,  but 
under  Polish  control,  and  the  fragment  be- 
yond the  Dnieper  which  under  these  condi- 
tions would  be  at  Poland's  mercy. 

3.  It  is  imperialism  of  a  tolerably  fa- 
miliar type,  and  not  very  easy  to  distinguish 
from  the  German  imperialism  which  the 
Allies  combated.  The  protests  made  by 
Ukrainians  in  this  country  indicate  that  it 
will  be  resisted  quite  as  vigorously  as  the 
attempt  of  Germany  two  years  ago  to  set  up 
a  protectorate  of  much  the  same  sort.  That 
Russia  under  the  Bolsheviki  or  under  any 
other  government  is  bound  in  simple  self- 
defense  to  resist  dismemberment  of  this 
sort  is  obvious.  The  success  of  Pilsudski 
would  make  almost  certain  a  new  war,  per- 
haps a  new  cycle  of  wars. 

This  is  an  interpretive  analysis  of  recent  news-facts, 

like    an   editorial   of    news-report   and   comment.   

The  six  or  seven  years  following  1914  were  notable 
for  an  increase  in  the  relative  number  of  editorials 
dealing  interpretively  with  events  abroad,  and  our 
own  foreign  relations.  The  reason  was,  that  the 
World  War  gradually  turned  our  attention  to  foreign 
affairs  more  and  more  eagerly,  and  brought  us  to 
realize  the  interest  and  the  importance  to  America 
of  what  goes  on  abroad.  Whether  this  interest  will 
continue  with  us  outside  of  the  more  cultured  and 
classes,  is  a  matter  for  debate.  Perhaps  by  1930  ad- 
vanced students  of  journalism  will  find  a  good  thesis- 
subject  in  "The  rise'  and  decline  of  American  interest 
in   foreign  affairs." 

"FIRM  BASED  UPON  THE 

PEOPLE'S  WILL" 

Montreal   Star 

1.  The  last  decade  has  been  disastrous 
to  monarchy.  Crown  after  crown  has  rolled 
in  the  dust.  Reigning  families,  whose  his- 
tory goes  back  to  the  dim  ages,  have  been 
swept  aside  like  chaff;  traditions  of  sanc- 
tity and  inviolability  have  vanished  like  a 
morning  mist. 


74 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


2.  And  out  of  the  turmoil  and  upheaval 
our  own  monarchy  has  emerged,  not  only 
unshaken,  but  more  firmly  than  ever  built 
upon  the  only  sure  foundation  which  mon- 
archy can  have — the  respect,  the  affection 
and  the  loyalty  of  the  people. 

3.  It  is  not  wholly  by  accident  that  this 
has  come  to  pass.  We  have  perhaps  and 
generally  accepted  the  theory  that  a  British 
king  need  be  nothing  but  a  polished  figure- 
head, around  which  the  political  and  social 
life  of  the  country  can  revolve.  If  George  V 
had  been  nothing  but  that  it  is  not  likely  that 
he  would  today  be  receiving  the  congratula- 
tions of  millions  of  loyal  subjects.  In  the 
testing  time  of  the  last  few  years  not  many 
useless  anachronisms  survived.  The  British 
monarchy,  in  the  person  of  the  present  king, 
had  a  useful  purpose  to  serve,  and  served  it 
usefully,  otherwise  neither  it  nor  he  would 
be  where  they  are  today. 

4.  And  so  when  we  sing  and  pray  "God 
Save  the  King"  our  words  are  more  than 
merely  conventional.  We  pray  for  the 
preservation  of  an  institution  that  has 
proved  its  worth,  and  of  a  faithful,  self- 
sacrificing  and  able  gentleman,  whose  des- 
tiny has  cast  him  in  a  most  onerous  and 
most  trying  position.  It  is  no  light  task  to 
be  a  king.  It  is  our  boast  that  ours  is  true 
to  kingship's  noblest  traditions. 

The  stability  of  English  government,  and  at  the 
same  time  its  remarkable  adaptability  to  the  demo- 
cratic principle  inherent  in  its  spirit,  have  long  been 
the  subject  of  comment.  Here  the  Montreal  Star  in- 
terprets them  in  the  light  of  the  events  of  the  World 
War. 

WHEN  FARM  ISOLATION  ENDS 

Kansas   Industrialist 

1.  When  a  farmer  can  drive  the  dozen 
miles  to  town  in  half  an  hour,  when  he  can 
talk  over  the  telephone  with  any  other 
farmer  in  the  county — or  in  the  state,  for 
that  matter — when  he  gets  his  newspaper 
and  other  mail  daily,  the  period  of  farm 
isolation  is  over. 

^  2.  With  the  disappearance  of  farm  isola- 
tion, which  is  rapidly  becoming  a  fact  all 
over  the  country,  comes  the  end  of  the  ex- 
treme individualism  that  has  characterized 
the  farmer,  for  his  individualism  was  large- 
ly the  product  of  his  isolation.  It  will  take 
some  years  for  this  spirit  to  pass  away.  In- 
deed, some  of  the  individualism  will  never 
pass  away  and  should  never  pass  away,  be- 
cause the  farmer  must  always  work  to  a 
large  extent  as  an  individual,  and  because 
a  certain  amount  of^  individualism  is  a 
healthful  factor  in  national  life. 

3.  That  the  extreme  individualism  is 
passing,  is  shown  by  the  co-operation  of 
farmers  in  ways  that  would  have  been  in- 
credible a  generation  ago.    Farmers'  organ- 


izations have  millions  of  members.  Some  of 
these  organizations  are  engaged  in  co-oper- 
ative buying  and  selling.  Farm  bureaus  are 
bringing  farmers  together  in  support  of  the 
best  aims  and  methods  in  their  profession. 

4.  These  things  mean  greater  influence 
for  farmers,  greater  opportunity  for  farm- 
ers to  impress  their  ideals  upon  the  nation. 
Like  most  other  opportunities,  this  one  has 
come  as  a  result  of  economic  determinism. 
Consequently,  it  rests  on  a  sound  basis. 

111.  Announcement.  t2.  Result.  1[3.  Proof.  ^4.  Ap- 
plication  (interpretation  drawn  to  a  head). 

WHY  HE  LOST  A  LOT  OF  JOBS 

Davidson  News    (Sioux  City,  Iowa.) 

1.  Once  upon  a  time  was  a  young  chap 
who  began  at  the  bottom  of  a  business.  His 
work  wasn't  as  important  as  the  running 
of  a  railroad  or  managing  of  a  government, 
but  the  young  chap  treated  it  as  if  it  were. 
From  the  way  be  charged  into  his  little 
clerical  job  you  might  have  thought  it  was 
the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

2.  Right  from  the  very  start  it  was  easy 
to  see  that  he  "hated"  work  worse  than  any- 
thing else  in  the  world,  for  he  was  always 
thinking  up  ways  to  get  it  done  more 
quickly.  He  would  spend  whole  evenings 
fussing  and  stewing  over  one  little  idea, 
just  to  save  an  hour's  time  in  the  day's 
routine.  It  got  to  be  so  that  his  desk  would 
be  cleaned  up  every  afternoon  at  3  o'clock. 
The  boss  isaid  there  was  no  hope  of  keep- 
ing him  busy  on  that  job,  so  he  made  him 
manager. 

3.  But  that  didn't  seem  to  help  a  bit.  The 
young  chap  had  caught  a  disease  known  as 
"System  on  the  Brain,"  and  he  soon  had 
things  lined  up  to  cram  an  eight-hour  day's 
work  into  six  hours. 

4.  The  amount  of  time  that  fellow  found 
to  read  business  magazines  and  ads  was  a 
caution.  It  got  to  be  so  noticeable  that  the 
boss  said  he  couldn't  stand  for  any  such 
loafing  as  that  any  longer.  The  young  chap 
had  to  be  kept  busy,  he  said,  even  if  they 
had  to  make  him  superintendent,  which  they 
did. 

5.  There  was  a  mountain  of  work  con- 
nected with  this  job,  and  for  about  a  month 
the  young  chap  didn't  get  time  to  eat  more 
than  a  sandwich  for  lunch.  But  soon  he 
fell  into  his  idle  ways  again.  By  reorganiz- 
ing his  department  and  putting  in  some 
crazy  ideas  that  no  one  ever  heard  about  he 
found  just  as  much  extra  time  at  his  com- 
mand as  ever. 

6.  Finally  the  firm  heard  of  his  idle  ways 
and  decided  to  have  a  doctor  examine  him. 
The  doctor  did  examine  him  and  pronounced 
his  case  as  an  incurable  case  of  Executive 
Ability.     So  as  a  last  desperate   effort  to 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


75 


eep  the  young  man  busy,  they  made  him  a 
ice-president. 

7.  "How  do  you  do  it?"  they  asked  him. 
.nd  then  he  told  them  he  always  planned 
is  work  ahead,  did  one  thing  at  a  time,  and 
id  that  well. 

Another  example  of  interpretation,  or  explana- 
on,  by  means  of  narration.  The  reason-why  of 
ersonal  advancement  is  made  clear,  the  effect  being 
;rengthened  by  the  employment  of  "reverse  Eng- 
sh"    (irony). 

NO  TIME  FOR  DESPAIR 

Pittsburg    Press 

1.  Christian,  the  Pilgrim,  is  presented  by 
ohn  Bunyan  as  walking  in  a  pathway  "ex- 
eeding  narrow."    On  the  right  thereof  was 

deep  ditch  and  on  the  left  a  quagmire. 
When  he  sought  in  the  dark  to  shun  the 
itch  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  ready  to  tip 
ver  into  the  mire  on  the  other,"  says  Bun- 
an.  "Also  when  he  sought  to  escape  the 
nire,  without  great  carefulness  he  would  be 
eady  to  fall  into  the  ditch.  Thus  he  went 
n,  and  I  hear  him  sigh  bitterly;  for  besides 
he  dangers  mentioned  above,  the  pathway 
vas  here  so  dark,  that  ofttimes,  when  he 
ift  his  foot  to  set  forward,  he  knew  not 
vhere,  or  upon  what  he  should  set  it  next." 

2.  A  fairly  accurate  picture  is  this  of  a 
arge  portion  of  mankind  today,  groping  in 
:he  dark  with  unsteady  foot;  weary,  stum- 
Dling,  afraid;  bent  low  under  a  grievous 
Durden  of  debt;  eyes  still  filmed  with  the  red 
t  saw  for  four  years;  on  the  one  hand  the 
iitch  of  economic  ruin,  and  on  the  other 
:he  quag  of  despair. 

3.  But  far  ahead  of  him  Christian  saw 
a  dim  light,  as  of  breaking  dawn.  And  when 
fie  knew  not  whether  to  give  himself  to  the 
ditch  on  the  one  hand,  or  to  the  quag  on  the 
other,  he  was  sustained  by  the  light  in  the 
distance,  and  so  went  on,  though  the  way 
became  more  difficult  with  each  step 
forward. 

4.  Like  Christian,  mankind  neither  will 
fall  into  the  quag  nor  the  ditch,  for  it  is 
guided  by  the  light  of  a  sublime  faith,  in 
itself  based  on  a  history  in  which  the  going 
has  been  mostly  rough. 

5.  Always  has  mankind  been  stumbling 
and  almost  falling;  blundering  and  groping; 
and  yet  always  stumbling  and  falling 
FORWARD  on  the  steep  road,  toward  the 
broad,  level  stretches  where  the  light  shines. 
Often  before  it  has  come  through  the  dark- 
est paths  safely,  and  in  this  fact  lies  the 
basis  of  its  faith  today. 

Moralizing  exposition  frequently  gives  us,  as  in 
this  instance,  the  editorial  sermonette,  or  the  "in- 
spirational" editorial.  Observe  the  sermon-like 
adaptation  of  the  3-stage  plan :  Text ;  amplifica- 
tion ;  application. 
7 


FOREIGN  SERVICE  REFORMS 

New  York  Tribune 

1.  Representative  Rogers  of  Massachu- 
setts has  been  working  on  a  scheme  for 
reorganizing  the  diplomatic  and  consular 
services.  One  of  his  suggestions  is  the 
fusion  of  the  diplomatic  and  the  consular 
corps.  At  present  these  two  branches  of 
the  foreign  service  are  kept  distinct.  Mr. 
Rogers  believes  that  by  merging  them  the 
range  of  selection  for  the  more  important 
posts  would  be  helpfully  broadened  and  that 
talent  and  experience  could  be  better 
utilized. 

2.  In  many  of  the  European  services 
transfers  from  consular  to  diplomatic  work 
are  common.  A  former  German  ambassador 
to  the  United  States,  Baron  Speck  von 
Sternburg,  had  been  serving  as  consul  gen- 
eral in  Calcutta.  Prior  to  that  he  had  been 
a  secretary  of  legation  and  embassy.  The 
better  consular  posts  in  the  United  States 
service  carry  larger  salaries  than  are  paid 
to  diplomatic  secretaries.  In  a  few  cases 
our  ministers  have  also  acted  as  consuls 
general.  And  occasionally  a  consul  general 
has  served  as  a  diplomatic  agent.  But 
these  were  only  temporary  conjunctions. 
According  to  Mr.  Rogers's  plan,  exchanges 
would  be  general.  This  could  be  easily  ac- 
complished by  abolishing  the  grades  of  sec- 
retaries of  embassy  and  legation  and  giving 
the  incumbents  rank  as  consuls  or  consuls 
general. 

3.^  What  is  most  needed  in  the  foreign 
service  is  permanent  tenure  and  promotion 
under  the  merit  system.  Mr.  Rogers  wants 
to  create  a  training  school  from  which  stu- 
dents would  be  graduated  into  the  foreign 
service  as  vice  consuls.  Under  the  Roose- 
velt and  Taft  administrations  efforts  were 
made  to  create  a  permanent  diplomatic  and 
consular  corps — at  least  in  the  grades  up  to 
minister.  But  Mr.  Bryan's  spoils  policy  of 
removals  and  appointments  wrecked  the 
good  work  accomplished.  If  we  want  to 
build  up  a  competent  service  a  fresh  start 
will  have  to  be  made. 

4.  Mr.  Rogers  and  the  House  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations  are  on  the  right  track. 
To  get  good  diplomats  and  consuls  a  real 
and  permanent  career  must  be  offered  them. 

What  is  the  length  of  life  of  an  editorial  subject? 
Here  is  an  editorial  explaining  the  cause  of  unsatis- 
factoriness  in  our  foreign  service.  The  same  subject 
and  the  same  remedy  have  been  discussed  for  many 
years — but  the  remedy  has  not  yet  been  adopted.  When 
it  is  adopted,  editorials  upon  "what's  the  matter 
with  our  foreign  service"  will  still  be  written,  but 
they  will  take  some  other  direction.  The  answer  to 
our  question  is,  that  the  life  of  an  editorial  subject 
is  as  long  as  that  of  the  matter  which  It  concerns. 
Brief  significance,  brief  life. 


76 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


TOO  MANY  CITY  MARKETS 

Breeder's  Gazette 

1.  Evidence  of  the  lucrative  character  of 
meat  vending  is  furnished  by  the  number 
of  retailers  at  the  great  urban  centers  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  the  war-period  and 
since.  With  profits  at  50  to  100  per  cent  a 
retail  business  has  been  profitable  even  with 
a  limited  volume  of  trade.  As  these  dis- 
tributors multiplied,  the  necessity  for  in- 
creasing profits  arose,  thus  magnifying 
what  is  obviously  an  evil.  A  Chicago  re- 
tailer recently  demonstrated  that  he  was  de- 
pendent on  Saturday's  profits  to  balance  his 
books  that  day,  which  invariably  witnesses 
the  highest  prices  of  the  week.  The  increase 
in  the  number  of  markets  has  created  a 
labor  scarcity.  Many  salesmen  have  gone 
into  business  on  their  own  account,  with 
small  cash  capital,  depending  on  their  in- 
fluence with  customers  of  former  employers. 
A  reduction  in  retail  markets  in  such  cities 
as  New  York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia  and 
Boston  by  50  per  cent  would  still  leave  a 
surplus;  in  fact,  a  goodly  majority  of  those 
engaged  in  purveying  meats  may  be  classed 
as  nonessential. 

2.  The  head  of  one  of  the  big  packing 
concerns,  discussing  meat  problems,  recently 
remarked,  "We  all  know  that  the  bane  of 
the  industry  is  an  excessive  number  of  re- 
tailers. But  do  not  quote  me,"  he  added. 
This  is  the  packer  attitude  toward  a  problem 
that  must  eventually  be  solved.  So  far 
packers  refuse  even  to  discuss  it,  except  in 
confidence.  They  appreciate  its  menacing 
nature,  and  are  apprehensive  that  criticism 
on  their  part  would  elicit  accusation  of 
monopoly  by  entering  the  distribution  sphere. 

3.  The  British  Government  has  been  com- 
pelled to  cut  this  knot  by  fixing  maximum 
prices.  Eventually  it  may  be  necessary  for 
our  government  to  adopt  similar  measures. 

Direct   matter-of-fact    interpretation. 

Ifl.     Interpretation    through    a   survey   of    facts.    

1[2.  Illustration  of  the  situation  as  it  is  beneath  the 
surface.  fS.  Quick  turn  of  application  by  sug- 
gesting  an   unpleasant    possibility. 

THE  GREATEST  UNION 

Life 

(This  little  story  that  follows  is  neither 
fable,  fiction,  nor  parable.  Because  it  is 
fact  culled  from  the  day's  work,  it  seems 
worth  the  telling.  Better  still,  it  is  but  a 
thin  cross  section  of  what  is  happening  daily 
throughout  America  wherever  the  Legion 
has  furled  its  battle  flags.  And  we  need 
something  of  optimism  in  this  day  of  strikes 
and  rumors  of  strikes,  violence  and  threats 
of  violence,  and  a  promise  that  out  of  it  all 
is  coming  that  "nobler  and  better  America" 
that  lighted  our  way  with  its  hopes  in  the 


darker  days  that  have  passed.  It  is  onl] 
necessary  to  add  that  the  real  names  hav« 
been  disguised.) 

1.  O'Brien,  the  head  of  a  family  of  six 
waived  exemption  because  he  believed  other 
knew  better  than  he  where  he  would  mos 
be  needed  when  the  call  came.  He  landed  in 
class  1-A,  and  went — ^without  beefing  oi 
asking  why.  He  was  wounded  three  times 
and  gassed,  and  after  nine  months  in  the 
hospitals  was  discharged,  the  doctors  advis- 
ing outdoor  work  to  stave  off  incipient 
tuberculosis. 

2.  In  a  canvass  for  new  members,  an 
American  Legion  worker  called  at  his  home, 
Neighbors  who  were  caring  for  five  children 
said  that  the  mother  was  doing  day-workj 
and  that  O'Brien  was  starting  his  third 
week  in  search  of  any  kind  of  a  job  he 
could  hold  down. 

3.  Stein,  the  American  Legion  Post  em- 
ployment officer,  corralled  him  that  nightj 
and  for  five  solid  days,  forgetting  his  own 
business  and  the  drive  for  new  recruitSj 
trudged  with  him  the  streets  of  the  city  of 
brotherly  love.  Everywhere  it  was  the  same 
answer,  "Too  light  for  the  job,"  softened, 
perhaps,  with  a  smile  or  an  "I  wish  we 
could,  my  boy." 

4.  Strangely,  he  was  not  too  light  for  the 
job  "over  there"  he'd  helped  finish,  although 
when  he  came  to  the  post  no  tinge  of  bitter- 
ness or  of  rancor  stamped  his  speech  or 
manner.  There  remained  only  that  last- 
ditch  "Let's  go"  spirit,  that  for  nearly  a 
month  had  driven  one  hundred  and  thirty 
pounds  from  door  to  door  in  search  of  work. 
They  sent  him  to  Mason,  a  member  of  the 
legion  and  Captain  of  the  Guards  of  one  of 
Philadelphia's  oldest  industries,  and  Mason 
put  him  on  the  pay  roll — without  asking 
why. 

5.  That  is  all,  except  that  Stein,  who 
neglected  his  business,  was  a  Jew,  Mason 
was  a  Protestant,  and  the  man  they  "saw 
through"  was  a  Catholic  without  a  member- 
ship card  in  the  legion. 

An  editorial  in  narrative  (observe  the  severe  direct- 
ness of  the  telling).  The  introductory  note  empha- 
sizes beyond  oversight  the  "moral"  of  the  story — 
and  the  moral  is,  the  spirit  of  the  Legion:  brother- 
hood through  plain  human  friendliness.  The  story 
is  told  to  interpret  this  spirit.  Here  then  we  have 
the  editorial  adopting  the  literary  method  of  narra- 
tion, and  utilizing  it  to  a  better  effect  than  the 
direct  expositional    method  would  produce. 

HIS  SOUL  GOES  MARCHING  ON! 

Chicago  Evening  Post 

1.  Roosevelt  memorial  week. 

2.  We  cannot  read  the  phrase,  so  many 
times  repeated  in  the  newspapers,  without 
a  poignant  feeling  of  loss. 

3.  Alas,  that  we  have  but  the  memory 
of  his  name,  his  voice,  his  presence;  that  we 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


77 


lust  turn  to  his  picture,  his  effigy  in  bronze 
r  his  printed  words — ^poor  substitutes  at 
heir  best  for  the  man  we  loved. 

4.  In  these  months  that  have  gone  since 
le  died,  how  often  we  have  wished  that  he 
vere  here  to  tower  above  the  little  politi- 
ians,  the  contending  factions  in  national 
!:)ongress  and  industrial  conference,  with  his 
:lear,  fearless  challenge  to  the  spirit  of  a 
)ig,  broad-visioned  Americanism. 

5.  But,  gone  though  he  be,  he  still  speaks 

0  us.  The  influence  of  his  life  remains, 
md  Roosevelt  memorial  week  is  no  mere 
perfunctory  manifestation  of  respect  for  a 
ost  leader.    It  is,  rather,  the  expression  of 

1  deep  resoLve  that  his  leadership  shall  con- 
tinue, that  the  ideals  he  upheld  shall  be 
revitalized  by  our  common  purpose,  that  the 
sause,  for  which  he   died  as  truly  as  the 

oldier  on  the  firing  line,  shall  be  carried  on 
:o  final  triumph. 

6.  The  ideal  of  Roosevelt  was  to  make 
the  American  flag  so  surely  the  symbol  of 
justice  and  equal  opportunity  for  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  country  that  none 
would  wish  for  any  other;  to  make  it  so 
surely  the  symbol  of  honest,  chivalrous 
dealing  with  the  world  that  every  nation 
would  respect  it.  Because  he  believed  in 
this  ideal,  and  because  he  believed  that 
through  our  democratic  institutions  it  could 
be  realized,  Roosevelt  was  the  uncompro- 
mising foe  of  the  "red"  and  the  courageous 
champion  of  a  full-grown,  world-fronting 
Americanism. 

7.  Many  another  city  will  pay  its  tribute 
to  him  in  lasting  form,  and  the  national  fund 
throughout  the  years  will  contribute  to  the 
making  of  Americans,  to  the  development  of 
American  spirit  and  the  fuller  achievement 
of  that  world-leading,  world-serving  na- 
tionalism of  which  he  was  the  foremost 
exponent. 

8.  And  so  "his  soul  goes  marching  on!" 

An  interpretation  of  character,  mainly  impres- 
sionistic. 

HI.  Newspeg.  Note  its  brevity  and  force.  112.  Key- 
note of  the  mood  of  the  interpretation. 
1IK3-4.  Emotional  intensifiers,  emphasizing  the  im- 
portance of  the  man,  and  appealing  to  our  admira- 
tion for  him  to  give  weight  to  what  follows.  This 
has  the  effect  of   indirect   interpretation. 

Ho.     Transition      to      outright      interpretation.     

i[6.  Direct  interpretation.  117.  Emotional  re- 
inforcement. 

1|8.  Inobvious  but  effective  judgment  of  his  influence 
presented  by  means  of  quotation  that  appeals  to 
everyone  through    its   association. 

OUR  BONDS  AND  OTHERS 

Boston   Post 

1.  From  a  reader  of  the  Post  comes  the 
following  query,  which  is  worthy  of  a  care- 
fully considered  and,  if  possible,  convincing 
answer,  because  it  is  in  the  minds  of  so 
many  Americans: 


Some  time  back  my  boy  bought  a 
Liberty  bond  with  the  $100  he  had  saved 
up  and  now  that  he  sees  it  is  worth 
only  $85  he  doesn't  understand  it,  and 
I  am  not  able  to  explain  it  to  him,  espe- 
cially when  I  am  told  that  French, 
British  and  other  foreign  bonds  show  no 
such  shrinkage.  He  says  his  teacher 
told  him  that  Wall  street  did  it.  Is  that 
true? 

2.  Starting  with  the  last  question  first: 
It  is  not  true  that  Wall  street  is  responsible 
for  the  shrinkage  in  the  market  value  of 
Liberty  bonds.  Wall  street  is  only  the 
"broker,"  acting  as  agent  between  buyer 
and  seller.  There  is  a  fair  open  market  for 
the  bonds  and  the  volume  of  bonds  out- 
standing is  so  tremendous  that  no  group  of 
men  could  either  advance  or  depress  the 
price  materially  for  any  length  of  time. 

3.  Second,  it  is  not  true  that  bonds  of 
other  countries  have  not  declined.  Many  of 
them  have  declined  more  than  those  of  the 
United  States.  British  and  French  govern- 
ment bonds  were  recently  selling  in  our 
markets  to  yield  12  per  cent,  or  more  than 
double  the  yield  on  the  lowest  of  the  Amer- 
ican bonds.  One  British  government  issue 
which  sold  above  100  less  than  20  years 
ago  is  now  selling  for  50. 

4.  As  to  the  general  cause  for  the  shrink- 
age in  market  prices  of  bonds,  it  must  be 
understood  that  bond  prices  are  a  measure 
of  the  price  of  money.  A  bond  will  always 
sell  at  a  price  to  yield  the  current  market 
rate  for  money.  If  the  market  rate  for 
money  is  4  per  cent,  a  bond  paying  4  per 
cent  will  sell  at  100,  where  the  yield  is  4  per 
cent.  If  the  rate  for  money  advances  to  5 
per  cent,  the  4  per  cent  bond  must  sell 
down  to  a  price  which  will  yield  5  per  cent. 

5.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  buyers  of 
Liberty  bonds  have  had  to  witness  a  shrink- 
age in  market  value.  But  the  interest  is 
being  paid  regularly  and  if  the  bonds  are 
held  they  will  recover  in  price.  Uncle  Sam 
is  always  solvent. 

6.  Meanwhile  it  might  be  well  to  point 
out  that  this  shrinkage  in  market  value  is 
the  least  sacrifice  that  anybody  has  suffered 
because  of  the  war. 

Popular  instruction ;  a  simplified  explanation  of 
the  financial  principles  bearing  upon  bonds.  Indi- 
rectly, such  instruction  helps  to  inform  the  public 
how  to  manage  its  savings  safely  and  profitably, 
with  consequent  benefit  to  every  one.  (Note  the 
employment  of  a  reader's  letter  as  a  peg.  Practice 
in  this  respect  varies,  some  papers  never  using  this 
kind  of  peg,  and  others  using  it  without  prejudice. 
It  is  common  in  some  of  the  class  and  technical 
journals,  as  a  hook  for  editorials  conveying  technical 
or  vocational  information  in  answer,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  inquiries  or  to  letters  of  discussion  con- 
cerning   subjects    of    class    interest.) 


78 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


AN  INCONSISTENT  MOVEMENT 

New    York    Journal    of    Commerce    and    Commercial 
Bulletin 

1.  Characterized  as  inconsistent,  the 
overall  movement  is  said  by  many  leading 
manufacturers  of  this  city  to  be  rapidly  get- 
ting away  from  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
launched.  These  manufacturers  see  in  its 
progress  a  passing  fad  which  will  do  more 
harm  than  good.  It  is  their  belief  the 
workingman  is  going  to  suffer  and  the  price 
of  denim  is  going  higher  as  the  slogan  "don 
the  denim"  becomes  more  audible.  Car- 
penters, bricklayers,  firemen,  mechanics, 
chauffeurs  and  others  who  constantly  need 
overalls,  are  going  to  face  higher  prices  if 
the  movement  gains  success  or  fails.  Pub- 
licity given,  it  is  considered  sufficient  to 
give  manufacturers  of  overalls  a  chance  to 
boost  the  price  of  denim. 

2.  The  greatest  inconsistency  is  seen  in 
announcements  by  prominent  manufacturers 
behind  the  movement  who  propose  to  make 
men's  suits  in  plain,  striped  and  checked 
denim,  cut  in  the  latest  spring  styles,  as  well 
as  tuxedoes  at  prices  unusually  low.  These 
announcements,  it  is  said,  are  characteristic 
of  propaganda  behind  the  movement  and  far 
from  correct.  In  publishing  these  state- 
ments the  matter  of  labor  has  not  been 
considered  for  the  manufacture  of  spring 
suits  made  from  denim. 

3.  The  cost  of  labor  in  the  manufacture 
of  clothing  has  been  recognized  as  the 
greatest  factor  causing  high  prices.  Labor 
is  constantly  getting  more  and  cannot  be 
eliminated  from  discussions  centering 
around  the  production  of  denim  suits 
modeled  along  latest  lines.  Material,  it  is 
said,  in  these  suits  might  not  cost  much, 
but  labor  in  making  them  will  be  just  as 
much  as  in  the  manufacture  of  spring 
suits  made  from  other  materials.  For  this 
reason  announcements  of  this  kind  are  con- 
sidered far  from  practical  and  laughed  at 
by  manufacturers  inclined  to  look  askance 
at  the  overall  movement. 

4.  The  use  of  coarse  wool  in  tweed  suits 
at  prices  ranging  between  $20  and  $30  is 
said  to  be  much  more  advantageous.  These 
suits  are  exceptional  values  and  have  re- 
markable wearing  qualities  which  make 
them  more  sensible  than  denim,  it  is  said. 
Many  prominent  retailers  are  offering  suits 
of  this  kind. 

5.  Manufacturers  admit  prices  on  cloth- 
ing are  up  too  high  and  would  welcome  a 
recession,  but  fear  it  will  be  impossible  as 
long  as  labor  is  able  to  get  higher  wages. 
Until  there  are  three  men  for  one  job  and 
not  three  jobs  for  one  man,  this  condition 


is  expected  to  continue  and  no  relief  in  the 
matter  of  production  is  seen. 

6.  Meantime,  some  manufacturers  frankly 
admit  that  persons  wanting  to  combat  the 
high  cost  of  clothing  should  do  so  by  wear- 
ing old  clothes.  This  phase  of  the  movement 
is  thought  of  much  more  favorably  than 
the  denim  plan  and  urged  for  greater 
emphasis. 

An  estimate  of  the  wisdom  and  probable  conse- 
quences of  a  movement  that  temporarily  commanded 
general   attention. 

GOOD  NEWS  FROM  VALLEY  FALLS 

Kansas    City  Times 

1.  The  Congregationalists  at  Valley 
Falls,  Kas.,  have  sold  their  church.  They 
have  no  more  use  for  it.  The  Valley  Falls 
Congregationalists  have  united  with  the 
Methodists.  For  the  past  four  years  the 
Congregationalists  and  the  Methodists  have 
been  walking  the  straight  and  narrow  path 
together,  and  they  have  found  it  profitable 
But  all  the  time  the  Congregationalists  have 
kept  their  church  building,  perhaps  with  the 
lingering  suspicion  that  if  the  Methodists 
should  show  any  signs  of  regretting  the 
union  the  Congregationalists  could  go  "back 
home." 

2.  The  four  years'  experience,  however, 
has  brought  the  two  congregations  into  one 
body.  The  Congregationalists  have  learned 
to  say  "Amen"  as  heartily  as  ever  the 
Methodist  brethren  shouted  it,  and  for  the 
life  of  you  it  is  not  possible  now  to  dis- 
tinguish between  a  Methodist  and  a  Congre- 
gationalist  in  Valley  Falls. 

3.  For  that  reason  the  Congregationalists 
have  decided  to  "cast  aside  every  weight" 
that  bound  them  to  the  old  factional  life 
and  sell  their  church  building.  ,That  means 
they  have  burned  their  bridge  behind  them. 
They  will  dwell  in  the  Methodist  fold  and 
pasture  with  the  Methodist  flock.  "The  ex- 
periment was  such  a  success,"  the  news  dis- 
patch from  Valley  Falls  says,  "it  was  de- 
cided to  sell  the  extra  church  and  set  an 
example  to  other  congregations  in  the  hope 
that  all  Protestant  churches  in  small  com- 
munities would  combine  and  make  one 
strong  organization." 

4.  It  is  a  fine  example,  too,  of  Christian 
grace  and  religious  efficiency  that  the  Meth- 
odists and  Congregationalists  of  Valley  Falls 
have  set  for  the  churches  of  small  com- 
munities. The  definite  action  of  the  Con-, 
gregationalists  in  selling  their  churcl 
building,  as  a  result  of  the  success  of  thej 
movement,  is  an  eloquent  tribute  also  to  thej 
fact  that  church  federation  in  the  small 
towns  is  possible,  and  it  is  a  testimony  notj 
to  be  scorned  by  the  outside  world  to  the! 
fact  that  there  is  something  in  "the  faith 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


79 


once  delivered  to  the  saints"  aside  from  de- 
nominational zeal. 

5.     While  the  choir  sings 

Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
let  other  weak  and  struggling  churches  in 
the  rural  districts  come  forward  and  give 
each  other  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
declaring  by  that  act  their  intention  to  lay 
aside  their  denominational  partisanship  and 
unite  to  build  up  one  strong  church  in  each 
community.  Valley  Falls,  Kas.,  has  set  the 
example  for  them. 

Beginning  with  a  newspeg  and  r6sum§,  the  al- 
ways vigorous  and  refreshing  Times  gives  us  a 
light  yet  seriously  sincere  interpretation  of  the  de- 
sirability and  spirit  of  church  unity. 

AN  UNPOPULAR  REMEDY 

Youth's    Companion 

1.  Among  the  many  causes  assigned  for 
the  present  confusion  and  unrest  one  of  the 
most  plausible  is  that  the  normal  ratio  be- 
tween supply  and  demand  has  been  de- 
stroyed. There  is  a  real  shortage  of  the 
articles  that  everyone  needs.  Thousands  of 
things  that  we  used  to  find  constantly  on 
sale  before  the  war  are  not  now  to  be  had, 
or  can  be  had  only  after  long  waiting. 
Even  when  there  is  plenty  elsewhere,  we 
may  lack,  through  delays  or  inadequacy  in 
transportation.  And  the  situation  is  ren- 
dered worse  by  excessive  prices. 

2.  Examine  that  statement  critically  and 
you  will  find  that  it  shows  the  gaps  between 
supply  and  demand.  The  supply  fails,  now 
because  it  is  not  enough,  now  because  it  is 
difficult  or  impossible  to  get  it  to  the  would- 
be  purchaser,  now  because  the  price  is  too 
high. 

3.  But  all  those  causes  can  be  removed. 
Agriculture,  manufactures,  transportation 
and  commerce  depend  upon  labor,  and  there 
is  no  lack  of  labor  anywhere  in  this  coun- 
try. Were  all  who  could  make  or  move 
goods  actively  at  work  there  would  be  no 
shortage,  no  delay,  no  soaring  prices.  What 
causes  the  existing  trouble  is  an  artificial 
shortage,  and  the  remedy  is  to  increase  pro- 
duction all  along  the  line  by  speeding  up 
our  work.  The  reason  we  are  not  remedy- 
ing the  evils  is  that  we  are  deliberately  and 
systematically  slowing  down  our  work. 

4.  If  all  the  people  of  the  United  States 
— the  mechanics,  all  the  factory  hands,  all 
the  railway  men,  all  those  in  short  who  earn 
their  living,  either  on  their  own  account  or 
as  wage  earners — were  to  use  their  energy 
and  efficiency  in  producing  all  they  could — 
nay,  if  they  were  to  increase  their  energy 
only  moderately — supply  would  soon  over- 
take demand.  Prices  would  rapidly  decline, 
the  relation  between  wages  and  the  cost  of 
living  would  become  more  satisfactory,  and 


by  producing  at  low  cost  we  could  compete 
on  better  than  equal  terms  with  any  other 
country.  The  good  old  times  would  be  with 
us  again. 

5.  But  they  tell  us  that  we  are  dreaming 
of  Utopia,  and  point  us  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. Since  we  already  produce  too  little 
and  pay  too  much  for  it,  we  should  produce 
less  and  pay  more.  But  if  we  must  dream, 
we  had  rather  that  it  be  of  Utopia  than  of 
Bedlam. 

An  editorial  of  didactic,  or  applied,  interpreta- 
tion, sufficiently  definite  in  instructive  aim  to  verge 
on  the  tacitly  controversial,  or  "purpose"  editorial. 
The  divisions  of  the  editorial  are: 
f^l-2.  Expository  statement  (theory  of  the  causes 
of  the  situation.) 

^^3-4.    Expository    statement    (the  available    means  of 
remedy). 
|5.     Argumentative,    or    appeal-to-reason,    close. 

AMERICAN  TASTE 

Indianapolis   News 

1.  American  taste,  as  manifested  in 
homes  and  home  decoration,  is  on  the  de- 
cline, according  to  some  officers  of  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  who  discussed 
the  subject  with  a  representative  of  the  New 
York  Times.  One  of  the  officers  was  so  con- 
fident of  his  knowledge  of  the  history  of 
American  taste  that  he  made  a  graphic 
chart  of  100  per  cent  high  and  120  years 
long— from  1800  to  1920— and  showed  that 
from  1800  to  1870  the  standard  of  American 
taste  dropped  from  100  to  ten,  the  lowest 
point  in  the  entire  period.  About  1870  a 
change  for  the  better  was  noted,  the  cause 
being  the  influence  of  the  Morris  movement 
on  America,  but  the  rise  was  hardly  appre- 
ciable until  the  Columbian  exposition,  after 
which  it  rose  rapidly  until  1914,  where  it 
remained  stationary  for  a  time.  In  the  last 
three  years  it  has  dropped  back  to  sixty, 
or  to  the  standard  of  1835. 

2.  One  of  the  reasons  for  this  decline  is 
the  furniture  shortage.  Before  the  war  fur- 
niture makers  found  it  difficult  to  keep  up 
with  the  standard  of  public  taste.  They 
caused  designers  to  be  expensively  educated, 
and  encouraged  craftsmen  to  acquire  the 
highest  skill.  They  had  to  do  it  to  get  the 
business.  Now,  however,  there  is  a  tre- 
mendous demand  for  furniture — any  kind  of 
furniture — and  the  eager  buyers  can  not 
wait  for  furniture  to  be  made  according  to 
the  pre-war  standards,  but  must  have  it 
right  away,  regardless  of  the  maker's  wish 
to  protect  his  reputation  and  preserve  the 
craft-pride  of  his  men. 

3.  The  standard  has  shown  a  post-war 
tendency  to  drop  to  the  level  of  the  new 
millionaires,  a  natural  and  by  no  means  un- 
expected slump.  After  the  civil  war  came 
the  cast-iron  lawn  zoo.  The  1800  American 
millionaires  and  many  near-millionaires  pro- 


80 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


duced  by  the  world  war  seem  to  run  to 
hotel  furnishings  for  dwellings.  They  have 
as  yet  not  gained  access  to  homes  exhibiting 
an  appreciation  of  the  best  standard  of 
American  taste,  and  they  have  been  so  busy 
making  money  that  their  personal  standards 
are  untrustworthy.  It  is  this  aping  of  the 
hotels  that  accounts  for  much  of  the  de- 
cline, but  the  cantonment  builders,  the  muni- 
tions makers  and  the  other  swollen  gentry 
have  the  money,  and  if  properly  managed 
by  the  people  who  know,  can  be  depended 
upon  to  restore  the  standard  of  former 
times. 

One  of  the  benefits  of  such  editorials  of  survey  and 
tacit  interpretation  is  that — given  time  enough — their 
critical  principles  will  seep  through  into  the  differ- 
ent "strata"  of  society  and  promote  strivings  after 
better  standards. 

There  are  various  v/ays  of  getting  such  ideas  to 
the  public.  The  student  can  profitably  ask  himself 
how  the  subject  of  this  editorial  would  be  treated 
respectively  by  such  papers  as  The  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  different  agricultural  papers,  The  Delineator, 
etc.  How  would  it  be  handled  by  Mr.  Brisbane  for 
The  New  York  Evening  Journal?  Would  The  Amer- 
ican Furniture  Manufacturer  treat  it  as  would  Tbe 
Furniture  Trade  Review  and  Interior  Decorator,  and 
would  these  treat  it  as  would  The  Furniture  Worker 
(retail  furniture  trade)  ?  Adaptation  of  point-of-view 
and  of  treatment  to  the  public  addressed  must  always 
be  considered. 

A  CERTAIN  AMERICAN  HOME 

New    York    Tribune 

1.  One  perhaps  should  know  Springfield 
to  appreciate  the  full  dramatic  quality  of 
events  of  the  last  week  in  this  quiet  old 
Illinois  town.  A  king  and  queen  there 
arrived  to  pay  their  respects  to  a  certain 
small  clapboard  home  and  the  man  it  housed 
some  sixty  years  ago.  A  visiting  English 
poet  and  dramatist,  John  Drinkwater,  fol- 
lowed on  the  same  errand.  There  were 
luncheons  and  formalities,  and  Governor 
Lowden  spoke  ably  for  his  State  and  of  her 
greatest  citizen.  He  is  a  queer  American 
who  does  not  feel  a  throb  of  emotion  at 
this  unique  celebration  of  a  place  and  a 
man  and  a  career  that  sum  up  practically 
the  whole  of  American  achievement. 

2.  The  city  of  Springfield  has  lost  none  of 
its  old-fashioned  flavor.  The  banks  do  busi- 
ness not  by  virtue  of  new  marble  fronts, 
but  on  the  strength  of  their  age  symbolized 
in  their  old  walnut  furniture  and  counters, 
carefully  preserved.  It  is  a  flat,  midland 
little  city,  neither  poor  nor  prosperous,  com- 
fortably and  calm  above  all  else,  quite 
unawed  by  the  fine  capital  and  its  new 
hotel  and  its  many  sojourning  politicians. 
Lincoln's  home  is  a  low,  inconspicuous  house 
off  the  main  street,  left  quite  unchanged, 
without  tablet  or  monument  to  advertise  it. 
It  is  the  same  within  as  without.  Alike 
with  the  town  itself,  the  dignity  and  sim- 
plicity of  Lincoln  seem  to  have  brooded  over 


these  places  of  his  early  career  and  pro- 
tected them  from  pretense  or  perversion. 

3.  It  was  to  this  unchanged  spot,  the 
most  intensely  American  spot  that  we  pos- 
sess, it  might  be  said,  that  these  Old  World 
visitors  paid  homage.  John  Drinkv/ater's 
play,  "Lincoln,"  has  been  one  of  the  out- 
standing successes  in  London.  It  lacks 
veracious  local  flavor — its  author  had  never 
visited  America — it  is  strong  in  the  uni- 
versal quality  of  Lincoln,  that  simple,  un- 
erring greatness  which  touched  all  that  he 
did,  whether  he  was  writing  a  letter  to  his 
brother  on  thrift  or  dedicating  a  great 
battlefield.  As  for  the  king  who  visited 
Springfield,  he  needs  no  lesson  in  democracy 
to  make  him  comprehend  the  spirit  of  Lin- 
coln's home  town.  Our  greatest  American 
has  gained  in  stature  before  the  world  in 
the  last  years.  What  he  fought  and  died 
for  here  has  somehow  been  advanced  every- 
where by  the  men  who  died  for  civilization 
in  the  great  war.  Words  and  definitions 
are  useless  to  express  such  a  fact.  These 
small  episodes  at  Springfield,  the  tribute  of 
the  world  to  a  tall,  gaunt  figure  looming 
ever  taller  with  the  years,  symbolize  the 
record  better  than  a  host  of  orators  or  fine 
phrases. 

An  attempt  at  interpreting  the  spirit  of  Lincoln 
as   an    influence    in    the    world's    change. 

"111.     Newspeg        and        keynote         preparation.    

\2.  Springfield  and  the  Lincoln  house  as  represent- 
ing the  Lincoln  spirit.  113.  The  spreading  ap- 
preciation of  the  spirit  typified  by  the  Lincoln  of 
tradition. 

Observe  the  frequency  with  which  the  3-stage  plan 
affords  the  structural  skeleton,  especially  in  editorials 
of  simple  scope  and   moderate  length. 

A  DIFFERENCE  AND  WHY 

Building  Trade  With   Farmers 

1.  A  while  ago  the  writer  saw  a  famous 
actor  in  a  famous  play  at  a  large  coliseum. 
It  was  a  wonderful  play  and  the  acting  was 
good — a  play  that  was  meeting  approval 
everywhere.  But  for  some  reason  or  an- 
other it  failed  to  make  the  impression  on 
that  particular  audience  that  the  reputation 
of  the  actor  and  that  of  the  play  warranted. 

2.  Sometime  later  it  was  the  writer's 
privilege  to  see  the  same  play  put  on  by 
the  same  company,  including  the  famous 
actor  mentioned,  at  a  large  theater. 

3.  This  time  the  audience  was  carried 
away  with  the  play  and  the  acting.  There 
wasn't  any  particular  difference  in  the  two 
audiences,  so  far  as  the  writer  could  see.  In 
fact,  the  first  one  perhaps  outranked  the 
second  in  average  education  because  it  was 
in  a  college  city. 

4.  The  reason  for  the  difference  lies  in 
the  two  buildings.  The  first  was  a  large 
barn-like  affair,  with  wide  spaces  on  either 
side  of  the  stage.     The  drop  curtain  was 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


81 


anvas,  as  were  also  the  partitions  that 
eparated  the  audience  from  that  part  of 

^'^fi  le  stage  behind  the  wings.  The  players' 
oices  seemed  to  have  a  sound  that  was 
nnatural — this  was  probably  because  they 
ad  to  strain  themselves  to  "fill"  the  build- 
ag  that  was  not  planned  for  plays,  where 
he  slightest  inflections  of  the  voice  some- 
imes  mean  so  much.  On  the  other  hand, 
1  the  theater  building  every  little  change 
n  the  tone  of  the  actor's  voice  seemed  to 

lie  liean  as  much  as  what  he  said. 

5.  But  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  ad- 
ertising  ? 

6.  Simply  this:  The  atmosphere  in  which 
he  advertising  in  any  publication  has  to 
work"  has  much  to  do  with  that  advertis- 
ng's  effectiveness.  Some  publications  are 
;asy  to  read  and  in  them  the  advertisements 
eem  to  invite  attention. 

7.  You  just  naturally  read  such  a  pub- 
ication  more  carefully.  The  reading  matter 
s  neatly  arranged  and  the  advertisements 
carefully  placed  with  some  regard  to   the 

howing  the  whole  printed  page  will  make. 

8.  On  the  other  hand  other  publications 
eem  to  have  been  thrown  together  almost 
ny  old  way  to  get  the  matter  in,  and  the 
holes"  filled  up  with  whatever  pieces  of 
late  matter  or  dead  ads  happen  to  fit. 

9.  This  kind  of  a  publication  does  not 
hold  the  reader's   attention  and,  therefore, 

ven  though  an  advertisement  be  most  care- 
ully  thought  out,  accurately  written  and 
expertly  displayed,  it  does  not  have  the 
chance  to  pull  because  it  is  handicapped  by 
the  place  in  which  it  has  to  work. 

10.  Like  the  famous  actor  mentioned,  a 
high  class  advertisement  may  pull  well  in 
one  newspaper  and  not  at  all  in  another,  and 
the  fault  lies  in  the  second  newspaper — not 
the  audience. 

An  editorial  of  exposition  for  "class"  readers — ■ 
those  practically  interested  in  advertising.  (It  ia 
characteristic  of  present-day  writing — or  perhaps 
of  present-day  thinking — that  even  an  editorial  of 
such  specialized  nature  can  be  scanned  with  in- 
terest by  the  general    reader.) 

A  QUESTION  OF  DECADENCE 

London    Times 

1.  The  conduct  of  Signor  d'Annunzio, 
whatever  we  may  think  of  it  politically, 
must  be  surprising  to  those  who  have  judged 
him  from  his  writings  to  be  the  most  signal 
example  of  "decadence,"  that  mysterious 
disease  which,  according  to  Max  Nordau,  is 
endemic  among  modern  poets  and  painters. 
The  decadent  is  one  who  expresses  his  over- 
wrought nerves  in  that  which  he  is  pleased 
to  call  his  art.  If  he  takes  corruption  and 
decay  for  a  subject,  it  is,  of  course,  because 
he  himself  is  corrupt  and  decaying.  He  is 
the  last,  perversely  refined  product  of  an 


effete  civilization;  you  think  of  him  as 
working,  if  it  can  be  called  work,  in  the 
midst  of  voluptuous  scenes  which  he  is 
unable  to  enjoy.  He  is  the  heir  of  all  the 
ages,  but  one  whom  the  ages  have  made 
incapable  of  entering  into  his  inheritance; 
one  born  senile  and  tottering,  crowned  with 
faded  rose-leaves  from  his  cradle  to  his 
grave.  Signor  d'Annunzio  was  certainly 
thought  to  be  decadent  before  the  war  by 
those  who  judged  him  by  his  writings;  and 
now  we  have  the  report  of  a  speech  made 
by  the  president  of  the  National  Council  of 
Fiume,  in  which  he  is  called  "the  great 
soldier-poet,  the  hero  of  heroes,  who  a  hun- 
dred times  has  risked  his  life  for  Italy";  and 
what  is  more,  the  description,  however 
rhetorical,  is  not  untrue.  Signor  d'Annunzio 
has  proved  himself  as  good  a  man  of  action 
as  any  healthy,  normal  Englishman,  who 
would  no  more  read  a  line  of  poetry  than 
he  would  write  one. 

2.  The  fact  is,  the  ostentatious  decadent 
has  deceived  us  all,  just  as  the  ostentatious- 
ly casual  Englishman  deceived  the  German. 
As  the  German  thought  the  Englishman 
who  enjoyed  being  casual  must  continue  to 
be  casual  always  and  against  his  own  will, 
so  we  have  supposed  that  the  decadent  of 
literature  or  art  must  be  himself  decadent 
always  and  against  his  own  will.  But  his 
very  ostentation  might  have  put  us  on  our 
guard.  It  needs  some  energy  to  be  ostenta- 
tious over  anything;  it  would  need  a  good 
deal  of  energy  to  produce  the  works  of 
Signor  d'Annunzio.  You  cannot  write  well, 
whatever  your  subject,  if  you  are  capable  of 
nothing;  and  Signor  d'Annunzio,  by  general 
consent,  does  write  well.  The  true  decadents 
of  the  later  Roman  Empire  went  on  writing 
imitations  of  Virgil,  because  they  had  not 
energy  to  do  anything  else.  They  are  not 
shocking,  but  dull.  The  real  decadent  is 
always  a  pedant,  at  the  mercy  of  the  past; 
and  the  decadent  periods  of  history  are  not 
those  in  which  men  make  a  feast,  drink  deep 
and  fast  and  crown  themselves  with  flowers, 
but  those  in  which  they  go  on  doing  just 
what  their  ancestors  have  done,  from  force 
of  habit  and  fear  of  making  mistakes.  The 
later  Roman  Empire  was  decadent  because 
of  its  pedantry,  its  legalism,  its  timidity, 
its  respectability  even,  not,  as  some  people 
still  suppose,  because  of  its  voluptuous 
splendor.  Ruin  came  to  it  because  it  could 
not  conceive  of  change  as  possible;  it  was 
what  it  was  according  to  the  nature  of 
things;  in  its  literature  it  spoke  with  alien 
jaws  of  what  had  happened  long  ago;  it 
was  unable  to  notice  what  was  happening  in 
the  present.  But  the  modern  decadent,  how- 
ever perverse  and  absurd,  does  notice  what 


gg 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDitORlAL-WRITiNG 


is  happening  in  the  present.  Signer  d'An- 
nunzio  was  quite  aware  that  there  was  a 
war  on,  and  acted  accordingly,  turning  from 
art  to  fighting  with  a  remarkable  power  of 
adaptation.  The  true  decadent,  whether  in- 
dividual or  society,  lacks  just  that  power  of 
adaptation;  and  the  lack  of  it  is  decadence, 
which  makes  for  death  and  dissolution^ 
whereas  Signer  d'Annunzio  is  at  least  very 
much  alive. 

Interpretation  of  a  term  (representing  a  philo- 
sophical conception),  through  interpretation  of  a  per- 
son to  whom  it  has  been  supposed  to  apply. 
Ifl.  Descriptive  definition  of  decadence.  (Note  the 
placing  of  the  newspegs.)  D'Annunzio  illustrates  a 
mis-application  of  the  term. 

1(2.  Philosophizing  view  of  the  decadent  as  he 
really  is ;  it  is  given  concreteness  by  the  references 
to  d'Annunzio.  Note  the  historical  comparisons, 
showing  the  difference  between  actual  and  affected 
decadence.  The  last  two  sentences  definitely  formu- 
late a  description  that  defines  actual  decadence  in 
contrast    v/ith    what    merely    appears    decadent. 

Observe  the  long  paragraphs  of  the  English  edi- 
torial ;  the  scholarly  references ;  the  leisurely 
yet  compact  manner ;  and  the  tone  of  intellectual 
interest. 

WHEAT  PRODUCTION  COSTS  IN 

KANSAS 

Breeders'    Gazette 

1.  According  to  a  recent  report  issued  by 
the  Kansas  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  the 
average  cost  of  growing  an  acre  of  wheat 
in  that  state  in  1919  was  $25.20,  and  the 
average  return  to  the  grower  $24.77,  leaving 
a  deficit  of  43  cents.  In  the  eastern  division 
of  the  state  the  loss  per  acre  was  15  cents, 
and  in  the  central  $1.52,  while  in  the  western 
section  a  profit  of  $1.89  per  acre  was  made. 
Of  the  total  acreage  76  per  cent  shows  a 
loss,  and  24  per  cent  a  gain.  Kansas  pro- 
duced 16  per  cent  (146,000,000  bushels)  of 
the  nation's  wheat  last  year,  and  lost  money 
by  doing  so. 

2.  This  disclosure,  evidently  a  surprise  to 
many  Kansans  and  others,  has  evoked  the 
interesting  question,  "How  is  it,  then,  that 
Kansas  farmers  have  the  cash  to  pay  for 
motor  cars,  machinery,  and  home  conven- 
iences, which  everybody  knows  that  they 
are  buying?"  Secretary  J.  C.  Mohler  an- 
swers: "The  large  gross  return  ($290,000,- 
000)  from  the  crop  has  little  meaning  except 
in  relation  to  the  cost  of  production.  A 
considerable  cash  balance  in  wheat  growers' 
hands  at  the  end  of  the  season  does  not 
necessarily  mean  a  profit,  for  it  covers  much 
besides  profit.  Even  at  a  low  rate  of  in- 
terest on  the  enormous  aggregate  capital 
employed  in  farming  means  a  large  sum. 
Mainly  through  what  they  do  without,  the 
personal  expenses  of  farmers  are  much  less 
than  those  of  men  who  devote  equivalent 
skill  or  capital  to  other  enterprises.  Horse- 
keep  does  not  call  for  much  outlay.     The 


family  usually  draws  no  pay,  though  often 
doing  much  work.  On  many  farms  only  the 
most  urgent  repairs  are  made.  Rarely  is 
anything  definitely  set  aside  to  cover  de- 
preciation in  buildings,  machinery,  and  soil 
fertility.  In  other  words,  the  farmer's  re- 
turn from  a  wheat  crop  is  mainly  in  cash, 
and,  broadly  speaking,  in  a  lump  sum,  while 
many  of  the  expenses  incurred  in  its  pro- 
duction do  not  call  for  cash  expenditures, 
or  may  be  deferred. 

3.     "The  cash  balance  in  a  wheat  grower's 
hands  after  harvest  is  no  measure   of  his 
profit.     Such  considerations,  however,  must 
be  taken  into  account  by  the  farmer  in  bal- 
ancing his  books,  for   obligations   incurred 
must   eventually   be   met;    deferred  repairs 
and  replacements  will  accumulate;  lost  soil 
fertility  means  a  lower  yield  or  added  ex- 
pense   for    fertilizers;    low    wages    and    a 
narrow  environment  will  not  secure  desirable 
farm  hands  or  hold  the  second  generation 
on  farms;  and  unfavorable  returns  on  the 
investment    will    not    attract    the    capital 
needed  for  better  methods.    There  must  be 
a  real  and  substantial  profit,  not  merely  a   j 
December  appearance  of  profit,  if  the  needs   j 
of  consumers  are  to  be  satisfied.     Liberal  j 
production  will  not  be  continued  at  a  loss  - 
or  without  the  stimulus  of  profit." 

Explanation  of  a  matter  of  agricultural  economics, 
with  the  purpose  of  strengthening  the  argument  in 
favor  of   better   prices   for  farm  products. 

MEXICO  AS  SEEN  BY  A  NOVELIST 

The   Outlook 

1.  "The  tragical  and  semi-barbarous  side 
of  Mexican  political  strife  has  just  been 
illustrated  by  the  fate  of  Carranza;  the  per- 
sonal and  human-character  side  is  strikingly 
depicted  by  Sefior  Blasco  Ibafiez,  author  of 
one  of  the  most  widely  read  books  of  our 
times,  "The  Four  Horsemen  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse." In  a  series  of  shrewd  and  enter- 
taining letters  to  the  New  York  Times  the 
distinguished  author  brings  close  to  the 
reader's  mental  perception  the  very  men 
most  involved  in  the  present  crisis — Car- 
ranza himself,  Obregon,  Gonzales,  Bonillas, 
Barragan,  and  others.  He  shows  them  to  us 
as  they  look,  as  they  talk,  as  they  laugh, 
and  as  they  plot.  Characteristic  bits  of 
conversation  on  all  sorts  of  non-political 
matters,  interviews  of  an  intimate  but  in- 
formal nature,  sharp  digs  at  rivals,  and 
humorous  rallying  of  friends — a  hundred 
such  touches,  slight  but  individual,  put  be- 
fore us  almost,  one  might  say,  face  to  face 
the  men  themselves,  not  the  posed  military 
and  political  lay  figures. 

2.  This  group  of  pen-pictures  from  the 
pen  of  Sefior  Ibafiez  is  really  a  contribution 
to  literature  as  well  as  a  vivid  piece  of  re- 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


83 


porting  in  the  large  sense.  The  hurry  and 
rush  of  modern  newspaper  work  has  rather 
taken  the  emphasis  off  the  literary  form  of 
news  writing  and  concentrated  it  on  bare 
facts.  Special  correspondence  such  as  Archi- 
bald Forbes  and  Frederick  Villiers  and — 
may  we  add? — George  Kennan  were  wont  to 
furnish  is  rare  nowadays;  instead  we  have 
too  often  concentrated  news  with  a  lamenta- 
ble lack  of  color,  atmosphere,  and  humor. 
Happily,  there  are  shining  exceptions  to 
this  rule,  and  these  apparently  offhand  yet 
carefully  written  letters  by  Ibafiez  are  a 
notable  example.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  recog- 
nize in  them  the  practiced  art  of  a  writer 
who  knows  how  to  interest  and  entertain  as 
well  as  to  inform.  We  congratulate  the 
Times  on  its  enterprise  in  procuring  for  its 
readers  such  an  unusual  journalistic  treat 
as  these  articles  furnish.  They  are  what 
they  purport  to  be,  "the  impressions  of  a 
novelist,  an  impartial  observer."  They  pre- 
sent a  graphic  view  of  the  turgid  but  excit- 
ing and  adventurous  complex  of  Mexico, 
with  its  ignorant  half-Indian  populace,  its 
ambitious  and  fiery  generals  by  the  score, 
and  its  total  absence  of  a  large  body  of 
middle-class  citizens  who  should  understand 
what  fair  play  is  and  strive  for  peaceful 
law  and  order.  The  Mexican  people,  says 
Ibanez,  is  "the  eternal  victim  of  a  tragi- 
comedy that  never  ends,  the  poor  slave 
whom  all  pretend  to  redeem  and  whose  lot 
has  remained  unchanged  for  centuries." 

3.  The  four  men  around  whom  the  new 
revolution  has  centered  have  been  Carranza, 
Obregon,  Gonzales,  and  Bonillas.  Of  Car- 
ranza's  personal  bearing  Ibaiiez  writes: 
"Don  Venustiano  is  an  old  country  gentle- 
man, a  ranchman,  with  all  the  cunning  of 
rural  landowners  and  all  the  shrewdness  of 
county  politicians,  but  he  is  simpatico  and 
has  a  noble  bearing.  Despite  his  apparent 
reserve,  at  times  he  waxes  loquacious,  'feels 
like  a  student' — as  he  puts  it — and  then  he 
talks  freely;  he  even  laughs."  Obregon  is  in 
appearance  "white,  so  positively  white  that 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  his  having  a  single 
drop  of  Indian  blood  in  his  veins.  He  is  so 
distinctively  Spanish  that  he  could  walk  in 
the  streets  of  Madrid  without  anyone  guess- 
ing that  he  hailed  from  the  American 
hemisphere."  Of  Gonzales,  a  general  who 
has  the  unique  honor  of  having  lost  every 
battle  in  which  he  was  engaged,  Carranza 
said,  ironically,  to  Ibanez:  "Don  Pablo  in- 
spires so  much  confidence;  he  is  so  respecta- 
ble!" but  Gonzales's  many  enemies  told 
Ibafiez  that  Gonzales  was  "a  fraud,  a  hypo- 
crite, and  a  crook."  Of  Bonillas,  who  left  his 
happy  life  as  Mexican  Ambassador  at  Wash- 
ington to  seek  and  lose  the  chance  of  becom- 


ing President  as  Carranza's  candidate, 
Ibafiez  repeats  Obregon's  comment:  "A  nice 
fellow,  my  friend  Bonillas.  He  is  re- 
liable, conscientious,  and  hard-working.  The 
world  has  lost  a  first-class  bookkeeper. 
.  .  .  If  I  ever  become  President  of  the 
Republic,  I  shall  make  him  cashier  in  some 
bank." 

4.  When  these  newspaper  letters  appear 
in  book  form — and  they  certainly  deserve 
that  honor — readers  will  find  that  the  in- 
numerable flashes  of  description  and  caustic 
comment,  such  as  these  four  bits,  combine 
to  leave  a  lasting  and  clear  impression  of 
Mexican  politicians,  men,  and  methods. 

In  this  article.  The  Outlook  provides  a  double- 
barrel  interpretation — an  approving  estimate  of  the 
Spanish  author's  series  of  articles,  and  (involved 
with  this)  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Mexican  conditions 
as  revealed  by  Seftor  Ibanez.  It  is  itself  a  speci- 
men in  brief  of  the  literesque  in  journalism  of  which 
it  speaks. 

MAN  AND  NATION 

Omaha    Bee 

1.  In  the  confidence  of  free-will  we  say  a 
man's  life  is  what  he  makes  it.  And  so, 
in  one  sense,  it  is.  But  it  depends  largely 
on  his  surroundings,  on  physical  and  social 
conditions,  which  is  the  general  expression 
meaning  climate,  the  soil  he  treads  upon, 
the  people  he  associates  with,  and  the 
average  intelligence  of  the  population  in 
which  he  is  a  unit — all  which,  taken  to- 
gether, mean  for  him  opportunity  or  lack 
of  it. 

2.  No  man  is  within  himself  wholly  the 
master  of  his  destiny.  From  his  childhood 
too  many  threads  outside  his  own  personality 
are  tied  to  him,  to  bind,  lead,  restrict  and 
control  his  acts.  Time  also  is  a  factor.  In 
youth  he  is  sanguine  and  imagines  himself 
unfettered.  Middle  age  finds  him  conscious 
of  many  limitations  undreamed  of  in  his 
enthusiastic  youth.  Old  age  too  often  over- 
takes him  disappointed,  disillusioned  and — if 
he  has  learned  to  look  truth  squarely  in  the 
face — aware  that  he  has  been  used  by  an 
infinite  power  for  purposes  he  does  not  fully 
comprehend. 

3.  Three  things  the  old  man  realizes: 
That  his  whole  life  has  been  dominated  by 
laws  not  of  human  making;  that  his  entry 
into  the  world  is  still  a  mystery  to  him; 
and  that  his  departure  from  earthly  activi- 
ties will  be  against  his  will. 

4.  The  birth  of  a  man  means  a  life  that 
leads  inexorably  to  death.  The  birth  of  a, 
nation  means  the  governmental  life  of  a 
people,  which  also  leads  inexorably  to  that 
government's  death.  All  history,  both  of 
the  individual  and  the  nation,  leads  to  that 
certain  conclusion. 


84 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


5.  As  the  man  protects  himself  against 
an  early  and  therefore  untimely  end,  by 
what  reason  and  the  experience  of  other 
men  teach  him  are  wholesome  and  strength- 
ening habits,  so  a  nation,  if  its  people  are 
enlightened,  seeks  to  prolong  its  existence 
by  avoiding  excesses  and  shunning  those 
things  which  have  led  to  the  death  of  other 
nations.  But  while  man  or  nation  may 
prolong  its  vigor  by  right  living,  neither 
can  forever  avoid  death,  although  both  put 
off  the  inevitable  end  by  every  expedient  in 
their  power.  Some  men  pin  their  faith  to 
a  sound  philosophy  of  life  and  live  long; 
others  yield  to  bad  habits,  resort  to  quacks 
and  nostrums,  and  die  early.  Som.e  nations 
hold  fast  to  sound  principles  and  live  for 
many  generations;  others  flee  to  strange  and 
radical  doctrines  and  perish  miserably  in 
their  youth. 

6.  The  United  States  is  young  as  the 
lives  of  governments  are  measured.  Its  only 
dangerous  sickness  was  the  malady  of 
slavery.  Bleeding  cured  it  of  that  poisonous 
infection. 

7.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed,  because 
America  is  young  and  strong,  that  it  is  not 
subject  to  acute  and  fatal  diseases,  just  as 
the  young  man.  The  germs  that  lead  to 
the  illness  and  death  of  nations  are  every- 
where, just  as  those  that  attack  men.  There 
must  be  right  living  to  keep  the  nation  in 
health.  Our  present  youthful  vitality  has 
been  nourished  and  built  up  by  national 
"good  habits,"  exemplified  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  our  republic,  in  our  legislative,  ex- 
ecutive and  judicial  systems,  and  in  our 
government  of,  by  and  for  the  people.  Our 
national  life  blood  is  pure  as  yet,  because  as 
a  whole  the  people  are  clean,  patriotic, 
liberty-loving  and  law-abiding. 

8.  But  we  are  all  the  time  receiving  new 
elements  into  our  system  by  immigration. 
Some  of  human  importations  are  wholesome, 
some  pestilent.  We  must  have  a  care  about 
permitting  vicious  enemies  to  come  to  or 
remain  with  us,  or  we  shall  suffer  infection. 
We  still  hold  to  the  principles  of  the  fathers 
of  our  nation,  which  is  well  for  us.  But  no 
nation  can  live  and  grow  without  change. 
Nothing  is  at  rest  in  this  world,  neither 
men,  nor  principles  of  government,  nor  na- 
tions. Change  is  ^  the  law  of  the  life  of 
every  earthly  thing,  whether  individual, 
legislative  or  constitutional.  It  is  our  task 
to  so  educate  ourselves  in  love  of  country 
and  of  our  people,  that  justice  shall  pre- 
vail. Successful  in  that,  our  national  life 
will  endure  through  centuries.  Failing  in 
it,  early  death  is  certain. 

9.  The  unrest  following  the  death  of  the 
imperial  German  government  still  disturbs 


the  world.  We  feel  it  in  abnormal  economic 
and  industrial  conditions;  but  if  we  retain 
our  fidelity  to  law  and  order,  vote  down 
the  dangerous  remedies  and  false  doctrines 
proposed  by  visionary  and  radical  minori- 
ties, the  world  war  will  not  seriously  in- 
terrupt the  healthful  progress  of  our  na- 
tional life.  We  must  remember  that  the 
ballot  directly  influences  the  life  of  the 
nation,  as  well  as  our  individual  prosperity 
and  happiness. 

An  attempt  to  explain  the  course  and  direction  of 
national  life  by  comparing  it  to  the  life  of  the  in- 
dividual  (sustained  analogy). 

COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING 

Parish    News,    St.    George's    Church,    Newport,    R.    I. 

1.  There  is  some  confusion  in  the  public 
mind  in  regard  to  the  issue  of  "Collective 
Bargaining,"  the  impression  being  that  the 
employers  of  the  country  deny  to  labor  the 
right  to  organize  and  as  an  organized  body 
to  deal  with  the  employers.  This  is  entirely 
misleading  and  unfair.  All  intelligent  em- 
ployers are  willing  to  concede  the  right  of 
collective  bargaining,  they  merely  insist  that 
the  right  shall  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
two  principles,  both  eminently  American, 
both  entirely  fair,  the  principle  of  freedom, 
and  the  principle  of  responsibility.  The  em- 
ployers insist  that  the  right  to  organize  and 
bargain  collectively  implies  the  right  to  re- 
main unorganized  and  deal  individually  if 
the  men  so  prefer.  They  believe  that  the 
right  to  bargain  as  a  labor  union  affiliated 
with  the  A.  F.  of  L.  must  mean  equally  the 
right  to  bargain  as  an  organization  of  their 
own,  unaffiliated  with  the  A.  F.  of  L. 

2.  There  is  nothing  whatever  hostile  to 
labor  in  this  attitude.  On  the  contrary,  it 
provides  for  the  fullest  possible  development 
of  labor  along  the  line  of  free  organization. 

3.  The  employers  also  believe  there 
should  be  mutual  responsibility.  If  a  col- 
lective bargain  has  any  value  at  all,  it  must 
be  binding  upon  the  employees  as  well  as 
upon  the  employers.  But  today  it  is  not. 
The  employers  are  accountable  for  violation 
of  the  collective  bargaining,  but  the  em- 
ployees can  keep  it  or  break  it  without  any 
accountability. 

4.  We  believe  in  "industrial  democracy," 
but  the  first  essential,  the  fundamental  basis 
of  democracy,  is  justice  and  fairness  to  all 
classes  and  all  individuals.  In  one  of  Mr. 
Gompers*  impassioned  speeches  at  the  In- 
dustrial Conference  he  repudiated  the  idea 
of  a  mutual  responsibility  by  declaring  that 
the  rights  of  capital  are  negligible  as  com- 
pared with  labor.  "What  is  capital?"  he 
asked.  "Capital  consists  of  tables,  clothes, 
steel,   wool,    dead   things,   material   things, 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


85 


lings  which  can  be  sold  and  bought."  "And 
hat  is  labor  ?  Labor  is  the  workers,  human 
sings,  men  and  women  and  children. 

5.  "When  it  comes  to  the  question  of  de- 
irmining  what  is  of  greater  importance  as 

men  and  women  and  children  and  dollars 
nd  things,  the  soul  of  mankind  goes  out  to 
en  and  women  and  children  rather  than  to 
lings." 


6.  This  is  merely  glittering  rhetoric 
;^hich  beclouds  the  issue.  No  one  for  a 
loment  questions  that  a  human  life  is  more 
aluable  than  money.    Does  the  fireman  for 

moment  hesitate  between  the  child  at  the 
nndow  above  and  the  money  in  the  vault 
elow?  Never — no  one  questions  that 
lUman  lives  are  more  valuable  than  things. 

7.  This  is  entirely  true,  but  it  in  no  sense 
nvalidates  the  claim  that  labor  should  share 
vith  capital  in  the  responsibility  for  carry- 
ng  out  the  collective  bargaining.  The  terms 
labor"  and  "capital,"  as  ordinarily  used, 
ire  misleading.  Capital  is  not  a  thing  by 
tself,  divorced  from  people,  any  more  than 
abor  is  divorced  from  people.  Property  as 
luch  has  no  rights — it  is  the  man  who  owns 
)roperty  who  has  rights.  It  is  human  rights 
hat  the  law  protects,  whether  the  human 
)eing  does  or  does  not  own  any  property  of 
ts  own. 


8.  Again,  we  use  the  terms  capitalist  and 
worker  as  if  they  were  clearly  differentiated. 
This  is  not  true.  John  Mitchell  was  a 
worker.  No  one  would  dispute  that.  But 
tie  was  also  a  capitalist,  for  he  left  over  a 
quarter  of  a  million  dollars  of  property. 
Judge  Gary  is  a  capitalist,  but  could  even 
his  worst  enemy  deny  he  is  also  a  worker? 
The  farmer  is  a  capitalist,  but  he  is  also  a 
worker,  yes,  and  he  works  ten  to  sixteen 
hours  a  day.  The  fact  is  that  in  this  coun- 
try nearly  all  capitalists  are  also  workers, 
just  as  nearly  all  workers  have  some  capital, 
even  if  it  is  only  $100  in  the  bank.  The 
question  is  not  between  dead  things  and 
living  human  beings  at  all.  It  is  between 
those  who  are  employers  and  those  who  are 
employed,  both  of  whom  are  workers,  both 
of  whom  are  usually  to  some  degree  capi- 
talists, both  of  whom  are  human  beings.  It 
is  right  that  these  men  and  women,  em- 
ployers and  employees,  should  mutually 
organize  in  any  way  they  wish  and  bargain 
collectively.  But  it  is  unfair  and  undemo- 
cratic that  those  human  beings  who  are 
employers  should  be  held  accountable  for 
the  bargain  while  those  human  beings  who 
are  employees  should  have  no  accountability 
whatever.  If  the  stability  of  industrial  life 
demands  the  practice  of  collective  bargain- 


ing, it  demands  also,  in  order  to  guarantee 
that  stability,  a  mutual  responsibility  to 
to  keep  the  bargain. 

1[1.  Statement,  or  definition,  of  the  question  at  is- 
sue. It  is  written  to  remove  misconception  and 
lay  a  foundation  of  accurate  comprehension.  The 
employers'   position    interpreted. 

f2.  Emphatic  assertion  of  a  fact  believed  to  be 
necessary  to  an  unbiased  consideration  of  the  exposi- 
tion        113.     The    employers'    position    further    in* 

terpreted. 

11^4-5.  Exposition  begun  of  the  nature  of  the  jus- 
tice, or  fair  play,  recognized  as  essential  to  indus- 
trial democracy.  The  exposition  takes  the  form  of 
a  refutation  of  what  is  deemed  an  erroneous  argru- 
ment,  by  advancing  more  accurate  definition  of 
terms  and  a  clearer  statement  of  the  matters  at 
issue. 

1116-8.  Continues  the  exposition  begun  in  1[4,  illus- 
trating the  refutory  argument  with  concrete  exam- 
ples, and  introducing  an  amended  terminology  for 
the    sake    of    clearer    thinking. 

18.  The  new  definitions  having  now  been  expounded, 
the  editorial  returns  to  the  head  inquiry,  what  is  a 
fair   foundation    for   collective    bargaining. 

At  first,  this  editorial  may  seem  to  be  controver- 
sial rather  than  interpretive.  It  certainly  has  a 
"purpose,"  but  as  that  purpose  is  to  promote  mutual 
undei-standing  by  making  clear  basic  principles,  the 
editorial  cannot  be  called  one  of  dispute.  Exposition, 
or  interpretation,  often  indeed  puts  an  end  to  dis- 
pute by  making  clear  the  terms  or  the  points  at 
issue. 

LEGS  IN  THE  SIXTIES 

Walter  Prichard  Eaton,  in  The  Freeman 

1.  To  all  of  you,  as  to  the  famous  bus 
conductor,  legs  are  less  a  treat  than  they 
used  to  be.  Yet  the  undressed  drama  con- 
tinues to  flourish,  giving  pain  to  the  pious 
and,  no  doubt,  profits  to  the  purveyors. 
When  the  Winter  Garden  chorus  appeared 
in  costumes  modelled,  in  one  respect,  at 
least,  on  those  of  the  Scotch  Highlanders,  a 
critic  remarked  that  knees  are  a  joint,  not 
an  entertainment;  but  apparently  they  en- 
tertain a  certain  proportion  of  the  public. 
This  season,  too,  we  have  had  a  wave  of 
"bedroom  farces,"  we  have  seen  the  trans- 
planted "Afphrodite";  we  have  made,  in 
short,  our  generous  offering  to  the  great 
goddess.  Lubricity.  Consequently,  we  have 
(as  usual)  been  informed  that  the  drama  is 
treading  down  the  primrose  path,  and  trav- 
elling at  a  rapid  rate. 

2.  Well,  well — it  may  be  so.  But  from 
the  number  of  years  during  which  the  drama 
has  been  traveling  briskly  toward  the 
eternal  bonfire,  one  is  forced  to  conclude  that 
this  noted  conflagration  is  very  deep  down 
indeed.  For  instance,  there  were  the  1860's. 
My  attention  has  been  turned  to  the  1860's 
because  I  fled  out  of  a  shower  into  the  dim- 
ness of  a  second-hand  bookshop  the  other 
day  (I  cannot  afford  an  umbrella  at  present 
prices),  and  there  I  picked  up  "Women  and 
Theatres,"  by  Olive  Logan  (New  York; 
Carleton,  1869).  Two  chapters  at  once  in- 
terested me — "About  the  Leg  Business"  and 


86 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


"About  Nudity  in  Theatres."  I  bought  this 
book  for  thirty-seven  cents,  and  learned 
something  at  first  hand  about  the  "palmy 
days." 

3.  It  was  surely  an  odd  and  interesting 
side-light  which  first  caught  my  attention. 
In  the  1860's,  Philadelphia  carried  off  the 
honors  "in  the  pad-making  art."  "Thus," 
said  Miss  Logan,  "the  New  Jersey  railroads 
are  frequently  enriched  by  the  precious 
freight  of  penitential  Mazeppas,  going  on 
pilgrimages  to  the  padding  Mecca."  She 
reproduces  this  letter,  surely  a  forerunner 
of  our  simplified  spelling: 

Mam :  Them  tites  is  finished  your  nees 
will  be  all  0  K  when  you  get  them  on. 
Bad  figgers  is  all  plaid  but  now  they 
will  caust  9  dollars. 

4.  The  reason  for  the  great  demand  for 
"them  tites"  was  the  extraordinary  popu- 
larity of  the  "blonde  burlesquers."  We  have 
all  heard,  of  course,  of  these  delectable  en- 
tertainers, of  "The  Black  Crook,"  and  its 
tribe;  but  few  of  us  now  realize  to  what  an 
extent  the  American  theatre  was  given  over 
to  the  worship  of  Lubricity  in  the  decade 
following  the  Civil  War.  Miss  Logan,  who 
herself  had  been  an  actress,  and  left  the 
stage  to  become  a  writer  and  a  worker  for 
equal  suffrage,  says: 

Clothed  in  the  dress  of  an  honest 
woman  (the  actress)  is  worth  nothing 
to  a  manager.  Stripped  as  naked  as  she 
dare — and  it  seems  there  is  little  left 
when  so  much  is  done^ — she  becomes  a 
prize  to  her  manager,  who  knows  that 
crowds  will  rush  to  see  her,  and  who 
pays  her  a  salary  accordingly. 

5.  This  is  what  the  "nude  woman"  did. 
"She  runs  upon  the  stage  giggling;  trots 
down  to  the  footlights,  winks  at  the  au- 
dience, and  rattles  off  some  stupid  attempts 
at  wit,  some  twaddling  allusions  to 
Sorosis  or  General  Grant."  Sometimes  she 
attempted  to  sing  and  dance.  A  sample 
song  is  quoted,  but  our  modern  type  rebels. 
This  woman.  Miss  Logan  affirms,  often  made 
more  money  than  "the  poetic  Edwin  Booth; 
infinitely  more  than  the  intellectual  E.  L. 
Davenport."  She  gives  a  list  of  the  sixteen 
then  existing  theatres  in  New  York  which 
had  at  one  time  or  another  presented  English 
drama.  Of  the  entire  list,  only  Booth's 
Theatre  was  clear  of  the  charge  of  having 
harbored  the  "nude  exhibition."  At  one 
time  (evidently  in  1868  or  1869)  but  two 
theatres  in  all  New  York  were  offering 
legitimate  drama.  One  manager  is  quoted 
as  saying,  "Devil  take  your  legitimate 
drama!  If  I  can't  draw  a  crowd  otherwise^ 
I'll  put  a  woman  on  my  stage  without  a  rag 


on  her."  Another  manager,  who  was  losing 
money  with  a  classic  play,  "rubbed  his  dry 
old  hands  together"  and  said,  "Aha!  we  must 
have  some  of  those  fat  young  women  in  this 
piece  and  make  it  draw." 

6.  All  of  which  is  not  exactly  pretty  read- 
ing, but  is  not  without  its  cheerful  side. 
Such  were  the  "palmy  days"  of  the  1860's! 
The  stage  was  quite  evidently  headed  for 
Gehenna  and  going  strong.  Since  1869,  a 
matter  of  half  a  century,  the  number  of 
theatres  in  New  York  has  multiplied  sev- 
eral times  over.  In  many  of  them  beauty 
is  still  only  shin  deep.  Legs  are  the  lyrics, 
the  lure  is  the  female  form.  It  might  almost 
be  gathered  from  this  fact  that  there  is 
something  eternally  attractive  about  the 
female  form.  But  no  such  percentage  of  our 
theatres  is  given  over  to  nudity  as  in  the 
1860's,  and  in  almost  none  of  those  more  or 
less  devoted  to  our  modern  equivalent  of  the 
old  "burlesque"  is  the  appeal  crude  and  ugly 
and  coarse.  Often  it  is  made  with  at  least  a 
pagan  loveliness  which  is  hopelessly  disarm- 
ing. As  for  the  other  theatres  we  have  had 
"Hamlet"  and  "Richard  III,"  "Ruddigore" 
and  "Apple  Blossoms,"  "Jane  Clegg"  and 
"Clarence,"  Euripdes  and  Tolstoy,  Brieux 
and  "Abraham  Lincoln."  There  never  was 
a  season  in  the  "palmy  days"  which  could 
begin  to  rival,  for  richness  and  variety  of 
solid  dramatic  fare,  what  ^Broadway  has 
offered  this  past  winter.  '  The  goddess 
Lubricity  no  doubt  still  has,  and  will  always 
have,  her  priests  and  priestesses  in  the  play- 
house, and  her  throng  of  worshippers.  But 
any  repetition  of  the  raw,  crude  and  ap- 
parently almost  universal  theatrical  de- 
pravity which  followed  the  Civil  War  is  im- 
possible in  America  today,  even  after  the 
World  War.  We  have  not  one  public,  but 
many  now,  and  a  constant  process  of  selec- 
tion and  refinement  seems  to  be  going  on. 
Things  are  not  as  they  were  in  the  palmy 
days — thank  goodness! 

An  interpretation  of  present  conditions  through  a 
review  and  survey — somewhat  of  the  article  or  per- 
sonalized-essay  type  in  the  earlier  part,  but  passing 
over  to  a  distinctly  editorial  tone  about  114.  Ob- 
serve the  discursive,  yet  animated  and  succinct  style, 
and  the  value  of  the  well-balanced  comment  as  an 
antidote  to  the  common  denunciation  and  outbreak 
of  unthinking  thinkers  who  discuss  the  same  subject. 
It  is  the  difference  between  clear-sightedness  plus 
catholicity  of  mind,  and  narrowness  of  information 
and   judgment. 

G.  B.  S.  BREAKS  ANOTHER  LANCE 

Kansas    City    Star 

1.  George  Bernard  Shaw  being  the  duly 
accredited  jester  to  the  court  of  literature 
must  let  no  opportunity  pass  to  remind  us 
of  his  office. 

2.  "These  Americans,"  says  he,  shaking 
his  bells — and  waits  to  be  drawn.     For  in 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


87 


jesting  it  does  not  do  to  be  too  forward. 
The  jest  must  fall  pat  if  it  would  prosper. 
As  thus: 

3.  "How  now,  knave?  What  of  the 
Americans?  See  thou  mindest  thy  man- 
ners." 

4.  "Ay,  uncle,"  says  G.  B.  S.,  balancing 
his  wand  on  his  nose.  "But  who  is  to  mind 
the  manners  of  the  Americans?  Marry,  in 
the  province  of  New-York,  mark  that  we 
Irish-English  always  use  the  hyphen  in 
New-York  because  the  Americans  don't, 
which  is  reason  enough  I  trow — in  New- 
York  they  have  expelled  the  Socialists  from 
their  parliament,  which  is  mannerless." 

5.  "How  does  that  concern  thee,  Sir 
Jester?" 

6.  "It  concerns  me  nearly,  uncle.  A 
murrain!     Am  I  not  a  Socialist  myself?" 

7.  "Thou'rt  paid  to  be  a  wit,  madcap." 

8.  "True,  but  I  must  have  something  to 
hang  my  wit  upon  withal.  I  must  be  dif- 
ferent from  other  men  or  I  am  undone  and 
lose  this  pretty  wand.  I  became  a  Socialist 
thirty-five  years  ago  because  it  gave  me 
chance  to  say  startling  things  in  a  dull 
world.  I  am  still  a  Socialist  because  there 
are  some  smart  things  still  to  be  said,  and 
the  world  still  jumps  on  being  pricked.  If 
it  didn't  we  jesters  would  be  in  sorry  plight. 
Truly,  uncle,  there  is  nought  to  be  gained 
by  agreeing  with  the  world.  My  genius  is 
in  opposition,  hence  I  am  a  Socialist,  a 
vegetarian  and  an  Irishman." 

9.  "Thou'rt  a  saucy  knave.  But  not  bad, 
not  bad,  i'  faith!  But  prick  on,  fool.  What 
of  the  Americans?" 

10.  "They  are  barbarians,  uncle.  Aye, 
villagers.  They  persecute  for  opinions, 
which  is  the  mark  of  a  primitive  people.  I 
call  that  good.    Marry,  I  do." 

11.  "Call  what  good,  sirrah?  What  the 
Americans  do?" 

12.  "No,  what  I  said.  What  do  I  care 
what  the  Americans  do?  It's  what  they 
give  me  a  chance  to  say  that  interests  me. 
Ting,  a-ling,  ling.  Hear  my  pretty  bells, 
uncle." 

13.  "Hark'ee,  fool.  If  persecuting  for 
opinions  were  in  style  our  court  would  lack 
a  sorry  jester,  belike." 

14.  "Nay,  uncle.  I  have  no  opinions.  But 
I  have  a  great  commodity  of  comment  upon 
opinions.  That  is  my  trade.  These  Amer- 
icans are  cakes  and  cream  for  me.  They 
are  always  doing  something  to  bring  me 
out  strong.  If  they  should  settle  down  and 
be  like  the  English,  who  scarce  rise  to  me 
any  more,  though  I  go  constantly  about 
with  my  tongue  in  my  cheek,  I'd  soon  be 
bereft  of  my  cap.  What  brooks  it  any 
more  to  say  that  liberty  is  gone  in  England, 


since  nobody  believes  me?  But  in  America 
they're  still  sensitive  to  epigram.  I  have 
another  one,  uncle." 

15.  "A  sorry  one,  by'r  crown  and  scepter! 
But  have  it  out  since  it's  thy  trade." 

16.  "When  is  the  Statue  of  Liberty  to  be 
pulled  down  in  New-York  Harbor?  Nay, 
dullard,  if  that  missed  thee  see  if  this  one 
pierces  thy  thick  pate.  The  American 
President  is  no  safer  than  was  Louis  XVI. 
A  hit,  uncle!  I'd  say  a  palpable  hit,  but  'tis 
Shakespearean,  and  I  am  a  greater  than 
Shakespeare.  Will  not  the  Americans  writhe 
at  that,  think  you?  Nay,  sith  I  have  thee 
silenced  at  last — and  thou'rt  talkative  enow 
I  warrant — hear  me  out.  I  care  not  a  copper 
groat  for  the  Socialists,  here  nor  in  Amer- 
ica. I  made  a  good  thing  out  of  them  in  my 
'Unsocial  Socialist'  years  ago,  and  at  the 
Fabian  Society,  and  they  do  begin  to  pall 
as  a  literary  asset.  But  I  am  Shaw,  I  am 
G.  B.  S.,  I  am  an  Irishman  and  cannot  be 
still  when  anything  is  said  about  liberty. 
I  specialize  in  liberty.  It's  hard  going  for 
me  just  now,  because  England  has  too  much 
liberty.  I  have  too  much.  If  they'd  only 
put  me  in  the  tower!  But  they  won't. 
'Twas  a  sorry  day  for  me  when  the  English 
government  quit  making  martyrs  of  the 
eloquent  Irish.  But  America  can  still  be 
baited.  And  though  the  Americans  are  bar- 
barians and  villagers  they  have  the  literary 
sense.  They  read  my  plays,  though — a  mur- 
rain!— I  do  not  think  they  know  how  good 
they  are.  But  I  must  not  let  them  forget 
me.  They  must  not  think  my  wit  grows 
dull  just  because  the  English  decline 
to  stop  my  mouth.  'Twas  a  beggarly  trick 
on  me  when  they  bade  Bertram  Russell  hold 
his  peace  and  let  me  talk  on.  Marry,  a 
scurvy  trick  and  altogether  English.  But 
mayhap  the  Americans  haven't  noticed  that 
and  can  still  be  touched  by  the  Shavian 
rapier.  Hence  these  cudgels  for  my  old 
gossips  of  the  Fabian  days.  Dost  thou  get 
me,  uncle,  and  have  I  not  a  pretty  wit  under 
my  belled  cap?" 

Here  we  have  an  urbane,  yet  satirical  interpreta- 
tion of  the  attitude  and  motives  of  Mr.  Shaw.  Ob- 
serve the  employment  for  this  purpose  of  the  form 
of  the  literary  skit,  dramatic  in  method,  and  de- 
veloped by  means  of  dialog.  The  critical  interpreta- 
tion of  Mr.  Shaw's  beliefs  loses  nothing  of  keenness 
and  value  from  being  put  in  his  own  mouth;  for 
numerous  judges  have  thought  that  Mr.  Shaw's 
writings  themselves — in  effect — say  the  same  things 
that  he  is  here  made  to  say  about  himself.  The  edi- 
torial was,  of  course,  provoked  by  one  of  Mr.  Shaw's 
scintillatingly  recurrent  pronouncements  upon  things, 
men,  immortals,  and  Shaw.  (To  see  in  the  method 
of  presentation  of  this  editorial  a  reversion  to  one 
of  the  five  forms  of  the  Greek  essay — the  dialog — 
is  not  difficult.  Indeed,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
find  analogues,  if  not  historical  predecessors,  of  all 
the  forms  of  the  contemporay  editorial  in  classical, 
or  in  the  formational  periods  of  Continental  litera- 
ture. 


88 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Chapter  VI.    Exercises. 

1.  Examine  three  or  four  issues  each  of 
several  daily  papers  (name  them),  with  the 
following  questions  in  mind.  Have  the  best 
specimens  classified  and  ready  for  presenta- 
tion in  case  they  are  called  for. 

A.  Do  they  neglect  or  do  they  emphasize 
the  editorial  of  interpretation?  (Consider 
each  paper  separately.) 

B.  What  subjects  do  they  seem  most 
inclined  to  interpret? 

C.  Do  they  tend  to  make  their  news- 
editorial  interpretational  ? 

D.  Is  it  possible  to  sort  them  into  groups 
according  to  their  practice  in  the  matter  of 
editorial  interpretation  ? 

2.  Examine  several  weekly  journals  that 
are  devoted  to  or  include  editorial  discus- 
sion, applying  questions  A,  B,  and  C,  exercise 
1.  Have  specimens  ready  for  presentation 
as  in  No.  1. 

3.  Under  the  heading  Interpreters  of  the 
Times,  write  an  editorial  interpreting  the 
service  of  our  newspapers  and  magazines 
as  interpreters. 

4.  Write  a  paper  (about  500  words), 
pointing  out  the  differences  between  news- 
papers and  weekly  magazines  in  editorial 
interpretation,  as  you  observed  them  in 
doing  exercises  1  and  2.  If  you  can  make 
it  editorial  in  manner,  so  much  the  better. 

5.  Examine  the  editorials  in  several 
issues  each  of  three  agricultural  papers.* 
What  proportion  of  the  editorials  are  given 
to  interpretation?  What  kinds  of  thing  do 
they  interpret? 

6.  Repeat  exercise  5,  examining  class 
or  trade  papers  of  some  other  sort,*  such  as: 

A.  Railway  journals. 

B.  Labor  journals. 

C.  Lumber  journals. 

.  D.     Iron-and-steel  trade  journals. 

E.  Implement-trade  journals. 

F.  Grocery-trade  journals,  wholesale, 
retail. 

G.  Advertising  journals. 
H.     Automobile  journals. 

I.     Engineering  and  mining  journals. 
J.     Medical  journals. 
K.     Others. 

7.  Another,  as  in  6. 

8.  Still  another,  as  in  6. 

9.  Write  a  paper  (about  500  words)  on 
editorials  of  interpretation  in  class  journals. 
Try  to  make  it  editorial  in  manner. 

10.  Study  a  number  of  editorials  of  in- 
terpretation in  the  newspapers,  noting  the 

♦For  useful  lists,  see  the  latest  edition  of  "Where 
and  How  to  Sell  Manuscripts"  (Home  Correspond- 
ence School).  For  classified  name-lists  only,  see 
Ayer's  American  Newspaper  Annual  and  Directory. 


differences  they  show  in  plan  and  method. 
Discuss  these  in  writing.  Have  illustrative 
specimens  ready  for  presentation  in  case 
they  are  called  for. 

11.  Repeat  No.  10,  examining  weekly 
periodicals. 

12.  Examine  some  of  the  fortnightly  and 
monthly  review-periodicals  with  reference 
to  their  editorials  and  articles  of  interpreta- 
tion. Make  memoranda  of  your  observa- 
tions and  conclusions,  and  be  prepared  to 
produce  the  editorials  that  illustrate  your 
points. 

13.  Discuss  in  a  paper  the  interpretive 
writing  of  the  periodicals  examined  in  12. 

14.  Examine  the  editorials  in  the  wo- 
man's magazines,  applying  to  them  ques- 
tions A,  B,  and  C,  exercise  1. 

15.  Discuss  in  writing  the  editorials  in 
the  woman's  magazines,  with  reference  to 
the  matters  observed  in  doing  No.  14.  Be 
prepared  to  produce  the  editorials  that  illus- 
trate your  points. 

16.  Run  through  the  news  of  the  day; 
select  and  have  ready  for  presentation  to 
the  instructor  subjects  for  five  interpreta- 
tions, with  the  point  or  idea  of  the  inter- 
pretation stated  in  a  single  sentence.  Be 
prepared  to  produce  clippings  of  the  news 
on  which  your  suggestions  are  based. 

17.  Choose  one  of  the  subjects  in  No.  16. 
First  outline  the  editorial;  then  complete  the 
writing  of  it. 

18.  Repeat  No.  17,  using  another  of  the 
subjects. 

19.  Choosing  one  of  the  two  subjects 
about  which  you  have  already  written  (Nos. 
17,  18),  write  another  editorial  of  interpre- 
tation, making  it  essentially  different  either 
in  the  point  of  the  interpretation  or  in  the 
method  employed. 

20.  Repeat  No.  16. 

21.  Repeat  No.  17. 

22.  Repeat  No.  19,  using  the  editorial 
written  in  No.  21. 

23.  Set  down  10  ideas  for  editorials  of 
interpretation  about  affairs  of  daily  life. 

24.  Out  of  these  10  ideas,  select  two; 
outline  the  proposed  editorials. 

25.  Write  one  of  the  two  editorials  out- 
lined in  24. 

26.  Set  down  10  ideas  for  interpretive 
editorials  having  to  do  with  religious  or 
moral  aspects  of  life. 

27.  As  in  24,  using  the  ideas  listed  in 
doing  26. 

28.  Write  out  one  of  the  two  editorials 
outlined  in  27. 


EDITORIALS  OF  INTERPRETATION 


89 


29.  Set  down  a  list  of  10  ideas  for  in- 
terpretive editorials  dealing  with  scientific, 
philosophical,  governmental,  economic,  in- 
dustrial, or  similar  subjects  of  significance. 
Be  prepared  to  show  the  journalistic  value 
of  your  ideas. 

30.  Write  an  editorial  on  one  of  the  sub- 
jects listed  in  29. 


31.  Write  an  editorial  on  another  of  the 
subjects  in  29. 

32.  Write  an  editorial  upon  a  third  sub- 
ject from  No.  29. 

33.  Write  a   paper  of  1500-2000  words 
upon  the  editorial  of  interpretation. 

34.  Make    a    collection    of    interpretive 
editorials  from  miscellaneous  sources. 


CHAPTER   VII 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


The  editorial  of  argumentative 
effect. — Numerous  editorials  are 
written  to  advocate,  oppose,  defend, 
or  attack  theories,  tendencies,  poli- 
cies, principles,  and  "causes,"  or  the 
men,  groups,  or  parties  representing 
them.  Such  editorials  are  controver- 
sial— i.  e.,  their  effect  is  that  of  per- 
suasion, debate,  or  conviction.  They 
incline  the  reader's  judgment,  or  his 
sympathies,  favorably  toward  or  un- 
favorably away  from  the  proposition 
or  idea  with  which  they  deal. 

The  controversial  editorial  exists 
to  influence  the  reader  for  or  against 
something.  Yet  it  does  not  have  to 
be  controversial  in  the  narrow  sense 
of  that  term.  It  is  enough  that  it 
have  the  purpose  of  affecting  the 
reader's  attitude.  Not  a  few  such 
editorials,  indeed,  are  so  little  argu- 
mentative in  the  commoner  meaning 
of  the  word,  that  we  can  adequately 
describe  them  merely  as  "purpose" 
editorials,  employing  the  term  in  the 
sense  in  which  we  use  it  when  we 
speak  of  a  "purpose"  novel.  They 
leave  us  with  an  attitude  of  mind 
more  favorable  or  less  favorable 
toward  that  with  which  they  are  con- 
cerned. 

A  foundation  of  reasoning,  not 
passion. — The  controversial  editorial, 
therefore,  is  merely  an  editorial 
meant  to  sway  the  reader — perhaps 
by  a  method  of  argument  that  is 
subtly  indirect — ^toward  this  or  that 
idea,  conviction,  or  attitude.  Yet 
however  indirect  its  method,  it  still 
favors,  supports,  advocates,  or  sets 
itself  in  opposition — still  in  effect  de- 
bates or  argues.  Therefore  its  only 
sure  foundation  is  that  of  safe, 
straight  argument.  It  must  be  based 


on  sound  logic  and  reasoning,  not  o 
sentiment,  nor  yet  on  ill-temper,  bii 
terness,  or  passion.  The  editorii 
may  be,  and  not  infrequently  is,  ir 
tensely  earnest,  powerful,  and  impaj 
sioned;  but  let  it  begin  to  manifes 
impatience,  irritation,  intolerance,  c 
bitterness,  and  its  effectiveness  be 
gins  to  decrease. 

Convinced  partisans  may  hail  th 
fierce,  angry,  slashing  editorial  wit 
glee,  but  the  soberly  thoughtfi 
reader  is  doubtful  of  it,  and  sooner  c 
later  is  repelled  by  it.  One  thousan 
is  not  too  high  a  number  to  count  be 
fore  yielding  to  the  temptation  t 
write  an  editorial  of  incensed  feeling 
It  can  arouse  the  prejudiced,  the  i^ 
norant,  and  the  unthinking,  and  som 
publications  intentionally  print  sue 
editorials  for  the  sake  of  their  viciou 
appeal  and  vicious  influence.  But  th 
very  fact  that  they  so  often  pla 
upon  the  defects,  weaknesses,  an 
baser  motives  of  the  individual,  cor 
demns  them. 

The  extending  range  of  debatabl 
subjects. — A  considerable  portion  o 
the  editorials  devoted  to  reasonabl 
discussion  are  concerned  with  politics 
questions,  party  principles,  and  part; 
interests.  So  prominent  have  politi 
cal  questions  been  in  the  past  as 
subject  of  journalistic  attention  tha 
the  "political  editor"  is  still  an  impor 
tant  adjunct  to  the  staff  in  numerou 
ofllices. 

But  the  transition  in  journalisr 
from  partisan  allegiance,  or  at  leas 
from  party  subservience,  has  ma 
terially  lessened  the  importance  o 
the  editorial  of  mere  partisan  politics 
Industrial,  economic,  social,  and  hu 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


91 


manistic  questions,  rather  than  pol- 
itics, lead  now  as  subjects  of  editorial 
debate,  and  seem  likely  to  do  so  for  a 
long  time  to  come. 

The  same  transition  has  likewise 
been  among  the  influences  working  to 
extend  the  range  of  editorial  writing 
to  yet  other  subjects.  We  feel  no 
surprise  nowadays  in  coming  across 
editorials  that,  both  directly  and  in- 
directly, debate  questions  of  morals, 
of  religion,  of  church  policy,  of  edu- 
cation; of  art,  literature,  and  es- 
thetics; of  feminism,  of  spiritualism, 
of  domestic  relations,  and  other  in- 
definitely numerous  matters  in  which 
the  public  has  learned  to  take  an  in- 
terest. Editorial  articles,  when  they 
deal  "controversially'*  with  such  sub- 
jects, range  in  manner  from  outright 
argument  to  urbane,  witty,  or  hu- 
morous explanation,  comment,  or 
skit. 

Dependence  upon  a  proposition, 
stated  or  statable. — Being  argumen- 
tative in  ultimate  purpose,  the  contro- 
versial editorial  must  conform  to  the 
basic  principles  of  argument.  That 
is,  it  must  be  founded  upon  a  definite 
proposition  and  made  up  of  a  body  of 
proof  or  disproof. 

But  its  proposition  need  not  be 
stated  outright,  nor  its  proof  formally 
marshaled.  Numerous  means  of  pre- 
senting an  argument  indirectly  are 
available ;  and  an  argument  suggested 
or  implied  is  often  more  effective 
than  it  would  be  if  set  forth  directly. 
Moreover,  the  indirect  presentation 
is  likely  to  be  more  pleasing  through 
increased  literary  quality. 

An  editorial,  therefore,  may  have 
all  the  effect  of  argument,  yet  little, 
and  perhaps  none,  of  its  form.  But 
nevertheless  its  point  should  always 
be  so  clear  as  to  be  susceptible  of 
statement  in  the  form  of  an  outright 
proposition. 

The  editorial  of  formal  argument. 
— When  it  is  most  formal  in  method 


and  structure,  the  controversial  edi- 
torial closely  adheres  to  the  struc- 
tural plan  of  the  argumentative 
"theme"  or  "thesis"  as  aimed  at  in 
college  classes.  This  means  that  it 
first  announces  its  proposition;  thc^a 
step  by  step  sets  forth  the  reasons  or 
the  proofs  to  support  the  proposition; 
then  closes  with  a  renewed  indication 
(in  a  summary,  application,  or  con- 
clusion) of  its  theme.  For  practical 
purposes,  we  can  regard  this  as  a 
mere  adaptation  of  the  three-stage 
structure.  An  inversion  of  the  order 
is  also  employed,  the  reasoning  or 
proofs  being  advanced  first,  and  the 
proposition  stated  at  the  end,  as  an 
inference  or  application. 

Modifying  the  formal  argumenta- 
tive structure. — However,  one  must 
remember  that  the  editorial  is  not 
written  as  a  practice-exercise  in  logi- 
cal structure  and  expression,  but  as  a 
purposeful  utterance  of  reasoned  and 
cultured  thought  upon  a  subject  of 
interest  to  readers.  Hence,  the  edi- 
torial-writer may  find  this  academic 
plan  too  barely  formal  and  "soph- 
omoric." 

Among  the  means  that  he  may  em- 
ploy to  prevent  his  article  from  seem- 
ing a  mere  "theme"  upon  a  "topic"  is 
that  of  an  easy,  somewhat  colloquial, 
manner  of  expression,  resorting  to  a 
style  that  is  distinctly  in  the  editorial 
manner,  as  described  in  Chapter  I. 

He  may  also  compose  his  article  in 
such  a  way  that  its  topic,  or  propo- 
sition, will  be  clearly  evident,  and  yet 
not  outrightly  stated — at  least,  not  in 
any  formally  argumentative  and 
propositional  phrasing. 

Again,  he  may  so  order  and  man- 
age his  material  as  to  permit  him  to 
introduce  a  statement,  or  an  indica- 
tion, of  his  central  proposition  some- 
where in  the  body  of  the  article.  This 
indication  he  will  introduce  in  such  a 
way  as  to  give  it  the  necessary  sa- 
lience and  emphasis,  and  yet  prevent 


92 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


it  from  standing  out  like  the  formal 
statement  of  a  question  for  debate. 

Getting  the  effect  of  argument 
without  its  form. — Broadly,  however, 
the  fact  is  that  in  the  controversial 
tjditorial  the  editorial-writer  not  in- 
frequently is  seeking  the  effect  of  ar- 
gument without  its  academic  or 
formal  argumentative  structure;  and 
this  makes  impossible  the  creation  of 
any  thoroughly  "standardized"  type 
of  structure  or  treatment.  The  effec- 
tiveness of  such  editorials  depends 
largely  upon  the  skill  with  which  the 
writer  organizes  his  material  upon 
some  individual  plan  or  conception 
that  will  make  its  thought  and  propo- 
sition manifest  without  conforming 
the  presentation  to  any  fixed  or  pre- 
determined model.  The  adequacy  of 
any  such  presentation  can  always  be 
tested  by  answering  these  three 
questions : 

A.  Does  the  editorial  take  sides 
upon  some  question  arising  from  its 
subject? 

B.  Is  the  "point"  manifest  that  it 
wishes  to  make  upon  this  question  ? 

C.  Is  the  editorial  so  presented 
that  the  reader  will  realize  its  bearing 
upon  the  matter? 

By  this  test,  no  small  number  of 
editorials  of  the  newspeg,  news-sum- 
mary, review-and-survey,  and  inter- 
pretation classes,  are  revealed  as  be- 
ing more  or  less  controversial  in  their 
underlying  purpose. 

The  two  editorials  that  follow  get 
the  effect  of  argument  without  its 
form. 

V^HY? 

A  leading  publisher  says  that  within  a 
fortnight  he  has  been  interviewed  by 
eighteen  persons  who  wished  him  to  publish 
book-manuscripts  recounting  their  personal 
experiences  or  observations  in  the  World 
War. 

One  of  these  was  a  colonel,  one  a  captain, 
three  were  lieutenants,  one  was  a  sergeant, 
and  four  were  buck  privates.  Of  the  others, 
two  were  Y.  M.  C.  A.  workers,  three  Red 


Cross  workers,  two  hospital  nurses,  and  one 
an  entertainer.  Thirteen  were  men  and  five 
were  women. 

Of  the  eighteen,  only  four  had  had  more 
than  ordinarily  interesting  experiences,  and 
only  two  showed  narrative  or  descriptive 
ability  in  telling  their  experience.  Twelve 
of  the  manuscripts  were  thoroughly 
mediocre,  more  than  half  were  notably 
faulty  in  grammar  and  diction,  and  several 
were  illiterate. 

Nevertheless,  we  have  read  with  interest 
.  Lieut.  Coningsby  Dawson's  impassioned  pro- 
test against  the  coldness  of  the  publishers, 
if  not  of  the  public,  toward  books  dealing 
with  the  war. 

PATRIOTISM 

In  Erehwon  [spell  it  backward]  the  cloth- 
weavers  decided  that  they  ought  to  be  paid 
60  per  cent  more  wages  than  they  were  re- 
ceiving, and  that  they  would  not  work  again 
before  their  demand  was  granted.  When 
the  people  of  Erehwon,  however,  began  to 
sicken  and  die  from  exposure,  they  grew 
angry  and  threatened  the  weavers  with 
force;  upon  which  the  weavers  promptly  pro- 
claimed themselves  good  Erehwonites  and 
went  back  to  work.  In  recognition  of  their 
noble  action,  the  President  of  Erehwon  pub- 
lished a  proclamation  praising  them  as 
patriots. 

[This  editorial  fable  had  reference  to  the 
strike  of  the  bituminous-coal  miners  in 
1919,  and  at  that  time  its  bearing  was 
obvious.] 

Editorials  of  sarcasm,  satire,  and 
irony. — A  favorite  manner  with  some 
editorial  controversialists  (as  illus- 
trated by  the  editorial  Patriotism, 
just  above)  is  that  of  sarcasm,  satire, 
or  irony.  Well-managed  satire  un- 
questionably has  its  place  in  editorial- 
writing,  for  satire  is  one  of  the  best 
scourges  for  hypocrisy,  insincerity, 
dishonesty,  or  other  offense  against 
morals,  decency,  duty,  or  public  wel- 
fare. Yet,  too  often  employed  sar- 
casm palls;  and  satire  is  always  in 
danger  of  becoming  truculent,  angry, 
and  rancorous.  Irony,  too,  may  be 
useful;  but  probably  no  ironical  edi- 
torial was  ever  printed  that  some  lit- 
eral-minded readers  did  not  wofully 
misunderstand. 

The  editorial  of  invective. — ^The  ex- 
treme kind  of  controversial  editorial, 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


93 


that  of  out-and-out  invective  and  de- 
nunciation, is  not  often  called  for.  In- 
vective and  denunciation  frequently 
creep  into  intense  and  long-continu- 
ing discussions,  but  not  frequently 
with  good  effect.  Abuse  and  the 
calling  of  names  are  weak  arguments,- 
and  therefore  the  denunciatory  edi- 
torial seldom  justifies  itself  except 
when  there  has  been  public  miscon- 
duct, injustice,  or  betrayal  so  gross 
that  it  cannot  be  cured  without  in- 
tense and  violent  attack.  If  the  pur- 
pose is  to  arouse  to  action  readers 
who  are  already  convinced,  editorials 
of  strong  persuasion  (to  borrow  a 
term  from  the  old  rhetorics)  may 
prove  more  effective  than  editorials 
confined  to  invective  and  denuncia- 
tion. 

Schema. — Among  controversial  edi- 
torials we  find : 

A.  The  purpose  editorial. 

B.  The  editorial  of  direct  argu- 

ment, debate,  or  disputa- 
tion. 

C.  The  editorial  of  indirect,  im- 

plied, or  latent  argument. 

D.  The  editorial  of  outright  at- 

tack and  invective. 
Representative  editorials.  —  Here 
follow  editorials  illustrative  of  the 
argumentative,  "purpose,"  or  con- 
vincing effects  such  as  are  described 
above. 

A  COOLIDGE  TEXT  FOR  TEXAS 

San    Antonio    Ebcpress 

1.  "We  need  more  of  the  Office  Desk  and 
less  of  the  Show  Window  in  politics." 

2.  Those  are  the  words  of  Gov.  Calvin 
Coolidge  of  Massachusetts;  but  what  of 
that?  He  is  a  big  enough  American  to 
merit  the  purposeful  quotation  of  his  public 
utterances,  in  any  other  State;  and  the 
foregoing  epigram  is  likable  and  respectable 
anywhere  for  its  truth  and  its  "punch."  So, 
the  Express  suggests  its  use  as  a  text  by 
Texas  Democrats  who  are  actively  opposing 
Mr.  Bailey's  designs  upon  the  governorship 
and  the  delegation  to  San  Francisco.  Those 
who  are  answering  his  anti-Administration 
harangues  may  employ  it  to  point  a  moral 
and  adorn  a  tale. 


3.  "We  need  more  of  the  Office  Desk  and 
less  of  the  Show  Window  in  politics." 

4.  What — or  where — is  Mr.  Bailey's 
office-desk  record  in  politics? 

A  flank-assault — one  man  attacked  by  comparing 
another  with   him,   to  the  latter's  advantage. 

SUBJECT  FOR  ANOTHER  DEBATE 

Buffalo  Express 

1.  Says  Mr.  Gompers:  "The  difference 
between  a  slave  and  a  freeman  is  that  the 
slave  must  work  when  his  master  or  owner 
directs  and  wills." 

2.  Says  Governor  Allen  of  Kansas:  "We 
have  not  forbidden  to  any  man  the  right  to 
quit  work.  We  merely  have  taken  away 
from  Mr.  Gompers  his  divine  right  to  order 
a  man  to  quit  work." 

3.  If  the  man  who  must  work  when  his 
master  or  owner  directs  and  wills  is  a  slave, 
is  not  the  man  who  must  quit  work  when 
his  master  and  owner  directs  and  wills,  also 
a  slave? 

4.  And  we  are  going  to  suggest  that, 
having  started  something,  Mr.  Gompers  and 
Governor  Allen  finish  it,  with  this  proposi- 
tion as  the  subject  for  another  joint  debate. 

Nutshell  argument. 

WHY  LEGISLATE  AT  ALL? 

Boston    Post 

1.  Why  should  not  Massachusetts  accept 
the  Volstead  act  as  the  model  for  its  own 
State   legislation  ? — Springfield   Republican. 

2.  "Concurrent  power"  again.  It  always 
bobs  up,  and  not  even  our  learned  friend  on 
the  banks  of  the  Connecticut  is  able  to  tell 
just  what  it  is.  Certainly  if  it  means 
following  federal  legislation  to  a  dot,  it  may 
be  "concurrent,"  but  where  is  the  "power"  ? 

3.  If  Massachusetts  is  to  accept  the  Vol- 
stead act  as  a  model,  why  legislate  at  all? 
Are  not  the  federal  statutes  enough  ?  What 
is  the  need  of  duplicating  the  laws? 

A  sharp,  sharp  return  lunge.  -112  parries  the 
thrust  of  the  opposed  quotation ;  1[3  completes  the 
parry   in    a    counter-thrust.     Quick,   clean    work. 

THEY  DONT  STAY  BOUGHT— BAH! 

The    Review 

1.  What  is  the  matter  with  the  "capitalist 
press"?  Does  it  not  know  that  it  ought  to 
suppress  any  such  outgiving  as  that  of  Mr. 
W.  Jett  Lauck,  the  statistician  representing 
the  railway  unions  before  the  Railroad  Labor 
Board?  And  if  it  can't  be  suppressed,  it 
ought  to  be  tucked  away  under  a  little  head- 
line in  some  obscure  page  of  the  paper.  In- 
stead of  that,  all  the  great  New  York 
dailies  which  Big  Business  hires  to  keep 
the  people  in  ignorance,  display  the  thing 
conspicuously,  under  striking  headlines  and 
without  a  word  of  introduction  or  comment 
to  break  its  force.   What  is  the  use  of  care- 


94 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


fully  concealing  from  the  people  what  some 
tenth-rate  Socialist  orator  may  have  said 
in  Paterson,  and  then  giving  them  this  peril- 
ous stuff  to  feed  on  ?  It  looks  as  though  our 
plutocratic  rulers  were  not  getting  anything 
like  their  money's  worth  out  of  the  editors 
whom,  as  everybody  knows,  they  own  body 
and  soul. 

Sarcastic  irony,  in  the  nature  of  a  reductio  ad 
absurdum — disclosure  of  the  ultimate  absurdity  of  the 
proposition  involved. 

ELBOW  GREASE  VS.  HOT  AIR 

New    England    Homestead 

1.  An  order  was  offered  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives  last  week 
by  Mr.  Young  of  Weston  directing  the  Com- 
mission on  the  Necessaries  of  Life  to  recom- 
mend legislation  to  bring  about  lower  prices 
of  food  and  fuel  and  to  prevent  profiteering. 

2.  After  adopting  daylight-saving,  forc- 
ing it  upon  all  New  England,  the  Massachu- 
setts Legislature  has  considerable  courage 
to  ask  what  more  it  can  do.  That  act  alone 
increased  food  costs  many  per  cent. 

3.  The  Homestead  has  already  advised 
each  representative  and  senator  that  the 
most  outstanding  thing  they  can  do  during 
the  remaining  days  of  the  session  in  behalf 
of  more  food  is  to  rescind  the  daylight- 
saving  law. 

4.  If  the  Legislature  cares  to  go  still 
further,  then  enact  enforceable  legislation 
for  an  honest  day's  work  at  an  honest  day's 
pay — sincere  efforts  at  production  such  as  is 
found  upon  our  farms  today.  More  old- 
fashioned  work  with  less  extravagance  and 
radicalism  is  sadly  needed.  Lower  prices  of 
food  cannot  come  until  labor  returns  to  its 
senses  and  substitutes  elbow  grease  for  hot 
air  and  loafing  on  the  job. 

A   plea   for  specific   action. 

LAWS  AGAINST  JAY-WALKING 

Louisville    Courier-Journal 

^A  proposed  ordinance  against  what  is 
colloquially  called  "jay-walking"  should  be 
opposed  as  a  step  to  reduce  legislation  to 
idiocy.  That  laws  should  be  suggested  on 
the  subject  of  the  methods  of  walking  by 
human  beings  points  the  length  to  which 
busybody  types  of  minds  reach  in  their 
desire  to  regulate  something.  Both  nature 
and  law  are  expected  to  leave  some  modicum 
of  responsibility  to  the  individual.  Neither 
nature  nor  law  contemplates  coddling  a  per- 
son throughout  life,  tying  his  hands  because 
he  might  meet  with  accident,  gagging  him 
because  he  might  slander  someone,  muzzling 
him  because  he  might  bite,  strapping  his 
legs  for  fear  he  might  kick  a  neighbor.  It 
is  not  for  the  law  to  fine  a  citizen  for  cross- 
ing a  street  where  somebody  else  might  not 


like  him  to  do  it,  but  it  is  for  the  citizen 
himself  to  exercise  prudence  and  give  con- 
sideration to  his  own  safety.  We  do  not 
like  to  think  of  the  world  as  made  up  of 
adult  babies  who  must  be  surrounded  with 
caretakers,  nurses,  milk-bottles  and — laws 
controlling  their  most  ordinary  conduct.  An 
ordinance  against  "jay-walkng"  is  too  much! 
A  more  sensible  idea  would  be  to  make  it  a 
felony  for  anybody  to  play  Hawaiian  music 
on  his  phonograph. 

^This  is  not  Marse  Henry's  hand,  but  it  is  Marse 
Henry's  spirit.  But  the  editorial  is  as  one  voice 
crying  against  a  multitude.  That  is,  it  expresses 
a  point-of-view  so  much  in  disfavor  at  the  time  of 
printing  that  an  editorial  representing  it  reads 
strangely  out  of  tune.  Whether  or  not  the  eclipse 
of  American  belief  in  individualism,  in  restriction 
upon  the  powers  of  government,  in  the  sanctity  of 
personal,  community,  and  state  rights  against  in- 
vasion i)y  centralized  power,  and  in  pergonal  re- 
sponsibility and  education  rather  than  legislation  as 
a  means  of  directing  conduct,  will  re-establish  itself 
with  some  return-beat  of  the  pendulum,  is  a  sealed 
matter.  Possibly,  by  1930,  1940.  or  1950,  a  change 
in  tendencies  will  have  made  editorials  from  this 
viewpoint  more  common  again  and  therefore  less 
strange-seeming.  Meanwhile,  it  is  profitable  to  note, 
through  such  a  comparison,  how  nearly  general 
editorial  view  is  indicative  of  national  tendency  in 
any  period,  sometimes  sharing  even  the  excesses  of 
that   tendency. 

THE  WILDCAT'S  KITTENS 

Saturday  Evening    Post 

1.  Nature  study  in  the  high  Sierras  is  an 
absorbing  pastime,  but  home  Nature  study 
is  a  scarcely  less  fascinating  pursuit.  Right 
now  a  splendid  aid  to  it  will  be  found  in 
the  advertising  pages  of  many  newspapers 
and  in  some  of  the  illustrated  booklets  that 
are  being  mailed  to  selected  lists  of  Nature 
lovers,  and  especially  to  those  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  life  and  habits  of  the  wildcat. 

2.  From  a  careful  study  of  this  literature 
it  appears  that  the  wildcat  is  the  most 
versatile  of  our  American  fauna.  In 
fecundity  it  outguinea-pigs  the  Belgian  hare. 
As  a  source  of  profit  it  is  the  long-sought 
back-yard  bonanza.  It  has  been  cruelly 
maligned  by  those  who  claim  that  they  have 
been  clawed  and  bitten  by  it.  Our  naturalists 
portray  the  wildcat  in  these  booklets  as  of 
a  beneficent  and  affectionate  disposition, 
asking  only  a  chance  to  enrich  small  in- 
vestors by  increasing  and  multiplying  in 
their  interests. 

3.  In  these  traits  it  is  twin  sister  to  many 
if  not  most  of  the  oil,  mining  and  other 
philanthropic  promotions  that  are  being  ad- 
vertised so  lavishly.  Never  was  there  a  time 
when  so  many  noble  and  unselfish  men  were 
seeking  to  share  their  sure  things  with  the 
public. 

An    attack    upon    investment-faking. 
infl-2.     Ironical     condemnation     of     worthless     stocks 
and    gullible    investors    under    burlesque    pun-designa- 
tions such  as  wildcat,  nature  lover,  etc.  1|3.      Di- 
rect ironical  application  of  the  argument. 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


95 


CAUGHT  WITH  THE  GOODS 

Textile  World-Journal 

1.  From  time  to  time,  the  press  contains 
statements  made  by  members  of  price  com- 
missions and  other  officials,  tending  to  ex- 
onerate the  retailers  from  the  charge  of 
profiteering  and  throwing  the  blame  largely 
upon  the  manufacturer  and  middleman.  A 
recent  experience  of  a  Philadelphia  knit- 
goods  manufacturer  shows  the  retailer  in 
this  case  to  be  the  profiteer. 

2.  The  wife  of  this  manufacturer  had 
bought  a  certain  textile  notion  at  a  leading 
store  in  that  city  for  which  she  paid  $2.25 
each.  The  manufacturer  noted  these  and 
when  he  heard  the  price,  he  knew  the  price 
was  too  high,  and  said  he  would  see  what 
he  could  do.  He  had  an  acquaintance  who 
was  a  jobber,  handling  such  products,  so  he 
approached  him  with  the  article  and  was 
offered  the  same  article  at  57  ^c  each  in 
a  half-gross  lot. 

3.  He  immediately  called  at  the  store, 
returned  the  article  in  question  and  secured 
a  credit  slip  for  the  $2.25.  He  next  called 
upon  the  buyer  in  the  store,  and  stated  he 
would  like  to  sell  some  of  these  goods,  and 
asked  57  ^c  for  the  article.  The  buyer  said 
he  could  not  pay  that  price;  that  they  could 
not  get  more  than  65  or  70c  for  the  article. 
He  was  shown  the  credit  slip  and  imme- 
diately ran  to  cover,  pleading  they  had  to 
make  41 V2  per  cent  before  they  gained  any- 
thing in  the  way  of  profit. 

4.  Such  a  case  is  not  new  to  many  textile 
manufacturers;  they  have  had  such  expe- 
riences before,  but  it  has  always  been  the 
favorite  game  to  put  the  burden  of  blame 
upon  the  manufacturer,  so  that  he  found  he 
gained  little  by  protesting.  The  above  case 
was  too  flagrant,  however,  to  be  overlooked. 

An  attack  by  way  of  a  specific  incident  intro- 
duced as  proof,  and  given  generalized  significance  by 
the  comment  appended  in  ^4.  Note  the  propositional 
(3-stage)  structure:  proposition,  ^1;  proof,  11^2-3; 
conclusion,   TI4. 

FEEDLOT  LOSSES 

Breeder's    Gazette 

1.  We  wonder  how  long  the  laborites 
think  they  can  play  with  the  fire  in  this 
country.  Switchmen  have  put  the  finishing 
touches  upon  the  just  resentment  of  farmers 
and  feeders  against  the  industrial  worker 
demanding  a  full  dinner-pail  produced  at  a 
loss  while  he  goes  his  easy  way  on  short 
hours  and  the  fattest  pay  envelope  he  ever 
saw  or  ever  will  see  in  our  time.  The  losses 
made  by  meat-producers  since  the  peak  of 
war-prices  was  passed  can  only  be  computed 
in  the  millions.  The  disaster  that  has  over- 
taken cattle-growers  in  the  northwest  is 
little   less   than   a   calamity.     All   through 


the  cornbelt  men  have  fed  costly  feedstuffs 
to  their  animals  only,  for  the  most  part,  to 
meet  falling  and  unremunerative  markets. 
Still  the  cry  goes  up  from  the  highly-paid 
industrial  worker  for  more  and  cheaper 
food.  He  is  not  going  to  get  it.  On  the 
contrary,  unless  all  signs  fail,  he  will  be 
paying  dearly  for  farm  products  even  after 
his  own  excessive  wages  have  been  trimmed, 
as  they  will  be  sooner  or  later  when  the 
readjustment  now  started  proceeds  to  its 
logical  conclusion.  Between  the  farm-labor 
famine  and  the  unprofitable  prices  of  finished 
products  the  feeder  is  wrestling  with  a  real 
problem,  and  he  is  taking  the  position  that 
he  will  have  a  living  wage  for  his  work  and 
a  margin  of  profit  for  his  grain  or  he  will 
do  a  little  striking  on  his  own  account.  And 
you  can't  starve  him  out.  Let  the  city 
remember  that  one  big  point  in  the  game. 

An  agricultural  judgment,  tinged  with  resentment, 
concerning  the  wage  and  labor  contest. 

MR.  WILSON  "WAITING  AT  THE 
CHURCH" 

Omaha   Bee 

1.  "Everything  which  America  fought 
for,"  said  the  president  in  his  proclama- 
tion announcing  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  the  signing  of  the 
armistice,  "has  been  accomplished."  In 
his  message  to  congress  at  the  same 
time  he  said,  "The  war  thus  comes  to 
an  end."  Again,  in  the  same  official 
document,  "We  know  only  that  this 
tragical  war  .  .  .  is  at  an  end." 
Again,  "We  knew  too  that  the  object  of 
the  war  is  attained." — New  York  Sun  • 
and  Herald. 

2.  Yes,  yes.  Just  so.  Exactly  true.  Un- 
deniably correct.  The  war  ended.  Every- 
thing America  fought  for  was  accomplished. 
The  object  of  the  war  was  attained.  Mr. 
Wilson  had  it  right. 

3.  But  what  of  it?  Man,  be  reasonable! 
Wilson  needed  war  in  his  political  business. 
So  he  revived  it.  All  by  himself.  In  order 
to  end  it  His  Way.  But  the  senate  acted 
the  mule.  And  there  is  no  peace.  Only  a 
rattled  treaty.  And  a  rejected  covenant. 
War  still  howls.  And  W.  W.  tents  on  the 
old  camp  ground.  And  tut-tuts.  Waiting 
for  the  war  to  cease — His  Way. 

An  attack  on  a  man  and  his  consistency.  Note 
the  brevity  force,   and  ironical   sarcasm. 

ON  STRIKE  BACK  AT  THE  FARM 

Sun  and   New  York  Herald 

1.  The  American  farmer  is  sick  and  tired 
of  the  enormous  tribe  which  reports  for 
only  a  few  hours  a  day  on  the  job  and  which 
does  mighty  little  work  during  those  hours. 
The  American  farmer  is  mad  clean  through 


96 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


over  the  fact  that  he  puts  in  twelve  and 
fourteen  hours  when  organized  skilled  labor 
the  country  over  puts  in  from  40  to  50  per 
cent  less  time  and  about  80  per  cent  fewer 
licks.  He  has  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
will  not  work  himself  to  a  standstill  to  feed 
and  clothe  millions  of  wage  earners  who 
spend  a  good  portion  of  their  time  striking 
for  higher  pay,  and  then  when  they  get  it 
will  not  earn  it. 

2.  With  their  own  arms  the  farmer  and 
his  family  can  raise  more  than  enough  food 
products  to  nourish  themselves.  With  the 
prices  which  would  follow  a  diminished  sup- 
ply of  food  they  can  get  enough  cash  to  buy 
what  other  necessaries  they  require.  They 
can  even  put  by  some  savings.  So,  by  the 
tens  of  thousands,  the  American  farmers  are 
demanding  of  organized  labor  a  showdown 
as  to  whether  they  are  going  to  do  all  the 
work  or  whether  everybody  else  is  going  to 
do  his  share  of  the  work. 

3.  If  the  organized  non-workers  of  this 
country  expect  to  go  on  living  on  the  fat  of 
the  land  they  will  have  to  meet  the  American 
farmer  on  his  proposal  that  the  high  pro- 
duction record  shall  not  be  scored  only  back 
at  the  farm. 

"Lambasting"  labor  over  the  farmer's  shoulder. 
Interpretation  and  exposition  effectively  turned  to 
argumentative    purposes. 

WHY  HIS  SPECTACLES  WERE  TAXED 

New   York    Sun-Herald 

1.  A  person  unacquainted  with  the  sur- 
prises of  the  revenue  act  of  1918  writes  to 
this  paper  as  follows: 

To  the  Sun  and  New  York  Herald: 

"  As  my  eyes  were  failing  I  bought  a  pair 

of  spectacles  for  $15.  The  optician  made 

me  pay  75  cents  war  tax.    Why  should 

I  be  taxed  for  being  unfortunate? 

New  York,  March  30.  X.Y.Z. 

2.  If  our  correspondent  will  look  at  his 
glasses  he  will  undoubtedly  find  that  the 
frame  contains  some  silver  or  gold  or  the 
plate  of  either  metal.  The  presence  of  this 
takes  him  out  of  the  unfortunate  class,  ac- 
cording to  the  great  Democrats  who  wrote 
the  tax  law,  and  puts  him  into  the  luxurious 
class. 

3.  As  Claude  Kitchin  drew  the  luxury  tax 
law  and  as  it  is  still  on  the  books,  a  tax 
of  5  per  cent  is  levied  on  the  sale  price  of 
"articles  made  of,  or  ornamented,  mounted 
or  fitted  with,  precious  metals  or  imitations 
thereof."  It  was  the  theory  of  the  deepest 
thinker  in  Scotland  Neck  that  anybody  who 
had  enough  sense  to  use  gold  next  to  his 
skin  instead  of  iron  or  copper  must  have 
enough  money  to  be  taxable. 

4.  If  a  man  should  buy  a  wooden  leg  with 
a  silver  plated  hoop  around  it  he  would  be 


obliged,  thanks  to  Kitchin,  to  pay  a  5  per 
cent  tax  on  the  purchase  price. 

5.  The  Democratic  party  had  to  have 
money  with  which  to  pay  the  salaries  of 
thousands  of  Southern  officeholders,  and  it 
took  it  where  it  could  find  it.  Neither  the 
spectacles  of  the  aged  nor  the  teething  rings 
of  infants  were  left  untaxed. 

Two  birds  pelted  with  one  stone — the  tax-law  and 
the  party  said  to  be  responsible  for  it.  Hundreds 
of  political  editorials  are  written  to  take  tactical 
advantage  of  "openings"  afforded  by  facts  or  inci- 
dents that,  in  themselves,  are  of  minor  interest, 
but  that  are  representative  of  larger  aspects  of 
some   issue. 

A  SOLEMN  PROTEST 

The   Living    Church 

1.  We  are  writing  on  the  eve  of  the  first 
of  the  great  national  party  conventions. 
After  candidates  shall  have  been  nominated, 
and  the  customary  partisan  contest  has 
begun.  The  Living  Church  must  probably  re- 
main silent,  lest  it  be  accused  of  taking  sides 
in  party  politics.  Some  of  the  principal  can- 
didates stand  frankly  and  unblushingly  for 
a  policy  of  national  selfishness  and  the 
repudiaton  of  much  that  had  seemed  dear  to 
us  two  years  ago.  Neither  is  it  at  all  clear 
that  these  misinterpret  what  the  majority 
of  the  people  will  vote  that  they  want,  for 
the  faculty  of  drifting  with  the  tide  takes 
the  place  of  the  conscience  in  the  anatomy  of 
the  ordinary  politician. 

2.  But  today,  before  a  platform  has  been 
published  or  a  candidate  has  been  nominated, 
we  make  our  solemn  protest  as  Americans 
and  as  Christians,  before  God  and  the  na- 
tion, against  the  popular  policy  of  national 
selfishness  which  appears  to  be  in  the 
ascendant;  against  the  formal  desertion  of 
our  allies;  against  the  attempts  to  make  a 
separate  peace  without  honor;  against  the 
refusal  to  participate  in  the  League  of  Na- 
tions; against  the  refusal  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  reconstruction  of  Europe; 
against  the  refusal  to  act  as  first  friend  to 
the  Armenians  (though  without  maintaining 
that  we  are  bound  to  accept  the  mandate  in 
precisely  the  form  in  which  it  is  tendered); 
against  the  tendency  to  glorify  the  Irish 
allies  of  Germany;  against  the  attitude  of 
unfriendliness  toward  Great  Britain;  against 
the  callousness  toward  suffering  and  disease 
and  the  refusal  to  take  active  measures  to 
end  these  before  we  ourselves  are  engulfed 
in  them. 

3.  No  platform  that  shall  condone  this 
national  apostasy  from  the  American  ideals 
of  two  years  ago  will  be  worthy  of  the  sup- 
port of  any  Christian  American.  No  pre- 
vious affiliation  with  any  political  party  will 
excuse  anyone  from  supporting  a  party  that 
indorses  such  a  position. 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


97. 


4.  We  call  upon  Christian  men,  in  this 
risis  of  the  American  nation,  to  place  their 

hristian  principles  above  any  considera- 
ions  of  political  partisanship. 

An  editorial  calculated  to  direct  the  opinion  of 
readers  and  affect  their  attitude  upon  political  is- 
sues at  a  subsequent  time.  Compare  the  note  ac- 
companying the  editorial   An  American  Policy. 

A  VERDICT  ON  TWO  WILSONS 

Concord  Monitor 

1.  Henry  Lane  Wilson,  ambassador  to 
Mexico,  whom  the  present  administration 
found  in  office  and  removed,  has  been  fully 
vindicated  by  events  if  ever  a  man  was. 
The  story  he  has  been  telling  to  a  Senate 
committee  can  evoke  nothing  but  disgust  at 
the  picayunish  Mexican  policy  of  Woodrow 
Wilson.  If  ever  a  man's  judgment  was  dis- 
credited by  events,  the  judgment  of  Wood- 
row  Wilson  in  Mexican  matters  has  been 
discredited. 

2.  Yet  the  more  Henry  Lane  Wilson  is 
vindicated  and  Woodrow  Wilson  is  shown 
to  be  wrong,  the  more  bitterly  Democratic 
newspapers  declaim  against  Henry  Lane 
Wilson,  even  when  they  cannot  offer  one 
word  in  justification  of  the  President.  It  is 
such  partisanship  that  makes  successful  rule 
by  the  Democratic  party  impossible. 

3.  The  Democratic  administration's  Mex- 
ican policy,  from  "saluting  the  flag"  to 
"catching  Villa"  and  baiting  Carranza  has 
been  one  to  cause  no  American  to  feel  more 
proud  that  he  is  an  American.  For  seven 
years  it  has  been  a  policy  of  vacillation  and 
indecision  and  for  seven  years  the  problem 
has  become  more  vexing  and  troublesome. 
The  delay  and  lack  of  a  course  to  steer  to 
has  only  aggravated  an  aggravating  situation 
and  made  it  more  difficult  of  settlement  when 
the  inevitable  settlement  comes. 

4.  And  events  are  not  lacking  to  show 
that  the  day  of  reckoning  with  Mexico  may 
be  nearer  than  many  of  us  think.  If  the 
country  below  the  Rio  Grande  is  again 
gripped  by  complete  anarchy,  can  we  con- 
tinue to  ignore  the  inevitable  recurring  in- 
sults to  Americans,  with  loss  of  life  and 
confiscation  of  property? 

Accusatory   political    criticism. 

AN  AMERICAN  POLICY 

The  World's   Business 

1.  The  parties  are  in  a  campaign  that 
calls  for  definite  pledges  and  prompt  per- 
formances after  election.  The  country  needs 
to  be  put  back  on  the  highway.  It  is  wan- 
dering far  afield,  and  in  some  respects  is  lost 
in  a  wilderness  of  strange  "isms."  The  best 
corrective  for  all  of  the  socialistic,  com- 
munistic and  Bolshevic  ideas  that  are 
offered  is  adherence  to  the  Constitution  of 


the  United  States.  A  platform  that  re- 
affirmed our  charter  of  liberty  would  be  all 
that  we  need.  There  is  not  one  man  in  a 
thousand  who  is  an  enemy  of  the  country  at 
heart,  but  the  trouble  lies  in  the  wild  propa- 
ganda that  is  permitted  to  go  unchallenged 
and  which  offers  everything  to  the  worker 
for  nothing. 

2.  The  opportunity  is  offered  this  fall  for 
men  and  women  to  vote  in  their  own  in- 
terests, and  at  the  same  time  act  for  the 
benefit  of  all  other  law-abiding  people.  This 
can  be  done  by  voting  for  an  American 
policy.  Such  a  policy  is  certain  to  be  adopt- 
ed by  the  Republican  party.  It  has  all  the 
material  at  hand. 

3.  As  a  nation  we  want  to  maintain  our 
supremacy,  and  to  do  so  we  must  continue 
the  principles  of  free  government.  We 
must  adhere  to  the  right  of  individual  free- 
dom, curbed  only  by  constitutional  regula- 
tion. The  ideas  of  "mass"  control,  of  "pro- 
letariat" domination,  of  "nationalization"  of 
industries,  are  foreign  to  our  country  and 
institutions.  We  want  straight  American 
candidates  on  a  sound  platform.  The  people 
will  support  such  men,  and  we  shall  have  a 
new  era  of  peace,  prosperity  and  progress. 

An  appeal  for  a  return  to  the  first  principles  in 
Americanism — with    a    party    application. 

All  parties  employ  arguments  so  shaped  up.  It 
is  permissible  to  inquire,  however,  at  what  point  the 
fundamental  patriotic  appeal  begins  to  lose  its  ef- 
fect by  being  thus  worked  into  a  partisan  appeaL 
Obviously  the  argument  pro  patria  is  legitimate  in 
itself;  but  if  too  frequently  employed,  or  if  em- 
ployed merely  for  party  purposes,  it  loses  its  dig- 
nity and  its  effect.  Partisan  prostitution  of  pa« 
triotic  ideals  is  not  to  be  encouraged — though  ex- 
actly where  it  begins  in  political  arguments  is  some- 
times   hard    to   determine. 

ROBBERS  OF  SPRING  BLOSSOMS 

Concord  Monitor 

1.  Why  is  it  that  just  at  the  time  of  year 
when  God  sets  things  to  growing,  mankind 
is  peculiarly  possessed  to  destroy? 

2.  This  is  blossom  time.  In  northern  com- 
munities the  dogwood  and  shadblow  whiten 
the  hillside  woods,  cherry  and  peach  and 
plum  bloom  in  yard  and  orchard,  apple  is  on 
the  way  and  every  section  of  this  great, 
beautiful  country  has  its  own  vernal  gifts. 

3.  What  a  blessing  it  would  be  if  for  this 
one  year  people  might  be  content  to  enjoy 
all  this  beauty  where  it  belongs,  instead  of 
ruthlessly  breaking  boughs,  tearing  off 
branches  and  destroying  whole  shrubs  and 
trees  for  the  temporary  pleasure  of  having 
a  few  flowers  in  the  house! 

4.  No  tree  or  shrub  ever  quite  recovers 
from  this  harsh  treatment.  It  may  go  on 
growing  heroically,  a  wounded  soldier  re- 
turning to  his  task,  but  shapeliness  and 
symmetry  are  gone  and  vitality  lessened, 
and  long  before  its  normal  time  it  will  die. 


98 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


5.  The  destruction  of  woodland  inhab- 
itants which  should  have  lived  for  years  to 
bless  the  eyes  of  every  forest  wanderer  is 
bad  enough,  but  robbing  the  fruit  trees  of 
their  blossoms  does  double  damage.  Not 
only  is  the  parent  tree  injured,  but  every 
blossom  destroyed  means  so  much  less  fruit 
when  ripening  season  comes. 

6.  He  who  can  see  the  blossom  on  the 
bough,  and,  loving  it,  leave  it  there,  remem- 
bering the  long  patience  which  made  it  grow, 
and  its  promise  if  undestroyed,  content  with 
the  memory  of  beauty  in  his  heart,  will 
take  home  a  far  lovelier  thing  froln  his 
rambles  than  any  bloom  could  ever  be  when 
torn  from  its  surroundings  and  fading  in 
the  hand. 

An  editorial  of  "purpose"  and  persuasion,  not  of 
dispute,  convincing  less  by  outright  argument  than 
by  an  appeal  to  good  impulses  and  the  love  of  na- 
ture. 

HOW  DO  YOU  LIKE  IT? 

New   York   Evening  World 

1.  Wayne  B.  Wheeler,  general  counsel  for 
the  Anti-Saloon  League,  dropped  his  moral 
work  for  a  moment  to  issue  the  following 
statement,  which  the  American  public  will 
read  with  mingled  resentment  and  amaze: 

When  the  Governors  of  two  great 
States  like  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
invoke  the  ancient  and  descr edited  doc- 
trine of  personal  liberty  and  State's 
rights  (the  boldface  is  ours)  to  protect 
the  outlawed  liquor  traffic,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  work  of  Americanization 
and  the  appeal  to  patriotism  must  ex- 
tend beyond  the  ranks  of  aliens  within 
our  borders. 

Personal  liberty  was  never  guaran- 
teed to  the  citizens  of  any  civilized 
Government.  Civil  liberty  is  guaran- 
teed. The  State  rights  doctrine  was 
settled  once  for  all  during  the  Civil  War. 

2.  The  Evening  World  has  contended 
in  season  and  out  that  the  feature  of  the 
Prohibition  Amendment  most  repugnant  to 
American  democracy  is  its  assault  on  the 
personal  liberty  of  the  citizen. 

3.  Mr.  Wheeler  admits  that  such  was  the 
design  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League. 

4.  Personal  liberty  is  not  to  be  recognized 
as  the  right  of  the  American  under  the  Con- 
stitution. 

5.  Mr.  Wheeler  has  made  the  issue  plain: 

6.  The  Anti-Saloon  League  is  to  be  the 
sole  arbiter  of  the  degree  to  which  personal 
liberty  in  the  United  States  shall  be  enjoyed. 

7.  As  a  citizen  of  "free  America,"  how 
do  you  like  it  ? 

The  two  Worlds,  morning  and  evening,  are  hard 
hitters  in  the  editorial  ring.  Their  footwork  is  un- 
surpassed;   they   dance   all  round    an    opponent,   and 


until  the  punch  lands,  he  hasn't  any  idea  where 
they  intend  to  strike.  They  like  quick,  sharp  fight- 
ing, hopping  in  and  out,  and  seldom  permitting  a 
clinch ;  and  their  eye  is  unerring  in  picking  the 
spot  for  a  blow.  Logic,  conviction,  and  often  in- 
dignation, as  in  this  specimen,  make  them  "scrap- 
pers" to  be  both  respected  and  feared.  But  though 
they  are  ready  to  come  back  any  number  of  times 
for  another  go,  their  bouts  are  essentially  one-round 
affairs.  Perhaps  this  is  owing  largely  to  the  theory 
inherited  from  Joseph  Pulitzer,  that  no  man  knows 
more  than  500  words'  worth  about  any  subject  at 
one  time ;  or,  put  in  another  way,  that  with  proper 
condensation,  all  there  is  to  say  about  a  proposition 
can  be  said  in  500  words.  How  this  editorial  takes 
advantage  of  an  opening  to  go  through  with  a  body 
blow,    is    characteristic. 

THE  TRUFFLERS 

Ck)llier's  Weekly 

1.  A  society  with  a  long  name  and  some 
agents  with  long  ears  would  suppress  James 
Branch  Cabell's  fantastical  romance,  "Jur- 
gen."  Some  weeks  ago  the  publishers  of 
a  book  called  "Madeleine"  were  prosecuted 
on  a  like  charge.  "Madeleine"  may  fail  in 
announced  purpose  to  promote  morality  by 
unflinching  revelation  of  a  certain  lady's 
life,  or  it  may  be  unworthy  serious  consid- 
eration as  a  work  of  art;  the  case  of 
"Jurgen"  is  different,  though  to  agents  bent 
on  suppression  it  seems  the  same.  Here  is 
a  work  of  brilliant  fancy,  the  writing  of  a 
man  indisputably  a  master  of  prose.  We 
have  yet  to  hear  of  a  person  of  good  taste 
who  finds  in  Mr.  Cabell's  work  anything 
vulgar  or  mean.  But,  as  Mr.  Oliver  Herford 
once  remarked  with  similar  cases  in  view, 
"To  the  pure  all  is  impure." 

2.  Societies  employing  trufflers  to  harry 
the  honest  writer,  sculptor,  or  painter  with 
charges  that,  however  ridiculous,  damage 
him  in  the  estimation  of  a  people  too  hurried 
to  follow  a  case  to  the  end,  should  be  made 
both  civilly  and  criminally  responsible 
through  their  officers.  Otherwise  our  art 
must  for  safety's  sake  wear  pantalets. 

An  attack  on  self-instituted  censors  of  art  and  lit- 
erature. A  number  of  organizations  have  been 
able  to  procure  grants  of  authority  giving  them  pow- 
ers such  as  many  citizens  believe  can  with  safety 
be  exercised  by  public  officers  only,  and  ought  never 
to  be  permitted  to  private  persons.  To  appreciate 
fully  the  strength  of  the  editorial,  one  should  know 
that  the   great  "trufflers"   among  animals  are  swine. 

KEEP  OUT  THE  BOLSHEVISTS 

Providence  Journal 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  has 
voted,  practically  unanimously,  in  favor  of 
continuing  our  war  passport  restrictions  an- 
other year.  These  restrictions  were  abso- 
lutely necessary,  of  course,  in  war  time,  but 
they  are  scarcely  less  needed  now,  when  the 
hare-brained  theorists  of  eastern  Europe  are 
anxious  to  overrun  us  and  would,  if  they 
could,  incite  our  inflammatory  elements  to 
revolution. 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


99 


2.  It  is  said  that  at  every  European  port 
Jolsheviki  agents  are  gathering,  waiting  the 
*resident's  proclamation  of  peace  in  order 
0  invade  our  borders.  We  must  disappoint 
hem  by  keeping  the  bars  up  against  them. 
Ve  have  no  use  for  such  mischief-makers  on 
his  side  of  the  ocean.  They  have  helped  to 
ay  Russia  prostrate,  they  have  stirred  up 
mrestful  people  throughout  Europe,  and 
hey  wish  to  inject  their  virus  into  the  entire 
American  political  system. 

3.  The  extension  of  our  passport  restric- 
ions  is  intended  to  cover  the  period  preced- 
ng  a  readjustment  of  our  immigration  legis- 
ation.  This  legislation,  it  is  expected,  will 
)rovide  adequate  protection  for  the  country 
:rom  the  threat  of  Bolshevist  invasion,  but 
n  the  meantime  it  is  imperative  that  no  op- 
)ortunity  should  be  givien  the  trouble- 
breeders  to  come  in.  Representative 
Rogers  of  Massachusetts,  acting  chairman  of 
the  Foreign  Affairs  Committee,  says  the 
continuation  of  war-time  passports  is  aimed 
at  the  "dangerous  propagandist  class  of 
aliens."  "The  real  purpose  of  the  bill,"  adds 
Representative  Flood,  "is  to  keep  out  dan- 
gerous aliens  who  could  do  great  harm  to 
our  institutions." 

4.  There  are  already  too  many  Bolshe- 
vists of  one  or  another  sort  in  the  United 
States.  Why  is  it  that  more  of  them  are  not 
deported?  On  this  point  the  New  York 
Times  says: 

It  must  be  remembered  that  aliens 
who  have  been  convicted  of  offenses 
against  the  Government,  also  many  sus- 
pects who  have  been  proved  "undesira- 
ble," have  not  been  deported  as  the  law 
requires.  This  scandalous  indolence  of 
justice  is  well  known  in  Europe,  and  it 
is  a  reason  why  the  European  Bol- 
sheviki  regard  America  as  the  land  of 
opportunity  for  them,  the  soil  in  which 
to  sow  their  poisonous  seed. 

5.  Let  us  have  done  with  leniency  toward 
the  dastardly  plotters  who  wish  to  Rus- 
sianize America.  There  is,  or  ought  to  be, 
no  room  for  them  in  a  republic  whose  basic 
principle  is  wholly  hostile  to  the  abom- 
inable class  tyranny  which  the  Bolsheviki 
advocate. 

tl.  Announcement  of  proposition. 112.  State- 
ment of   basic   facts    involved   by   the   situation.   

^3.  Justification  of  means  adopted  for  temporary 
control.  K114-5.  Statement  of  situation  in  Amer- 
ica,  and    appeal    for   decisive    final   action. 

DODGING  THE  ISSUE 

Breeder's  Gazette 

1.  It  seems  impossible  to  make  our  posi- 
tion on  the  family  nomenclature  matter  as 
relates  to  pedigree  cattle  breeding  clear. 
Either  our  powers  of  expression  are  alto- 


gether inadequate  or  the  comprehension  of 
some  of  our  critics  is  of  the  lowest  order 
known  to  mammals.  One  of  the  latest  of 
those  trotted  out  as  high  scientific  authority 
on  this  subject  opens  a  reference  to  the  mat- 
ter with  the  following: 

During  the  last  few  months  certain 
writers  on  livestock-breeding  topics 
have  seen  fit  to  question  the  value  of 
paying  attention  to  the  female  line  of 
descent  in  the  pedigree,  on  the  ground 
that  this  line  is  immaterial  if  the  other 
bloodlines  of  the  animal  are  good. 
2.  It  scarcely  seems  necessary  to  say 
that  so  far  as  we  have  followed  this  con- 
troversy no  one  has  proposed  that  no  atten- 
tion be  paid  to  the  female  line  of  descent. 
No  one,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  said  that 
any  one  line  of  descent  is  "immaterial." 
There  has  been  a  lot  said,  however,  about 
the  folly  of  singling  out  any  one  female 
ancestress  alone,  and  playing  her,  or  rather 
her  name,  up  as  the  one  great  paramount 
basis  of  present-day  sale-ring  valuation  to 
the  exclusion  of  other  pedigree  elements  of 
at  least  equal  importance.  It  is  against 
this  exaggeration  of  the  relative  importance 
of  some  remote  female  ancestress  that  The 
Gazette  has  protested,  and  will  continue  to 
protest.  The  Gazette  welcomes  criticism 
and  discussion  upon  this  point  from  any  and 
all  sources.  With  those  who  set  up  men  of 
straw  of  their  own  creation  and  with  flourish 
of  trumpets  proceed  to  demolish  the  poor 
creations  of  their  own  imagination  we  can 
have  no  argument.  They  are  just  amusing 
themselves;  albeit  they  may  fancy  while  so 
engaged  that  they  are  performing  a  great 
service  to  the  public.  Of  course  they  know 
better,  but  that  makes  little  difference  if 
personal  glory,  cheaply  bought,  may  be 
achieved  by  such  methods. 

The  Gazette's  editorial  was  printed  in  a  running 
— and  free-for-all — controversy.  This  particular  con- 
tribution is  partly  an  attempt  to  keep  the  questions 
at  issue  clear — something  quite  necessary  in  debate. 
Its  logical  detachment,  however,  is  perhaps  obscured 
a  bit   by  the  obviously   disputatious   tone. 

THE  VOICES  GROW  FAINT 

Hartford    Courant 

1.  The  Democrats  of  Maine  named  dele- 
gates to  the  coming  convention  in  San 
Francisco  on  Tuesday,  and,  judging  by  the 
accounts  of  the  meeting  in  Bangor,  a  "good 
time  was  had  by  all."  Antoinette  Funk, 
who  sent  circulars  to  all  of  us  during  the 
war,  was  the  chief  speaker,  after  the  chair- 
man of  the  convention,  L.  J.  Brann,  became 
exhausted  upon  having  termed  Governor 
Milliken  an  autocrat,  and  she  alluded  to 
President  Wilson  as  a  "leader  of  leaders." 
With  that  beginning  it  was  easy  for  the  con- 


100 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


vention  to  express  admiration  for  President 
Wilson  and  "indorse  his  work  for  the  party, 
the  country  and  the  world."  The  things  he 
has  done  not  for  but  to  his  party  may  be 
expressed  as  plenty. 

2.  But  it  strikes  us  that  the  voices  of 
humanity  are  growing  faint,  for  the  Maine 
Democrats  in  1914  said  this: 

We  rejoice  in  the  glorious  achieve- 
ments of  our  great  national  party  in 
the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
nation;  and  to  that  pure  patriot,  wise 
statesman  and  honest  and  fearless  ex- 
ecutive, Woodrow  Wilson,  and  those 
associated  with  him  in  their  accom- 
plishment, we  extend  our  sincere  con- 
gratulations and  express  our  fullest 
satisfaction. 

3.  In  those  days  the  voices  of  humanity 
were  not  husky  and  even  here  in  New 
England,  a  section  of  the  country  which 
President  Wilson  had  ignored  pretty  thor- 
oughly, we  find  the  Maine  Democrats  ex- 
pressing themselves  with  enthusiasm.  Even 
Massachusetts  found  its  followers  of  Jeffer- 
son and  others  saying  this: 

We  indorse  the  administration  of 
Woodrow  Wilson  in  its  entirety,  and 
ask  every  voter  to  think  twice  before 
voting  to  rebuke  a  President  who  has 
saved  his  country  from  all  the  horrors 
of  war. 

4.  Even  the  brethren  in  this  State  re- 
affirmed their  "allegiance  to  the  time- 
honored  principles  of  Democracy"  and  in- 
dorsed "the  Democratic  administration  of 
national  affairs  under  the  able  leadership  of 
Woodrow  Wilson."  Where  now,  at  the  end 
of  six  years,  are  the  time-honored  principles 
and  the  able  leadership? 

5.  The  Rhode  Island  Democrats  spoke  of 
the  President  as  "patient,"  which  he  is 
now  in  one  sense  of  the  word  only,  and 
New  Hampshire  indorsed  his  administra- 
tion "in  the  highest  and  most  unqualified 
terms."  In  view  of  these  commendations  it 
must  appear  that  the  Democrats  of  Maine 
have  been  ultra  conservative  in  their  ut- 
terances this  spring  and  the  country  will 
await  the  eulogies  of  other  gatherings  with 
some  curiosity. 

6.  The  glorious  achievements  and  the 
allegiance  to  time-honored  principles  are 
now  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre,  and  the 
makers  of  platforms  have  a  task  before 
them  which  is  not  exactly  easy  since  the 
aids  to  eloquence  which  were  available  in 
1914  will  not  be  in  the  midst  of  the  platform- 
makers  this  year.  The  voices  of  humanity, 
as  we  have  already  said,  are  growing  faint. 

Clearly  expressing  disagreement  and  disapproval, 
this  editorial  nevertheless  escapes  the  disputatioxis 
tone  by  reason  of   its  satirically  tolerant  irony. 


ALTERNATE  JOHNSON 

New  York  Times 

1.  Senator  Johnson  was  elected  one  of 
the  alternate  delegates  to  the  Chicago  con- 
vention, "obviously,"  says  Mr.  De  Young's 
San  Francisco  Chronicle,  "with  a  view  of 
making  a  vacancy  for  him  in  the  regular 
body  when  the  question  of  the  proposed 
alliance  is  before  the  convention,  as,  ap- 
parently, it  will  be."  The  "alliance"  is,  of 
course,  the  Covenant  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions, to  whose  "iniquities"  "no  other  public 
man  has  given  such  study."  By  a  rather 
unfortunate  reference  to  "the  florid  elo- 
quence" "of  the  young  man  Bryan"  in  the 
Democratic  National  Convention  of  1896, 
the  purpose  and  the  hope  of  the  California 
Johnsonians  in  choosing  their  hero  as  an 
alternate  are  betrayed.  He  has  to  melt 
stony  hearts  by  his  eloquence.  His  mighty 
voice  is  to  soften  and  persuade  hostile 
delegations.  The  galleries,  judiciously 
"dressed,"  will  make  majestic  reboation.  In 
a  grand  transformation  scene,  pandemonic 
in  hullabaloo,  panangelic  in  brotherly  affec- 
tion, the  foremost  anti-iniquitarian  will  be 
nominated  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

2.  Lovely  picture,  more  than  worthy  of 
the  golden  age!  We  hear  the  iron  tears 
drawn  down  Penrose's  cheek.  Even  Murray 
Crane  takes  shelter  in  a  confessing  handker- 
chief. The  rocky  heart  of  William  Barnes 
is  moved  to  the  late  remorse  of  love.  The 
groups  of  veteran  politicians  who  were 
cold  and  deaf  to  so  many  miles  of  appealing 
words  in  1912  and  1916  are  won  at  last. 
Yet  why  should  Senator  Johnson's  physical 
presence  and  far-heard  voice  be  necessary 
to  get  him  the  prize?  He  deserves  it  for 
more  solid  reasons.  He  represents  openly 
the  steady  hostility,  shown  more  insidiously 
by  the  leader  of  the  Republican  Party  in 
the  Senate,  to  the  League  of  Nations,  to  the 
reconstruction  of  business  confidence,  to  the 
diminution  of  armaments  and  war.  In  his 
six  years  as  Governor  the  expenditures  of 
the  State  were  increased  nearly  100  per 
cent.  As  an  economist,  a  reducer  of  taxa- 
tion, he  perfectly  represents  the  passion  for 
economy  and  tax  reform  of  this  Republican 
Congress.  With  a  so  flawlessly  Republican 
record,  why  should  he  have  to  let  loose  his 
thunder  at  Chicago? 

By  disclosing  the  motive,  or  object,  assumed  to  be 
present,  this  editorial  aims  to  lessen  the  impressive- 
ness  of  an  anticipated  incident.  Note  the  sarcastic 
undertone,  the  satirical,  though  urbane,  flings  at 
well-known  personages  of  opposed  political  faith,  and 
the  open  irony.  (Such  editorials  are  of  course 
mere  individual  shots  in  the  skiraiishes  and  battles 
of  a  political  campaign ;  though  they  have  their  own 
unity  and  object,  they  are  in  fact  just  small  single 
manifestations  of  the  larger,  governing  political 
policy  of  the  paper. 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


101 


im 


A  GOOD  BUSINESS 

Pep 

1.  A  lot  of  newspapermen  sit  around  re- 
eating  that  stale  old  epigram,  and  false, 
hich  proclaims  the  newspaper  business  a 
ood  business — to  get  out  of.     Forget  it! 

2.  It's  true  that  now  and  then  some 
iap  fitted  by  nature  to  be  a  milkman  or  a 
:reet  car  conductor  drifts  into  the  news- 
aper  business.  Of  course,  it's  a  good  bus- 
less  for  him  to  get  out  of.  And  sometimes 
ate  shoves  a  potential  banker  or  politician 
ito  a  news  room;  and,  of  course,  such  a 
lan  should  make  his  escape  speedily. 

3.  But  for  the  real  newspaperman,  the 
lan  with  an  instinct  for  news,  the  news- 
aper  business  is  the  only  logical  business 
1  the  world  for  him  to  be  in,  by  which  is 
leant  that  it's  the  only  business  that  will 
fford  him,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  a 
iving,  his  widest  opportunity  for  service, 
,nd  happiness. 

4.  You've  seen  many  a  newspaperman 
quit  the  game,"  as  per  long  expressed 
hreat,  and  you've  seen  just  about  as  many 
f  these  men  tickled  to  death  to  get  back 
nto  the  game. 

5.  The  nub  of  it  all  lies  in  this,  that  with 
he  same  breath  he  threatens  to  quit  the 
lewspaperman  bewails  the  low  salaries  news- 
)apers  pay.  He  fails  to  see  that  there  is  an 
ntimate  connection  between  the  size  of  the 
lewspaperman's  wage  and  the  estimate 
lewspapermen  place  on  their  profession. 

6.  We  know  a  certain  news  editor  who 
?ets  $85  a  week,  not  a  bad  newspaper 
salary  as  things  go.  For  the  same  amount 
)f  thought,  energy,  and  real  genius  this 
newspaperman,  were  he  a  department  head 
Df  a  big  manufacturing  concern,  would  get 
somewhere  between  $10,000  and  $15,000. 

7.  All  of  that  is  true.  But  one  of  the 
hings  that  makes  it  true.  Pep  believes,  is 
:his:  The  newspaperman's  habit  of  under- 

stimating  the  worth  of  his  calling. 

8.  If  you  have  a  dollar  you  want  changed 
and  you  tell  every  man  you  meet  that  your 
particular  dollar  is  worth  only  ninety 
cents,  that  because  it's  worth  only  ninety 
cents  you  want  to  get  out  from  under  as 
quickly  as  possible,  you  can't  very  well  ex- 
pect to  get  100  cents  in  change  for  it. 

9.  Newspapermen  have  been  doing  things 
of  that  sort.  They  have  told  themselves, 
their  fellows,  their  employers,  their  friends 
and  the  public  that  a  newspaper  job  is  a 
90  cent  affair. 

10.  Talk  of  propaganda!  Let  every 
newspaperman  in  the  country  or  half  of 
them  or  a  hundred  of  them  start  talking 
their  business  as  the  best  business  in  the 
world,    one    that    under    no    circumstances 


they  could  be  enticed  out  of,  one  that's 
going  to  command  bigger  and  bigger  sal- 
aries— let  the  newspaperman  start  talking 
that  way  and  Pep  will  bet  a  copy  of  itself 
to  a  sheet  of  blank  paper  that  in  five  years 
newspaper  salaries  will  respond  to  treat- 
ment, and  the  falsity  of  the  stale  old 
epigram  will  be  patent. 

T11I1-2.  statement  of  pTOposition  that  is  to  be  con- 
troverted ;       its      occasional      truth       conceded.     

^113-4.  The  representative  fact  shown,  opposed  to 
the   occasional, 

i[|5-6.  Indication  of  the  source  of  the  trouble;  illus- 
tration.    1117-8.     Exposition  of  and   argument  on 

15    carried    further.   119.     Express   application   of 

11117-8  to  the  disputed  proposition. 

ilO.  Conclusion,  couched  in  language  of  a  stimula- 
tive force  for  the  sake  of  conviction,  or  appeal. 

EXPLAINED  AT  LAST 

Kansas    City    Star 

1.  Responsibility  now  has  been  fully  and 
satisfactorily  fixed  for  all  the  shortcomings 
of  the  postal  service.  Mr.  Burleson,  when 
his  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
the  service  was  dragging  in  the  middle  and 
sagging  at  both  ends,  instantly  put  his 
finger  on  the  whole  trouble.  He  could  have 
done  it  before  had  he  been  notified  that 
anything  was  the  matter.  Actually,  there- 
fore, a  large  part  of  the  blame  rests  upon 
the  public  for  not  notifying  the  Postmaster 
General  sooner.  He  is  a  busy  man,  and  can- 
not be  expected  to  be  up  on  postal  affairs 
all  the  time. 

2.  But  aside  from  this  delinquency  of  the 
public  the  responsibility  for  the  postal 
breakdown,  the  secretary  explains,  must  be 
placed  upon  "the  interests."  Perhaps  there 
are  some  persons  who  do  not  know  what 
"the  interests"  are.  Well,  they  assume  va- 
rious forms  to  various  public  officials  whose 
departments  are  inefficient,  but  in  Mr.  Bur- 
leson's case  they  are  the  railroads,  which' 
were  opposed  to  the  parcels  post,  and  cer- 
tain unpatriotic  publishers  who  objected  to 
the  increased  second  class  postal  rates. 
These  "interests"  decided  that  the  way 
to  get  even  was  to  demoralize  the  Post- 
office  Department  so  they  wouldn't  get  their 
own  mail  on  time.  It  was  a  fiendish  re- 
venge, but  "the  interests"  stick  at  nothing. 

3.  With  this  hint  of  where  the  trouble 
lies  it  is  perfectly  easy  to  understand  the 
lengths  to  which  these  conspirators  were 
able  to  carry  the  persecutions  under 
which  Mr.  Burleson  has  labored.  "The  in- 
terests" missent  their  own  mail.  They  at- 
tached mail  cars  to  wrong  trains.  They 
instructed  their  debtors  to  remit  drafts  to 
fictitious  persons  so  they  would  never  come 
to  hand.  "The  interests"  can  do  these 
things  because  the  childlike  simplicity  for 
which  Mr.  Burleson  is  known  is  no  match 
for  their  political  cunning.     They  wouldn't 


102 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


dare    try    it    with    a    political    Postmaster 
General. 

4.  Mr.  Burleson's  explanation  ought  to 
end  all  criticism  of  his  department.  But 
if  it  doesn't  he  can  come  back  with  another 
which  surely  will  silence  the  most  captious. 
That  one  is  that  since  he  took  over  the 
telegraph  lines  telegrams  have  been  sent 
by  mail,  which  has  so  congested  the  latter 
service  that  neither  letters  nor  telegrams 
arrive  any  more. 

Irony  and  keen  satire  directed  against  a  public 
officer  assumed  to  be  incompetent  or  derelict  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties. 

A  CHECK  TO  MEDDLESOMENESS 

Providence  Journal 

1.  The  Federal  Trade  Commission,  no 
doubt  prompted  by  worthy  motives  in  the 
public  interests — a  Government  bureau,  of 
course,  ought  to  be  above  suspicion,  when 
it  comes  to  motives — called  upon  a  mining 
company  in  Ohio  to  furnish  it  monthly  re- 
ports of  production  costs  and  other  data.  In 
order  to  overcome  any  hesitancy  about  com- 
plying, the  commission  notified  the  concern 
that  for  every  day's  delay  a  penalty  of  one 
hundred  dollars  would  be  imposed.  The 
company,  instead  of  rendering  a  report, 
brought  what  all  parties  in  interest  politely 
agree  is  a  "friendly  suit,"  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  test 
the  commission's  authority  to  make  any 
such  order,  with  or  without  a  penalty. 

2.  The  opinion  of  the  court  is  that  the 
commission  exceeded  its  authority;  and, 
moreover,  that  Congress  could  not  grant  to 
a  Federal  bureau  "power  so  vast  and  un- 
precedented" as  is  involved  in  the  right  of 
visitation  and  inquisition  into  a  business 
carried  on  within  a  State. 

3.  The  Federal  Trade  Commission  was 
presumably  aware  of  the  suggested  limita- 
tion. But  it  reasoned  that  because  coal  is 
shipped  out  of  the  State  where  it  is  pro- 
duced everything  relating  to  the  business  is 
a  legitimate  matter  for  the  Government's 
concern,  under  the  general  authority  of 
Congress  over  interstate  commerce.  The 
court  flatly  disagrees  with  this  plausible 
reasoning. 

4.  The  friendly  suit  may  be  carried  to 
the  ultimate  tribunal.  Meanwhile  the  busi- 
ness community  will  shed  no  tears  at  the 
enforced  suspension  of  one  of  the  meddle- 
some activities  of  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission. The  railroads  have  long  been 
burdened  with  a  vast  annual  expenditure  in 
making  reports,  for  a  great  part  unneces- 
sary, demanded  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  It  is  appalling  to  think  of  the 
waste   of  money  and  effort  that  would  be 


incurred  If  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,^ 
in  its  zeal  to  justify  its  existence,  should 
undertake  to  pursue  the  same  policy  with 
respect  to  general  industry,  and  be  at  lib- 
erty to  go  as  far  as  it  pleased.  As  to  the 
production  costs  of  mining  corporations,  of 
course,  there  need  not  be,  if  there  is,  any- 
thing withheld  from  the  public  about  them 
even  if  the  trade  commission  is  held  in 
leash. 

fl.  statement  of  preliminary  facts.  112.  State- 
ment of  resulting  decision.  ^3.     R$sum^  of  tlie 

theory  upset  by  the  decision.  114.  Condemna- 
tion  of   the   theory    thus   upset. 

THE  GRAND  ARMY  OF  THE  FARMS 

Country   Gentleman 

1.  Anyone  who  has  traveled  about  agri- 
cultural America  these  past  few  years  has 
been  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the 
farms  of  this  country  are  largely  manned 
by  old  men.  If  farmers  who  have  passed 
their  fiftieth  birthdays  were  removed  from 
American  farms  there  would  not  be  left  suf- 
ficient working  force  to  grow  food  for  the 
seventy  million  or  so  who  live  in  cities.  If 
all  the  men  above  sixty  had  been  so  removed 
in  April,  1917,  part  of  Europe  at  least 
would  have  starved, 

2.  Attend  a  convention  of  farmers  in 
almost  any  section  of  the  United  States  and 
you  will  be  amazed  at  the  number  of  gray- 
beards.  Talk  to  them  and  you  will  get  a 
definite  expression  of  discouragement.  The 
boys  have  left  the  farms. 

3.  But  father  cannot  hire  help,  for  farm 
labor  is  only  a  memory.  Farmers  at  fifty 
are  but  in  their  prime,  provided  they  have 
labor  at  their  command;  farmers  at  sixty 
are,  frankly,  slipping. 

4.  It  is  doubtful  if  ever  in  our  history 
was  the  age  average  of  American  farmers 
so  high.  As  you  talk  to  these  farmers  you 
cannot  escape  the  thought  that  they  are 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Farms.  They  can- 
not live  forever,  and  the  pace  for  three 
years  has  been  fast.  After  they  are  gone, 
who  will  carry  the  load? 

5.  Consider,  for  example,  the  case  of  a 
Missouri  farmer,  now  near  seventy.  When 
war  was  declared  his  hired  man  left  for 
carpenter's  wages  on  an  army  cantonment. 
There  was  no  other  farm  hand  to  be  had. 
Four  sons,  raised  on  that  farm,  were  fend- 
ing for  themselves — in  the  cities.  A  fifth 
son  was  in  the  state  agricultural  college. 
He  came  home  to  do  the  work  of  the  hired 
man.  In  a  few  months  the  draft  took  him 
from  the  farm.  With  three  sons  in  the 
Army,  the  father  did  not  purpose  to  quit. 
For  two  years  he  farmed  200  acres  of 
gumbo  soil  to  the  limit  of  his  capacity  and 
that  of  his  mule  teams,  but  when  the  war 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


103 


nded  he  sold  the  farm  and  the  mules  and 
noved  to  town.  His  case  has  its  counter- 
Darts  in  every  state  where  draft  boards 
failed  to  temper  patriotism  with  common 
sense. 

6.  There  are  no  medals  to  be  handed  out 
to  the  farmers  who  stuck  to  their  furrows 
in  wartime.  And  yet  the  gnarled  old  Con- 
necticut granger  who  told,  in  the  early  fall 
of  1917,  all  about  his  boy  in  the  Argonne 

nd  then  hurried  home  to  milk  his  twelve 
cows,  was  financially  able  to  sit  by  the  fire 
and  take  his  interest  out  in  reading. 

7.  There  never  will  be  any  Grand  Army 
of  the  Farms  in  name.  There  is  one  in  fact. 
Ask  any  county  agent  anywhere  if  he  knew 
of  any  farmer  above  three-score  years  who 
quit  in  1917  because  the  boys  went  to  war 
and  hired  help  faded  from  the  earth.  These 
old  men  are  quitting  now.  It  was  not  hard 
to  convince  them  that  their  duty  was  to  pro- 
duce food  as  long  as  the  flag  was  still  in 
France.  It  is  hard  to  convince  them  now 
that  they  should  toil  at  the  plow  to  feed  a 
well-paid  individual  who  would  stop  the 
mines  and  railroads  to  enforce  a  six-hour, 
five-day  working  schedule  for  himself. 

An  editorial  like  this  is  more  than  clear;  it  is 
pleasing.  Its  easy,  unaffected  manner  gives  it  both 
lucidity  and  dignity,  and  its  sympathetic  view  of  the 
subject  gives  it  natural  force  without  false  in- 
tensity.    In   structure   it  is   of  the  plan  opposed 

to  the  topic-first  type.  It  is  inductive  rather  than 
deductive  in  order.  It  does  not  begin  with  a  state- 
ment of  its  proposition  or  an  indication  of  its 
course  of  thought.  Instead,  it  begins  with  particu- 
lars that,  although  significant  and  interest-catching, 
do  not  disclose  as  yet  what  they  are  leading  to.  But 
as  one  particular  or  fact,  following  another  leads 
the  reader  on,  the  editorial  gradually  builds  up  an 
interpretation  that  is  an  impressive  appeal  for  the 
honor  due  the  farmers.  Through  fS  it  is  a  "purpose" 
editorial ;  only  in  ^.7  does  it  approach  more  directly 
to  outright  argument.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  if 
outright  argument  all  the  way  through  would  be 
any    more    effective. 

THE  BEGUILING  OF  THE  CLERGY 

Omaha   Bee 

1.  A  brief  letter  from  a  rural  citizen, 
which  has  direct  application  to  both  church 
and  political  conditions  in  many  parts  of 
the  country,  is  printed  in  the  current  Na- 
tional Republican,  as  follows: 

May  I  not  suggest  that  if  the  litera- 
ture of  some  of  our  churches  taught 
more  of  Jesus  Christ  and  not  so  much 
of  Woodrow  Wilson,  they  (the 
churches)  might  not  need  to  complain 
of  decreased  membership,  and  the  ef- 
fect on  the  rising  generation  would  be 
more  wholesome,  if  not  so  favorable  to 
Article  X. 

2.  This  letter  was  written  by  W.  B. 
Amos  of  Reedsville,  O.,  a  little  village  made 
up  of  farmers.     We  happen  to  know  both 


the  writer  and  his  community,  composed  of 
plain,  unassuming  citizens  of  the  average 
rural  sort.  There  are  ten  thousand  others 
like  it  in  the  United  States  where  men  in 
their  shirt  sleeves  do  straight  thinking  and 
speak  common  sense.  One  of  the  glories 
of  America  is  that  one  does  not  have  to  go 
to  the  big  cities  or  great  universities,  for 
lessons  in  religion  or  patriotism.  No  com- 
munity is  so  remote  or  unimportant  that 
one  cannot  find  American  brains  in  it,  func- 
tioning in  perfect  accord  with  vital  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  politics. 

3.  Perhaps  every  church-goer  and  reader 
of  denominational  publications  has  seen 
one  or  more  sermons  whose  real  text  was 
not  an  utterance  of  Christ,  but  of  Woodrow 
Wilson.  Only  here  and  there,  apparently, 
was  there  a  church  editor  or  preacher 
strong  enough  to  resist  Mr.  Wilson's  smooth 
promises  as  a  temporary  substitute  for  the 
words  and  promises  of  Christ.  There  was, 
for  a  time  after  the  president's  return  from 
abroad,  an  epidemic  of  sermons  glorifying 
Wilson,  inspired  not  by  the  word  of  God, 
but  by  Wilson's  adroitly  phrased  testament 
of  internationalism.  Many  ministers  who 
did  not  fathom  its  full  meaning,  who  were 
not  then  acquainted  with  the  multitude  of 
abhorrent  disloyalties  to  principles  and  dis- 
honest compromises  by  which  it  was  tainted 
to  suit  the  ulterior  purposes  of  European 
diplomacy,  burst  into  eulogies  of  a  thing 
now  abominable  in  the  light  of  later  knowl- 
edge.   They  forgot  the  warning  of  Peter: 

There  shall  be  false  teachers  among 
you,  who  privily  shall  bring  in  damna- 
ble heresies.  .  .  .  And  many  shall 
follow  their  pernicious  ways;  by  reason 
of  whom  the  way  of  truth  shall  be  evil 
spoken  of.  .  .  .  And  with  covetous- 
ness  shall  they  with  feigned  words  make 
merchandise  of  you. 

4.  Fortunately  the  majority  of  these  err- 
ing church  papers  and  preachers  now  dis- 
cern that  the  way  of  Wilson  is  not  "the 
way  of  truth;"  that  "damnable  heresies" 
against  national  principles  are  in  his  false 
testament  of  selfish  European  interests,  put 
there  "privily"  after  a  solemn  promise  that 
it  should  be  an  open  covenant  openly  ar- 
rived at;  that  covetousness  of  vainglory  and 
world-power  animated  the  idol  of  clay  they 
worshipped  at  Paris;  and  that  on  his  return 
he  "made  merchandise"  of  them  to  promote 
an  unholy  political  ambition.  They  know 
now  that  Article  X  of  the  covenant  is 
neither  a  beatitude  nor  an  echo  of  the 
Golden  Rule,  but  a  plot  to  use  the  military 
power  and  resources  of  the  United  States 
in  every  political  dispute  in  the  world,  for 
the  sole  advantage  of  Europe. 


104 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


5.  Both  church  papers  and  preachers  now 
generally  realize  that  confusing  the  craftily 
constructed  speeches  of  Mr.  Wilson  with 
Holy  Writ  was  an  unprofitable  venture.  The 
substitute  for  the  Savior  spread  his  net  in 
vain  in  the  sight  of  village  birds  like  W.  B. 
Amos  of  Reedsville.  But  it  caught  thou- 
sands in  the  pulpits  and  university  faculties. 

An  interpretation  of  a  tendency,  turning  into  an 
attack  upon  a  policy  and  the  man  associated  with  it. 

COUNTING  MADE  EASY 

Saturday   Evening    Post 

1.  We  are  informed  that  our  friends,  the 
field  sportsmen,  viewing  with  alarm  the 
rapid  decrease  of  shotgunnen-futter,  are 
contemplating  radical  action  in  remedy. 
They  propose  to  make  a  census  of  the  re- 
maining American  game.  We  are  to  know 
not  only  how  many  devastating  hawks  and 
crows  and  pelicans  and  cats  and  kingfishers 
we  have,  but  also  how  many  bobwhite  quail 
and  ruffed  grouse  and  rabbits  and  squirrels 
and  sparrows  and  meadow  larks. 

2.  It  is  an  excellent  idea,  and  one  not 
without  precedent.  It  will  be  recalled  that 
certain  bureaus  of  the  National  Government 
united  a  couple  of  years  ago  in  making  a 
count  of  the  Yellowstone  elk.  The  elk  were 
decreasing,  and  cows  and  sheep  were  in- 
creasing round  them.  Obviously  the  way  to 
save  the  elk  was  to  count  them;  and  there- 
fore they  were  gravely  counted.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  result  was  very  satisfactory 
to  all  parties  concerned,  except  possibly  the 
elk  themselves.  The  cows  and  sheep  might 
thereafter  increase,  the  elk  thereafter  might 
decrease;  but  we  had  done  our  duty.  We 
had  counted  the  game. 

3.  We  beg  leave  to  point  out  to  our 
friends  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
that  their  count  was  made  too  soon  and  un- 
der difficulties  which  might  have  been 
avoided.  Not  so  irreverent  as  to  doubt  the 
accuracy  of  a  count  of  certain  thousands  of 
live  elk  on  the  hoof,  we  must  insist  that  the 
count  could  have  been  much  more  easily 
and  accurately  made  had  the  Government 
waited  until  the  elk  were  dead.  A  dead  elk 
piled  up  on  the  station  platform  is  so  much 
more  apt  to  hold  still  while  he  is  being 
counted. 

4.  Two  thousand  elk,  dead  ones,  were 
counted  at  Gardiner  Station,  Montana,  at 
the  north  edge  of  Yellowstone  Park,  during 
only  one  month  of  the  fall,  when  a 
premature  snowstorm  had  driven  them  out 
of  the  high  range.  The  Montana  season  is 
made  long,  so  that  every  settler  can  get 
his  elk. 

5.  All  along  that  line — a  line  of  forced 
and  unnatural  migration — the  sound  of  rifle 
fire    was    continuous    for    weeks.     At    this 


writing  the  full  tale  of  the  killing  is  not 
yet  done.  But  surely  two  thousand  elk 
already  counted  are  enough  to  clinch  our 
argument  that  our  census  takers  should 
have  waited.  They  will  not  need  to  wait 
long  now  before  they  can  get  the  exact 
count  of  the  elk. 

6.  Of  course  if  this  country  really  cares 
to  save  the  last  elk  herd  there  is  just  one 
way  in  which  it  can  be  done:  The  Greater 
Yellowstone  Park  extension  must  go  south  as 
far  as  the  Buffalo  Fork  in  the  Jackson's 
Hole  country.  This  would  partially  provide 
winter  range  if  the  domestic  animals  were 
cleared  out  sufficiently  to  leave  grass  for 
the  elk.  This  extension  alone  would  not  be 
enough.  Additional  range  must  come  out 
of  some  future  adjustment  of  the  balance 
between  the  domestic  animals  and  game. 
We  can  raise  domestic  animals  elsewhere, 
but  we  cannot  raise  elk  elsewhere  in  any 
numbers.  It  is  a  problem  in  horse  sense, 
and  requires  no  watchmaking  mind  for  un- 
derstanding. 

This  ironical  attack  on  the  routine  methodology 
of  officialdom  is,  after  an  editorial  fashion,  sugges- 
tive of  Dickens's  satire  of  the  Circumlocution  Office 
and   the   method   of   How-not-to-do-it. 

REBIRTH 

The  Delineator 

1.  We  have  a  friend  who  lives  on  a 
ranch  in  Montana.  She  is  seventy-five 
miles  from  the  nearest  railway  and  over 
twenty  miles  from  the  nearest  neighbor. 
Excepting  for  her  husband  and  her  four 
children,  she  is  utterly  alone. 

2.  She  is  a  woman  of  education  and  re- 
finement. For  fifteen  years  she  has  never 
known  surcease  from  grinding  poverty.  She 
has  not  had  a  new  hat  or  suit  in  five  years, 
her  husband  in  ten.  Two  years  ago, 
woman  who  was  going  to  take  up  land  be- 
yond my  friend's,  died  at  our  friend's  cabin, 
in  childbirth.  My  friend's  only  good  dress 
was  used  to  bury  the  poor  wanderer  in. 

3.  We   know   many   intimate    details    of 

G 's  life.     We  know  that  her  last  letter 

was  written  when  the  snow  was  six  feet 
deep  around  the  cabin  and  the  coyotes 
howled  outside  the  corrals.  We  know 
that  during  the  World  War  she  made  some 
beautiful  layettes  for  the  clothesless  babies 
of  France,  and  that  it  took  her  and  her 
husband  nearly  two  years  to  pay  up  the 
one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  the  materials 
for  the  layettes  cost. 

4.  We  know  that  two  of  her  children 
are  adopted  and  that  she  is  deeply  dis- 
tressed that  she  cannot  afford  to  take  an- 
other child.  We  know  the  books  she  reads; 
and  the  colors  she  likes;  we  know  many  of] 
her  joys  and  griefs. 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


105 


5.  Yet,  we  never  have  seen  her. 

6.  To  us  she  is  as  vivid  a  reality  as 
ough  we  could  touch  her  hand  this  mo- 
ent.  We  count  her  friendship  as  one  of 
e  choice  jewels  of  life.  Out  of  that  re- 
ote  mountain  ranch  there  conies  to  us  in 
e  maelstrom  of  the  city,  a  philosophy  as 

I  ear  and  high  as  it  is  unconscious. 
7.     G has  found  the  well-springs  of 
e  worth-while  in  human  life. 

8.  She  believes  entirely  that  one  must 
ive  more  than  one  takes.  She  is  troubled 
lat  she  is  not  living  in  a  more  crowded 
)mmunity   where    she    can    "do    more    for 

3ople."  G does  not  realize  that  it  is  the 

2gree  of  sacrifice  in  the  giving  that 
Dunts.  When  she  put  her  only  decent 
ress  on  the  body  of  the  dead  mother,  her 
ift  was  greater  than  all  of  Carnegie's 
tiarities.  When  she  and  her  husband  gave 
wo  years  of  their  toil  to  paying  for  the 
ttle  layettes,  their  munificence  excelled 
tiat  of  the  Rockefellers.  When  she  gave 
p  all  idea  of  owning  a  ranch  for  years  to 
ome,  that  she  and  her  husband  might  see 
wo  destitute  children  to  decent  American 
itizenship,  her  heroism  was  worthy  of 
lore  than  a  distinguished-conduct  medal. 

9.  Goethe  preached  the  doctrine  of  en- 
ightened  selfishness,  and  Pan-Germanism 
esulted. 

10.  Mercenary  selfishness  is  a  perilously 
)opular  American  spirit  today. 

11.  The  only  hope  America  has  of  a  re- 
)irth  that  shall  make  her  permanently  great 

s  that  people  like  my  friend  G and  her 

lusband  live  and  give.  Their  spirit,  and 
:hat  only,  can  fight  America's  Pan- 
VLoneyism. 

12.  Easter!  The  resurrection  day  of  the 
areatest  Giver  the  world  has  known:  where 
shall  His  doctrine  be  found  today?  Surely 
ip  at  that  lonely  ranch  where  there  is  "the 
silence  that  is  of  the  starry  skies,  the 
5leep  that  is  of  the  lonely  hills." 

A  defense — by  the  means  of  human  interest — of 
Lhe  ideal  of  self-sacrifice  and  duty  as  the  standard 
jf    life ;    a    "purpose"    editorial. 

SETTLING    THE    BONUS    ACCOUNTS 

Sun   and  New  York  Herald 

1.  Representative  Pell  of  New  York  said 
in  Congress  the  other  day  that  he  expects 
tiis  opposition  to  bonus  billions  voted  stu- 
pendously and  scattered  indiscriminately  to 
forfeit  his  political  career.  Clear  sighted  as 
a  patriot  on  this  grave  national  issue  and 
stout  hearted  as  a  public  servant  in  the 
performance  of  his  duty,  Mr.  Pell  may 
prove  to  be  a  too  modest  estimator  of  his 
measure  in  public  opinion  and  an  indifferent 
prophet  as  to  his  own  fate. 


2.  The  American  people  are  not  in  doubt 
as  to  the  purpose  of  the  political  gentry 
which  would  engineer  a  colossal  raid  on  the 
national  Treasury  and  the  national  tax- 
payers. The  American  people  know  that 
the  Government  is  not  able  to  pay  its  bills 
this  very  fiscal  year  by  a  matter  of  more 
than  three  billions  of  dollars.  The  Amer- 
ican people  know  that  the  Government's 
I  0  U's  are  stuifed  into  the  banks  by  the 
ton  to  hocus-pocus  this  staggering  defi- 
ciency of  revenues.  The  American  people 
know  that  this  is  what  overstrains  the  credit 
situation  to  the  danger  point,  keeps  the 
printing  presses  printing  money  incessantly, 
and  jacks  up  living  costs  inordinately. 

3.  The  American  people  demand  that  the 
Government  shall  cut  down  its  expenditures 
by  many  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  a 
year;  they  know  that  if  it  doesn't  do  so  the 
Treasury  I  0  U's  must  go  on  piling  into 
the  banks  and  national  inflation  must  go 
on  slicing  the  value  of  our  dollar. 

4.  The  American  people  demand  that 
the  Government's  floating  debt  shall  be  ex- 
tinguished; they  know  that  if  old  taxes  and 
new  taxes  are  not  applied  to  wiping  out 
this  I  O  U  floating  debt,  industry  and  busi- 
ness will  become  hamstrung,  payrolls  will 
be  cut  and  American  bread  and  butter  will 
be  sacrificed. 

5.  The  American  people  demand  that 
those  whom  the  war  has  left  permanently 
maimed  and  helpless  shall  be  cared  for  un- 
failingly and  generously  through  all  the 
years  of  their  need  and  suffering.  They 
know  that  if  billions  are  now  poured  into 
political  bribery,  emptying  the  Treasury, 
undermining  the  national  credit  and  increas- 
ing the  national  floating  debt  even  while  the 
national  taxes  soar  higher  and  higher,  there 
never  can  be  for  those  who  are  the  na- 
tion's true  wards  the  adequate  and  tender 
care  which  we  all  shall  owe  them  to  the  last 
hour  of  their  blasted  lives. 

6.  The  American  people's  confidence  is 
going  to  be  strengthened  in  their  legisla- 
tive representatives  who  resist  to  the  end 
the  political  profligates  who  would  storm 
the  Treasury  to  pay  for  the  votes  they 
want  to  buy  with  bonus  billions.  The 
American  people  are  going  to  fix  the  day 
of  reckoning  for  their  faithless  representa- 
tives who,  when  the  Government's  excess 
of  expenditures  over  income  can  be  counted 
only  in  billions,  are  willing  to  make  it 
billions  more;  who,  when  the  Government's 
slathers  of  I  0  U's  are  keeping  three  billions 
of  bank  resources  away  from  industry,  busi- 
ness and  production,  are  willing  to  keep 
away  four  billions  or  five  billions  or  six 
billions;  who,  when  this  inflation  caused  by 


106 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


the  Government's  I  0  U's  has  driven  up 
prices  50,  75  and  100  per  cent  for  American 
consumers  to  pay,  are  wiling  to  drive  them 
up  still  further. 

7.  There  will  indeed  be  a  settling  of  ac- 
counts at  the  polls  if  bonus  billions  are 
scattered  right  and  left  regardless  of  what 
man  deserves  them  and  what  man  gets  them, 
but  when  the  day  of  settlement  comes  no- 
body need  question  that  many  a  bonus  poli- 
tician will  get  from  the  American  voters  a 
free  ride  out  of  public  life  on  a  rail. 

Emphatic  opinion  concerning  the  motives  and  wis- 
dom of  impending  legislation.  At  the  time  when 
this  editorial  was  printed,  a  bonus  bill  seemed  cer- 
tain of  enactment  by  the  Congress  then  in  session. 
Ultimately,  however,   it  was   left  to  some  later  time. 

HOGS    AND    MERCHANDISE 

(Secretary)   E.  T.  Meredith,  in   Building  Tirade  With 
Farmers 

1.  Three  actors  on  the  stage  in  a  New 
York  theater  were  discussing  what  they 
had  done  to  help  win  the  war. 

2.  One  of  them  had  joined  the  army 
and  gone  to  France. 

3.  The  second  one  had  joined  the  navy 
and  gone  to  sea. 

4.  The  third  man  said  he  was  a  producer. 
He  had  stayed  at  home  and  produced  food 
for  the  soldiers  and  sailors. 

5.  The  others  acknowledged  that  his 
service  was  just  as  necessary  as  theirs,  and 
asked  what  kind  of  food  he  had  produced. 
He  said  he  fed  hogs.  They  asked  him  if  he 
found  it  profitable. 

6.  He  said,  "Well,  I  bought  ten  hogs  for 
$25  apiece.  I  fed  them  $250  worth  of  feed, 
and  sold  them  for  $50  each." 

7.  The  soldier  said,  "Why,  you  didn't 
make  any  money  on  them.  You  just  broke 
even." 

8.  "Yes,  I  know,"  said  the  man  who  had 
stayed  at  home.  "But  it  was  the  patriotic 
thing  to  do,  and  then  I  had  the  use  of  the 
hogs  all  winter." 

9.  A  good  many  merchants  who  buy  un- 
branded,  unadvertised,  unknown  merchan- 
dise because  it  is  cheap  and  keep  it  on  their 
shelves  because  nobody  wants  it,  must  be 
satisfied  with  the  thought  that  they  have 
had  the  use  of  the  merchandise  for  six 
months  or  a  year  or  more. 

10.  It  has  given  their  store  the  appear- 
ance of  being  well  stocked.  It  has  filled  up 
their  shelves  and  storage  places.  It  has 
occupied  space  that  represents  an  expense 
either  in  rent  or  interest  on  the  investment. 

11.  Merchandise  for  which  a  general 
reputation  has  been  built  through  advertis- 
ing does  not  keep  the  shelves  filled  up.  The 
merchant  does  not  get  the  use  of  it  very 
long,  especially  if  he  uses  your  paper  to  tell 


people  that  he  has  it  in  stock,  Somebo., 
is  always  ready  to  buy  known  merchandij 
with  an  established  reputation  if  they  kncj 
where  to  get  it. 

12.  You,  as  the  best  advertising  a 
thority  in  your  town,  owe  a  very  defini 
obligation  to  your  merchants,  just  as  the 
as  purchasing  agents  for  the  communit 
owe  a  definite  obligation  to  the  consumll 
public.  11 

13.  It  would  be  a  real  service  to  yoi 
merchants   and   to   the   community   if   yo^ 


with    your    natural    nose    for   news,   wotf 


make    an    mvestigation    of   the    shelves  ^^ 
your  merchants  to  determine  how  much  c 
unbranded,    unknown    merchandise,    bougi 
because  it  was  cheap,  and  kept  because  i 
one   wanted   it,   is   wasting   space   in   the 
stores  and  tying  up  good  money  that  mi 
be  earning  dividends  if  it  were  invested 
generally  advertised  merchandise  that  p 
pie  have  been  taught  to  want. 

14.  If  you  can  lead  them  to  get  the  oLi 
unsalable  stuff  together  and  advertise  it  i 
your  paper  as  junk  at  junk  prices,  you  wi 
open  the  way  for  them  to  advertise  a  bettc 
service  to  the  community  in  the  shape  ( 
generally  known  merchandise  with  an  ei 
tablished  reputation  for  quality  and  satii, 
faction.  »■ 

A  "purpose"  editorial,  addressed  to  a  "class"  pil 
lie — in  this  case,  publishers  of  country  papers.^" 
may  be  called  interpretive,  too,  as  it  is  a  didact" 
explanation,  how  to  accomplish  a  desired  aim.  Ho\i 
ever,  because  it  aims  to  persuade  such  publishei 
to  action  in  the  way  expounded,  its  kinship  wit 
the   argumentative   editorial   is  also   clear. 


I 


Chapter  VII.     Exercises 

1.  Find  good  illustrations  of  each  of  th 
four  sub-classes  of  controversial  editorif 
(see  Schema).  Be  prepared  to  produc 
them  (preferably  clipped  and  pasted)  fo> 
discussion.  U 

2.  Make  a  skeleton  outline,  or  plan,  11 
each  of  the  editorials  (No.  1),  beginnin,* 
with  a  sentence  stating  the  central  or  under 
lying  proposition. 

3.  Follow  the  editorials  of  a  good  edii 
torial  page  (daily  paper)  for  a  week,  anr 
write  down  the  subject  of  each  editoria 
that  you  regard  as  controversial,  with  th 
point  made  and  the  manner  of  treatment 
Have  the  list  ready  for  presentation  shou 
it  be  called  for. 

4.  Examine  the  editorials  in  leadu^ 
weeklies  devoted  to  or  including  editorial 
comment,  and  prepare  memoranda  as  in. 
No.  3. 

5.  Write    a    paper    (about    500    word 
based   upon  your   observations  and  concluf 
sions  in  No.  3.    Make  it  editorial  in  manner 

6.  As  in  5,  but  based  upon  No.  4. 


I 

'iar 
1)1 

4 

i3f 

err 

J 


THE  CONTROVERSIAL  EDITORIAL 


107 


7.  Examine  at  least  5  magazines  or 
)eriodicals  of  other  categories,  jottmg 
lown  memoranda  as  in  No.  3. 

8.  Selecting  one  of  the  editorials  that 
;ou  have  already  found,  write  a  controver- 
;ial  editorial  upon  it  from  a  different  point 
)f  view. 

9.  Another,  as  in  8.  (May  be  profitably 
•epeated.) 

10.  From  the  news-column,  clip  5  stories 
3n  which  controversial  editorials  can  be 
Dased.  In  sentence-form,  state  the  pro- 
Dosed  point  of  each  editorial,  and  the  man- 
ler  of  treatment. 

11.  Select  one  of  the  5  suggestions 
(No.  10);  outline  the  editorial,  then  write 
:he  editorial  entire. 

12.  Do  another  editorial  as  in  11. 

13.  Decide  upon  a  topic  and  write  an  edi- 
torial that  is  controversial  in  effect  without 
Deing  controversial  in  form. 

14.  As  in  13,  using  another  kind  of  topic. 

15.  Avoiding  hints  drawn  from  the  news, 
make  a  list  of  10  ideas  for  controversial 
editorials.  After  each  hint,  state  the  class 
or  kind  of  subject  it  pertains  to  (e.  g.,  per- 
sonal conduct,  politics,  morals,  trade). 


16.  Select  from  the  list  prepared  in  No. 
15,  3  hints  to  be  developed  into  editorials, 
and  block  out  the  editorials. 

17.  Write  out  one  of  the  editorials 
(No.  16). 

18.  First  block  out,  and  then  write,  an- 
other editorial,  making  the  same  point  as 
No.  17,  but  by  a  different  method. 

19.  Write  out  another  of  the  3  editorials 
prepared  for  in  No.  16.  ^ 

20.  Do  with  this  editorial  as  directed  in 
No.  18. 

21.  Write  a  "purpose"  editorial  discuss- 
ing some  matter  of  college  or  of  home- 
town import. 

22.  Write  an  editorial  of  good-natured 
satire. 

23.  Write  an  editorial  of  ironical  intent. 

24.  Examine  all  the  controversial  edito- 
rials that  you  have  now  written.  What 
method  has  each  followed?  Are  they 
monotonous  in  the  plan,  method  or  treat- 
ment adopted?  Do  they  show  ability  to 
argue  without  disputing?  to  make  a  point 
without  seeming  to  argue?  to  be  forceful 
without  being  violent,  and  to  be  fair  though 
feeling  zeal? 

25.  Write  a  paper  of  1500-2000  words 
upon  controversial  editorials. 


CHAPTER   VIII 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


The  essay  turned  journalistic. — All 

the  forms  of  editorial  considered  in 
the  preceding  articles  we  are  at  lib- 
erty to  call  essays;  but  if  we  do  so, 
we  must  look  on  them  as  essays  skil- 
fully specialized  to  a  particular 
purpose — that  of  journalistic  presen- 
tation. If  "Journalism  is  applied  lit- 
erature," then  these  editorials  may 
be  regarded  as  applied  essay-writing. 

There  is,  however,  a  type  of  edi- 
torial in  which  the  specific  adaptation 
of  the  article  to  the  journalistic 
method  is  less  obvious  and  less  far- 
reaching.  This  is  the  essay-editorial, 
frequently  called  the  editorial  essay. 
Perhaps  the  term  essay-editorial  is, 
however,  the  better;  it  reminds  us 
that  the  editorial  essay  is  after  all 
conceived  with  journalistic  purpose, 
and  not  altogether  as  an  essay,  and 
that  it  should,  therefore,  adapt  itself 
to  journalistic  requirements. 

The  essay  in  adaptation. — Chief 
among  the  general  principles  that  the 
essay  can  utilize  in  adapting  itself  to 
journalistic  purpose,  is  the  principle 
of  current  timeliness  or  present  perti- 
nence. The  essay  must  at  bottom  be 
relevant  to  something  about  which 
readers  are  thinking  or  desirous  of 
thinking;  and  if  it  establishes  this 
relevance  by  seizing  upon  some  im- 
mediate development  or  aspect  of 
affairs,  so  much  the  easier  does  it 
command  attention.  There  may  be 
no  explicit  indication  of  a  "peg,"  yet 
the  reader  will  sense  a  bond  between 
the  essay  and  his  concern  with  life. 

Its  connection  with  contemporary 
interest,  its  relevance  to  something 
of  prominence  or  significance  in  the 
activities,  the  life,  or  the  thought  of 
the  times,  once  being  apparent,  the 


editorial-essay  then  has  extensivJ 
freedom  in  choosing  form  and 
method.  It  frequently  adopts  and 
modifies  to  its  purpose  the  formal  3- 
stage  plan:  statement  of  theme  and 
preparatory  matter,  developing  con- 
sideration, and  concluding  inferenc^ 
or  application.  Even  in  this,  how] 
ever,  its  adaptations  of  the  formal 
plan  will  be  numerous  and  varied; 
and  it  is  not  confined  to  the  3-stage 
plan.  Broadly  speaking,  we  can 
safely  say  that  any  scheme  of  organi- 
zation suitable  to  the  essay  can  be 
adapted  to  the  essay-editorial.  Foij 
the  essay-editorial  is  journalistic! 
more  in  purpose  and  spirit  than  it  ha^ 
to  be  in  form. 

Definition  of  essay. — For  our  pur- 
poses, an  essay  may  be  defined  as  a 
limited  treatment  or  dissertation, 
methodically  developed,  in  careful  if 
not  finished  manner,  upon  some  spe- 
cial subject.  Dissertations  of  such 
sort  may  be  either  serious  and 
weighty,  or  casual  and  light,  in  their 
treatment,  mood,  and  tone.  This 
chapter  is  concerned  with  the  more 
serious  sort  of  essay;  Chapter  IX i 
will  deal  with  those  that  are  of  thej 
lighter  touch  and  more  casual  vein. 

The  British  leader  as  heavy  essay. 
— In  several  ways,  the  weighty  or 
serious  essay-editorial  is  represented 
by  the  editorial  known  in  British 
journalism  as  the  editorial  leader — a 
careful  presentation  written  for  the 
express  purpose  of  serving  as  a  guide 
to  public  opinion.  In  the  day  of  its 
prime,  the  leader  frequently  ran  two,,; 
three,  or  even  more  columns  in* 
length.  It  was  meant  to  be  autliori- 
tative ;  it  centered  oftenest  on  a  topic 
of   politics   or  government;   and   in 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


109 


ome  journals  (for  instance,  The 
imes)  it  semi-officially  represented 
he  position  of  Government  or  the 

I)pposition.  The  term  "leader"  is 
till  used;  but  British  editorial  col- 
mns  reveal  a  tendency  toward 
horter  articles  akin  to  that  which 
las  affected  American  journals  so 
loticeably. 

Tendencies  in  American  practice. — 
The  American  writer  not  infrequent- 
y  compresses  his  leading  editorial 
nto  a  column  or  half  a  column — not 
ilways,  it  must  be  acknowledged, 
ivithout  sacrifices  in  thoroughness 
md  comprehensiveness.  Extreme 
compression,  moreover,  transforms 
the  essay  into  an  editorial  in  the 
stricter  sense,  since  even  a  brief  dis- 
sertation requires  a  certain  scope  and 
spaciousness  for  authoritative  and 
well-rounded  presentation. 

There  is,  however,  a  tendency  with 
us  (and  with  our  British  brethren) 
to  transfer  the  essay-article  to  a 
place  outside  the  editorial  columns — 
those  especially  reserved  for  expres- 
sion of  the  journal's  "view,"  or  "po- 
sition,"— thus  quietly  classifying  it 
as  somewhat  apart  from  the  editorial 
proper.  This  separate  place  may  be 
either  on  the  editorial-page,  or  off  it. 

Kinds  of  serious  essay-editorial. — 
The  serious,  or  authoritative,  essay- 
editorial  can,  for  study  purposes,  be 
subdivided  into  (a)  the  conspectus, 
or  essay  of  survey  and  review,  and 
(b)  the  critical  essay. 

The  survey,  or  conspectus,  is  closely 
akin  to  the  editorial  of  review  and 
survey,  already  discussed.  When  the 
editorial  of  survey  grows  into  an  au- 
thoritative treatment  in  review,  more 
methodically  developed  and  perhaps 
more  finished  in  manner,  as  well  as 
more  inclusive  in  scope  and  material, 
it  becomes  an  essay-editorial. 

Similarly,  the  critical  essay  is  akin  to 
the  editorial  of  interpretation  or  com- 
ment. But  it,  too,  is  more  thorough 
and   comprehensive  in  its   inclusion 


of  facts,  being  (as  we  have  noted)  a 
compressed  study  or  limited  disserta- 
tion, rather  than  an  expository  sim- 
plification of  some  more  or  less  iso- 
lated or  incomplete  set  of  facts.  Like 
the  editorial,  it  treats  the  relations 
and  meanings  of  fact  rather  than  the 
facts  in  themselves ;  for  the  function 
of  criticism  is,  to  examine  how  dif- 
ferent matters  bear  upon  one  an- 
other, and  thus  to  arrive  at  an  under- 
standing of  more  basic  and  general 
views,  theories,  or  principles.  Hence 
the  critical  essay  either  provides  a 
basic  analysis  of  the  matter  in  itself, 
or  else  seeks  a  philosophic  conception 
of  it  or  of  its  relations  to  other 
subjects. 

Subjects  open  to  treatment. — ^The 
authoritative  essay-editorial,  whether 
belonging  to  the  conspectus  or  to  the 
critical  category,  naturally  has  a 
wide  range  of  thought,  since  any  sub- 
ject that  concerns  mankind  can,  from 
some  viewpoint,  be  brought  within 
the  aim  of,  and  adapted  to,  journal- 
istic presentation.  The  following 
table  lists  the  leading  subjects  likely 
to  be  treated : 

1.  History  and  biography. 

2.  Science. 

3.  Politics  and  government. 

4.  Sociology  and  economics. 

5.  Art,  literature,  drama,  music, 
etc. 

6.  Philosophy. 

7.  Religion,  morals,  etc. 

8.  The  inner  life  (intellectual  or 
spiritual  life  of  the  individual). 

Essays  of  controversial  trend. — So 

far  we  have  spoken  of  the  essay-edi- 
torial only  in  its  function  as  an  in- 
formative article.  It  may,  however, 
be  given  a  controversial  turn.  That 
is,  the  survey  or  the  criticism  may  be 
made  either  (a)  argumentative 
throughout,  or  (b)  given  an  argu- 
mentative application,  at  the  begin- 
ning, the  close,  or  both,  the  materials 
of  the  essay  then  becoming  a  body  of 


110 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


reasoning,  evidence,  or  proof  support- 
ing or  illustrating  a  proposition. 

Reflective,  or  "wisdom,"  essays. — 
A  somewhat  distinct  type  of  essay 
occasionally  represented  among  the 
essay-editorials  is  that  commonly 
called  the  reflective,  or  "wisdom," 
essay.  This  is  akin  to  the  critical 
essay.  But  whereas  the  critical  essay 
tends  to  be  detached,  objective,  and 
impersonal  in  its  view  and  considera- 
tion (thus  maintaining  its  right  to  be 
regarded  as  judicial  and  authorita- 
tive) ,  the  reflective  essay  more  closely 
represents  the  individual  opinion  and 
reflection  of  its  author,  and  conse- 
quently involves  to  a  greater  extent 
character,  personality,  and  individ- 
uality of  viewpoint  and  philosophy. 
It  may  be  authoritative;  but  its  au- 
thority will  depend  upon  the  intrinsic 
abstract  truth  or  wisdom  of  the  ideas 
it  sets  forth — i.  e.,  upon  this  aspect 
of  human-interest. 

As  this  kind  of  essay,  when  longer 
and  more  serious,  allies  itself  with 
the  critical  essay  (being  as  it  were 
personalized  criticism  of  life),  so 
when  it  is  shorter,  and  lighter  in 
mood  and  tone,  it  allies  itself  with  the 
casual  essay,  to  be  discussed  here- 
after. In  either  case,  it  is  likely  to 
spring  more  from  an  ethical  or  an 
artistic  and  literary  than  from  a 
journalistic  impulse — and  therefore 
to  draw  away  a  bit  in  spirit  or  con- 
ception from  the  journalistic  essay. 

"Position"  assigned  the  essay-edi- 
torial. The  essay-editorial,  we  have 
noted,  is  by  no  means  always  printed 
as  an  editorial  in  the  editorial  col- 
umns. Nor  need  it  appear  on  the 
editorial  page  of  the  newspaper  or  in 
the  editorial  department  of  the  mag- 
azine. Writing  of  this  kind  may  be 
printed  independently  as  an  article 
of  information,  thought,  or  comment. 
Hence  it  sometimes  appears  on  the 
news  pages  or  in  the  department  or 
the  feature  columns  of  newspapers 
(e.  g.,  dramatic,  musical,  and  literary 


reviews  and  criticism) ,  or  as  a  special 
or  a  feature  article,  or  in  the  general 
pages  of  the  magazines,  or  even  in 
the  reviews. 

When,  however,  it  ceases  to  be  the 
product  of  the  characteristic  aim  and 
spirit  of  the  editorial  point-of-view, 
it  ceases  to  be  editorial  in  nature, 
and  becomes  a  special  article,  a  fea- 
ture article,  a  human-interest  article, 
or  frankly  a  non- journalistic  essay. 

Free  choice  of  compositional  proc- 
esses.— Finally,  it  is  worth  remark- 
ing that  the  essay  is  free  to  employ' 
any  of  the  fundamental  processes  of 
composition.  Naturally,  the  exposi- 
tional  processes  are  the  most  com- 
mon ;  and  next  to  them,  possibly,  the 
argumentative  processes.  Descrip- 
tion and  narration,  however,  are  also 
available,  and  they  are  frequently 
employed,  especially  as  contributory 
means  in  the  course  of  the  presenta- 
tion. 

In  short,  the  essay-editorial,  call- 
ing for  methodical  development  and  a 
careful  or  finished  manner  of  treat- 
ment, combines  literary  quality  with 
instructional  intent,  and  sometimes 
frankly  subjects  its  utilitarian  to  a 
philosophic  or  an  artistic  purpose,     jj 

Schema. — Certain  principles  con- 
cerning the  essay-editorial  can  be 
thus  indexed: 

I.     Definition:  A  limited  treatment 
or  dissertation — 

A.  Methodically  developed, 

B.  In    careful    or    finished 
manner, 

C.  Upon   some   special   sub- 
ject. 

II.     Divisions  of  the  essay. 

A.  Weighty  or  serious   (Ch. 
VIII). 

B.  More  light  or  casual  (Ch. 
IX). 

III.     Usable  means  of  adaptation  to 
journalistic  purpose. 

A.  By  seeking  contemporary 
relevance — 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


111 


1.  In  timeliness  of  sub- 
ject. 

2.  In  significance  or  in- 
terest of  theme. 

B.  Sometimes  by  adapting 
journalistic  forms,  such 
as — 

1.  Some  form  of  peg- 
dependent  structure. 

2.  Some    form    of    3- 
stage  structure. 

C.  By  conforming  in  manner 
to  what  is  appropriate  to 
the  journalistic  page, 
thus  avoiding  incongruity 
of  tone. 

Available  methods  of  treatment 
and  plans  of  structure:  All 
those  appropriate  to  the  non- 
journalistic  essay,  subject  only 
to  such  modifications  as  are 
called  for  to  serve  the  journal- 
istic purpose. 
V.     Kinds  of  serious  essay-editorial. 

A.  The  conspectus;  akin  to 
the  editorial  of  survey  or 
review. 

B.  The  criticism,  aiming  at 
basic  analysis  or  philo- 
sophical conception;  akin 
to  the  editorial  of  inter- 
pretation. 

Representative  essay-editorials. — 
^'he  reader  should  remind  himself  of 
;he  fact  already  emphasized,  that  the 
3Ssay-editorial  has  an  exceedingly 
raried  range  of  subject  and  method, 
and  that  therefore  no  small  group  of 
specimens  can  fully  represent  its  em- 
ployments and  adaptations.  A  few 
titles,  taken  at  random,  will  enforce 
this  assertion: 

The  Coal  Crisis  in  Great  Britain. 
(Economic  conspectus.) 

The  New  Privileged  Classes.  (Eco- 
nomic-social analysis  and  criticism.) 

The  Flivver  Mind.  (Humanistic 
"essay'*  in  contemporary  intellectual 
criticism.) 

Canada's  Political  Problems.  (Po- 
litical study.) 


Samuel  Butler  the  Unpleasant. 
(Literary  criticism  and  personality 
analysis.) 

Dr.  Hill's  Views  on  the  Peace 
League.  (Analysis  and  abstract  of 
the  views  of  an  authority.) 

Illustration  of  conspectus. — The  fol- 
lowing skeleton  of  a  signed  article 
will  indicate  the  general  nature  of  the 
conspectus  essay-editorial,  and  its 
kinship  on  one  side  with  the  study, 
and  on  the  other  with  the  editorial 
of  survey.  The  article  is  a  brief  sur- 
vey-dissertation upon  treaty-making 
under  our  Constitution,  with  a  clos- 
ing application  of  the  principles  dis- 
cussed to  the  situation  created  by  the 
long  dispute  between  President  Wil- 
son and  the  Senate  over  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  treaty  negotiated  to  end 
the  World  War. 

Analysis 

I.  Treaty-making  as  it  was  at  the  begin- 
ning of  our  Unioh.     (Historical — HI.) 

II.  Gradual  development  of  a  recognized 
practice  in  treaty-making,  by  which  the  re- 
lations between  the  Executive  and  the  Sen- 
ate in  this  co-ordinate  function  became 
clarified  and  established.  Illustrative  in- 
stances are  introduced  and  discussed,  and 
the  establishment  and  evolution  of  the 
Foreign  Relations  Committee  as  the  Sen- 
ate's machinery  for  dealing  with  these  mat- 
ters is  outlined.     (Historical — 1I1I2,  3,  4.) 

III.  President  Wilson's  conduct  exam- 
ined in  the  light  of  these  historical  data,  in- 
cluding his  failure  to  consult  the  Senate 
through  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee. 
The  conclusion  is  reached,  that  he  departed 
from  the  customary  practice,  but  was  within 
his  powers  in  so  doing.  (Comparative  sur- 
vey—M5,  6,  7.) 

IV.  But  it  is  pointed  out  that  in  this  he 
ran  the  risk  of  having  his  treaty  rejected  by 
the  Senate,  since  the  Senate  has  co-ordinate 
power  with  the  Executive  in  treaty-making. 
(Expository  conclusion  based  on  the  preced- 
ing data— n7,  8.) 

From  this  outline,  the  editorial  is 
seen  to  be  a  dissertation,  or  study,  in 
the  form  of  a  historical  conspectus, 
upon  constitutional  law  and  practice, 
closing  with  an  application  of  the 
principles  to  a  matter  of  timely  im- 


112 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


portance.  (Timely  application  is 
what  gives  this  example  its  journal- 
istic slant.) 

Here  is  the  article  itself : 

CAVEAT  NEGOTIATOR 

The  Review 
He  shall  have  power,   by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent    of    the    Senate,    to    make    treaties,    provided 
two-thirds   of   the  Senators   present  concur. — Art.    II, 
Sec.   2,   Par.  2. 

1.  For  the  past  century  the  relatons  be- 
tween the  President  and  the  Senate  in 
treaty-making  have  been  vastly  different 
from  those  which  the  framers  of  the  Con- 
stitution had  in  mind  when  they  drafted 
the  treaty  clause  of  that  instrument,  and 
from  those  which  Washington  attempted  to 
set  up.  Our  earliest  international  agree- 
ments were  made  in  accordance  with  the 
theory  that  the  obligation  of  the  President 
to  seek  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
extended  to  the  entire  process  of  treaty- 
making.  Consequently  before  initiating  a 
negotiation  Washington  at  first  formally  se- 
cured Senatorial  sanction  not  only  of  the 
general  principles,  but  even  of  the  detailed 
provisions  of  the  proposed  treaty.  The  Sen- 
ate then  very  clearly  felt  that  it  was  bound 
to  accept  the  resulting  agreement  without 
amendment,  provided  that  it  conformed  to 
the  plan  previously  agreed  upon.  This  feel- 
ing was  based  upon  a  spirit  of  fair  play 
with  the  President,  and  upon  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  then  generally  recognized 
principle  of  international  law  that  a  gov- 
ernment was  virtually  pledged  to  ratify 
what  its  agent  had  signed  provided  that  the 
latter  had  acted  within  his  powers.  The 
President  sought  the  concurrence  of  the 
Senate  by  personal  consultation  in  the  Sen- 
ate chamber,  by  written  communications 
presented  and  explained  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  or  of  State,  or  by  messages  de- 
livered by  his  private  secretary.  The  Sen- 
ate acted  by  formal  resolution,  and  in  a 
number  of  instances  gave  its  approval  with 
qualifications  by  which  it  modified  the  pro- 
posed treaties  as  planned  by  the  executive. 

2.  But  procedure  based  chiefly  upon 
theory  cannot  long  withstand  the  impact  of 
practical  politics,  and  the  treaty-making 
process  was  soon  modified  by  events.  The 
terms  in  which  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate  were  given  to  the  initiation  and 
conduct  of  negotiations  became  decreasingly 
detailed;  its  scrutiny  of  signed  treaties  in- 
creasingly independent  and  critical.  In 
1793  an  Indian  treaty  was  negotiated  inde- 
pendently of  Senatorial  advice.  It  was  re- 
jected. A  year  later,  after  consultation  with 
his  cabinet,  Washington  decided  to  conclude 


another  such  agreement  without  previously 
laying  his  plans  before  the  Senate.  He 
feared  that  should  he  do  so  his  proposals 
would  become  known  to  the  British  Min- 
ister and  the  success  of  the  negotiation  be 
prejudiced.  In  this  instance  the  Senate  con- 
sented to  ratification.  It  was  in  connection 
with  the  Jay  treaty,  however,  that  the  es- 
tablished relations  between  the  President 
and  the  Senate  were  subjected  to  the  great- 
est political  pressure.  And  in  making  it 
Washington  frankly  abandoned  his  earlier 
practice  and  substituted  for  formal  consulta- 
tion with  the  Senate  a  working  agreement 
with  the  five  Federalists  who  were  the  back- 
bone of  the  administration  party  in  that 
body.  Because  it  seemed  extremely  unlikely 
that  the  Senate  could  be  brought  to  agree 
upon  any  detailed  plan  which  the  President 
and  his  advisers  might  submit,  it  was  recog- 
nized that  if  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
treaty-making  power  was  to  serve  as  a 
"council  of  advice"  in  the  existing  crisis  it 
must  be  through  the  instrumentality  of  a 
small  number  of  its  members  in  whom  both 
the  executive  and  a  majority  of  their  col- 
leagues had  great  confidence.  In  later  years 
this  became  the  normal  procedure,  with  a 
standing  committee  on  foreign  relations 
composed  of  both  majority  and  minority 
members  acting  the  role  first  played  by  the 
five  Federalist  friends. 

3.  The  permanent  use  of  the  method 
chosen  in  1795  meant  relinquishment  by  the 
Senate  of  its  right  and  its  duty  to  exert  a 
direct  and  effective  control  over  treaties  in 
the  making.  At  the  same  time,  however, 
the  new  procedure  relieved  it  from  the  obli- 
gation to  assent  to  the  ratification  of  those 
signed  in  accordance  with  terms  previously 
agreed  upon  by  it  and  the  President.  On 
the  face  of  it  the  President  was  to  have  a 
free  hand  in  deciding  what  treaties  it  was 
desirable  to  make,  and  in  writing  into  them 
whatever  of  his  policies  he  could  lead  the 
other  parties  thereto  to  accept;  while  the 
Senate  retained  a  like  freedom  to  accept,  to 
amend,  or  to  reject  the  results  of  his  efforts. 
Obvious  considerations,  however,  have  im-j 
pelled  most  Presidents  to  ascertain  just 
what  the  other  half  of  the  treaty-making 
power  would  or  would  not  approve  before 
entering  upon  and  during  the  course  of  a 
negotiation.  •  The  development  of  a  recog- 
nized method  of  gaining  this  information 
was  the  next  step  in  the  evolution  of  our 
treaty-making  process.  Twenty  years 
elapsed  before  it  was  achieved.  During  the 
interim  it  became  customary  for  the  Senate 
to  approve  by  implication  the  general  ob- 
jects of  a  proposed  treaty  in  confirming  the 
nomination  of  the  agents  who  were  to  nego- 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


113 


tiate  it.  This  had  been  done  in  the  case  of 
the  Jay  treaty,  and  the  precedent  was  fol- 
lowed down  to  and  including  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent. 

4.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Relations  had  come  into 
existence.  This  body  is  the  oldest  standing 
committee  of  the  Senate  and  the  most  in- 
teresting American  political  organ  whose 
history  is  as  yet  unwritten.  Ultimately  it 
became  the  connecting  link  between  the 
President  and  the  Senate  when  performing 
their  joint  functions.  Through  it  successive 
Presidents  and  Secretaries  of  State  regu- 
larly ascertained  the  opinion  of  the  Senate 
upon  both  the  general  and  the  particular 
objects  to  be  sought  by  proposed  negotia- 
tions. It  enabled  the  Senate  to  influence 
the  making  of  the  treaty  from  the  outset 
by  exercising  the  three  rights  which 
Bagehot  ascribed  to  English  kings:  "The 
right  to  be  consulted,  the  right  to  encourage, 
the  right  to  warn."  And  like  sensible  and 
sagacious  monarchs  it  needed  no  other 
powers.  Nevertheless,  the  new  procedure 
deprived  the  Senate  of  direct  control  over 
treaties  during  the  stage  of  negotiation. 
Consequently  its  obligation  to  exercise  its 
co-ordinate  Constitutional  powers  complete- 
ly and  fearlessly  at  the  time  of  ratification 
was  proportionately  increased.  This  obliga- 
tion it  has  met  in  many  familiar  instances 
by  the  rejection  or  amendment  of  agree- 
ments which  it  could  not  sancton  as  they 
stood.  In  passing  it  is  worthy  of  note  that 
this  means  of  liaison  between  the  two 
branches  of  the  treaty-making  power  was 
personal,  informal,  and  secret.  The  record 
of  its  use  is  to  be  found  only  in  chance  let- 
ters and  memoranda  in  the  files  of  the  State 
Department,  and  in  the  memoirs  and  the 
correspondence  of  the  individuals  directly 
concerned — sources  unavailable  until  long 
after  the  events  which  they  elucidate. 

5.  How  does  the  Wilsonian  picture  fit 
into  this  historical  background?  Very  evi- 
dently the  President  decided  to  collaborate 
with  our  allies  in  the  conclusion  of  a  gen- 
eral treaty  of  peace,  to  make  the  United 
States  a  signatory  to  a  league  of  nations, 
and  later,  to  enter  into  a  military  alliance 
with  France,  without  having  consulted  with 
either  the  Senate  or  its  Committee  on  For- 
eign Relations.  Nor  did  he  give  the  states- 
men who  are  now  called  upon  to  consent  to 
the  ratification  of  these  treaties  an  oppor- 
tunity to  influence  their  making  either  by 
participating  in  the  selection  of  the  nego- 
tiators thereof,  or  by  including  one  or  more 
of  their  number  in  the  American  commis- 
sion. At  only  one  point  during  the  course 
of  the  negotiations  did  he  attempt  to  main- 


tain contact  with  the  Senate  through  the 
recognized  medium  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations.  In  fact,  he  has  failed 
to  use  any  of  the  methods  by  which  his 
predecessors  from  Washington  down  have 
enabled  the  Senate  to  perform,  to  greater  or 
lesser  degree,  its  Constitutional  functions 
during  the  formative  stages  of  treaty- 
making. 

6.  But  although  he  has  thus  failed  to 
utilize  the  customary  means  of  consulting 
with  the  Senate,  does  it  necessarily  follow 
that  Mr.  Wilson  has  actually  negotiated 
these  treaties  without  the  guidance  of  its 
advice?  To  ask  the  question  is  to  answer 
it.  Senators  have  indeed  "been  daily  cog- 
nizant of  what  was  going  on"  at  Paris. 
And  what  one  among  them  all  has  been  too 
humble,  or  too  proud,  to  raise  his  voice  in 
suggestion,  encouragement,  or  warning? 
Has  any  President  ever  received  so  com- 
plete and  frank  an  exposition  of  the  senti- 
ment of  his  Senatorial  colleagues  upon  every 
essential  provision  of  a  treaty  before  the 
document  was  signed  and  sealed?  The 
methods  of  Mr.  Wilson  are  not  those  of  his 
predecessors.  They  are  not  of  the  past,  but 
very  distinctly  of  the  present.  They  are 
consonant  with  "open  covenants,  openly  ar- 
rived at,"  and  with  the  political  theories 
which  lie  behind  the  phrase. 

7.  It  should  be  recognized,  then,  that  a 
new  principle  has  been  introduced  into  the 
relations  between  the  President  and  the 
Senate  in  the  negotiation  of  treaties.  What 
is  the  resulting  effect  upon  the  situation  of 
the  two  parties  with  reference  to  the  ratifi- 
cation of  the  pacts  which  Mr.  Wilson  signed 
at  Paris?  Certainly  if  any  conclusion  can 
be  dravni  from  the  history  of  American 
treaty-making  it  is  that  the  new  procedure 
leaves  the  Senate  absolutely  free  to  accept, 
to  amend,  or  to  reject  these  treaties  upon 
their  merits.  If  the  President's  methods 
allowed  him  a  singular  freedom  in  follow- 
ing or  ignoring  the  Senate's  advice,  his 
course  has  left  to  that  body  an  equal  inde- 
pendence in  considering  his  treaties.  Fur- 
ther, it  may  fairly  be  said  that  as  Mr. 
Wilson  has  seen  fit  to  substitute  for  long- 
established  processes  a  new  mode  of  ascer- 
taining what  his  colleagues  on  the  hill  would 
or  would  not  assent  to,  the  responsibility 
for  correctly  gauging  their  sentiment  rests 
squarely  upon  him.  It  is  clearly  a  case  of 
caveat  negotiator. 

8.  Nevertheless,  Senators  are  faced  with 
a  fait  accompli.  They,  and  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  are  told  that  very  serious 
results  will  follow  any  attempt  to  modify 
the  agreements  made  at  Paris.  There  are 
those  who   declare  that  the   magnitude   of 


114 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


such  evils  is  the  measure  of  the  Senate's 
duty  to  make  the  best  of  the  treaties  as  they 
stand  and  promptly  to  give  its  advice  and 
consent  to  their  ratification.  The  opposing 
position  is  that  this  very  difficulty  of 
amendment  laid  upon  Mr.  Wilson  a  corre- 
sponding obligation  to  conclude  only  such 
agreements  as  the  Senate  would  permit  him 
to  ratify.  A  consideration  of  the  clear  lan- 
guage of  the  Constitution  and  the  practice 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  of  actual 
government  can  hardly  leave  a  doubt  that 
the  latter  view  must  prevail.  Unquestion- 
ably there  is  a  powerful  presumption  in 
favor  of  the  acceptance  of  these  treaties  as 
they  have  been  signed.  But  if  the  Senate 
is  to  mantain  its  place  in  our  Constitutional 
system  it  must  act  with  the  courage  of  its 
convictions  should  it  finally  decide  that 
amendment  is  necessary  to  protect  the  vital 
interests  of  the  nation. 

— Ralston  Hayden. 

Illustration  of  criticism. — As  one  ex- 
ample of  the  critical  sub-class  of 
essay-editorial,  we  reproduce  the  fol- 
lowing. It  is  critical  because  it  aims 
at  basic  analysis  and  at  a  philosophi- 
cal conception  of  fundamental  truths 
concerning  its  subject. 

MAKING  A  CLASSIC 

Kansas   City   Star 

1.  How  do  the  comparatively  few  books 
in  the  world,  known  as  classics,  attain  their 
position  of  eminence?  By  what  process 
have  all  the  millions  of  books  produced  by 
the  leading  peoples  been  sifted  out  and  only 
a  few  thousand  stamped  as  worthy  of  per- 
manent use? 

2.  It  is  easy  to  say  that  the  judgment 
and  taste  of  readers,  aided  by  time,  have 
placed  the  few  volumes  on  the  ready  shelf 
and  left  the  millions  to  be  dust-covered,  de- 
cayed, and  forgotten.  But  who  among  the 
readers  is  responsible  for  this  selection,  and 
how  much  time  is  required  for  the  complete 
testing  of  the  classic  ? 

3.  Neither  of  these  essential  questions 
can  be  answered  with  definiteness  and 
finality.  Generally  speaking,  there  are  two 
classes  of  readers,  the  public,  so-called,  and 
the  professed  lover  and  follower  of  litera- 
ture, the  latter  class  including  the  critic  and 
the  producer  of  literature. 

4.  The  taste  and  judgment  of  neither  of 
these  classes  can  be  fully  depended  upon  at 
the  time  a  book  is  produced.  Not  even  the 
writer  of  a  volume,  that  may  prove  to  be 
a  classic,  is  a  reliable  judge  of  its  merits. 
Usually,  one  class  is  skeptical  as  to  the 
value  of  the  other's  opinion.    Literary  critics 


as  a  rule  do  not  think  highly  of  the  likes 
and  dislikes  of  the  great  mass  of  readers 
known  as  the  public.  Immediate  and  wide 
popularity  is  supposed  by  them  to  be  a 
sure  index  of  fatal  defects  in  a  volume. 
R.  L.  S.  declared,  "There  must  be  something 
wrong  with  me  or  I  wouldn't  be  popular." 
Aside  from  his  modesty,  Stevenson  was 
wrong  in  this  estimate  of  popular  judg- 
ment. But  a  similar  opinion  might  have 
been  right  in  many  cases. 

5.  On  the  other  hand,  the  general  reader 
is  likely  to  regard  the  critic  and  the  literary 
practitioner  as  "high  brow,"  unless  the  opin- 
ions of  these  men  agree  with  his  own. 
When  the  expertly  wielded  axes  of  the 
critics  descend  with  resounding  whacks  on 
such  popular  favorites  as  Harold  Bell 
Wright,  Marie  Corelli  or  Ella  Wheeler 
Wilcox,  the  general  reader  is  likely  to  smile 
knowingly,  curse  inwardly,  or  declare  openly 
against  conspiracies  in  high  places  to  put-  a 
lovable  and  deserving  writer  down. 

6.  So  at  the  time  a  book  is  produced,  and 
for  some  years  thereafter,  the  critic  may  be 
right  or  wrong  in  his  opinion  of  it,  and  the 
public  may  be  right  or  wrong  in  its  love  or 
neglect  of  it.  If  a  vote  were  to  be  taken 
as  to  which  class  is  oftenest  right  or  wrong 
in  its  judgments,  the  ballot  probably  would 
be  cast  along  strictly  "class"  lines  and  de- 
termine nothing. 

7.  Yet  something  definite  and  reliable 
appears  to  be  at  work  in  the  making  of  a 
classic.  Arnold  Bennett  states  the  belief  of 
a  good  number  of  "literary"  persons  when 
he  declares: 

The  fame  of  classical  authors  is  orig- 
inally made,  and  it  is  maintained,  by  a 
passionate  few.  Even  when  a  first- 
class  author  has  enjoyed  immense  suc- 
cess during  his  lifetime,  the  majority 
have  never  appreciated  him  so  sincerely 
as  they  have  appreciated  second-rate 
men.  He  has  always  been  re-enforced 
by  the  ardor  of  the  passionate  few. 
And  in  the  case  of  an  author  who  has 
emerged  into  glory  after  his  death,  the 
happy  sequel  has  been  due  solely  to  the 
obstinate  perseverance  of  the  few. 
They  could  not  leave  him  alone;  they 
would  not. 

8.  And  "time  will  tell,"  too,  whether  the 
literary  judgment  of  the  few  at  any  one 
period  or  in  any  one  case  was  right.  If  the 
few  of  a  later  day  and  still  a  later  day 
concur  in  the  estimate  of  their  predecessors, 
the  classic  is  established.  How  much  time 
is  necessary  cannot  be  said.  Often  a  year 
or  two  will  finish  off  a  "best  seller"  in  fine 
shape.  But  for  the  permanent  establish- 
ment of  a  book  that  starts  well  or  ill  there 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


115 


is  necessary  the  combined  favorable  opinion 
of  succeeding  generations. 

9.  But  who  may  become  one  of  the  "pas- 
sionate few?"  Mr.  Bennett  lays  down  the 
condition,  but  prudently  does  not  say  to 
what  extent  it  may  be  met: 

The  one  primary  essential  to  literary 
taste  is  a  hot  interest  in  literature.  If 
you  have  that,  all  the  rest  will  come. 
It  matters  nothing  that  at  present  you 
fail  to  find  pleasure  in  certain  classics. 
The  driving  impulse  of  your  interest 
will  force  you  to  acquire  experience, 
and  experience  will  teach  you  the  use 
of  the  means  of  pleasure.  You  do  not 
know  the  secret  ways  of  yourself,  that 
is  all.  A  continuance  of  interest  must 
inevitably  bring  you  to  the  keenest  joys. 

10.  The  few,  then,  who  sit  in  judgment 
over  the  destinies  of  books,  have  none  of 
the  exclusive  character  of  the  strict  aristoc- 
racy, although  few  they  probably  will  re- 
main. But  the  ranks  of  these  must  be  kept 
full,  and  a  genuinely  democratic  welcome 
awaits  all  who  would  find  the  way  within. 
The  few  always  include  members  of  both 
classes  that  have  to  do  with  books.  Exer- 
cise of  the  taste  and  judgment  of  both  is 
necessary  for  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  the  classic. 

Representative  editorials. — ^Various 

illustrations  of  the  methods,  forms, 
purposes,  and  tones  found  in  the 
essay-editorial  here  follow. 

THE  NEW  FAITH  OF  SCIENCE 

Pittsburg    Press 

1.  Inquiries  come  to  all  defenders  of  all 
creeds,  from  time  to  time,  for  "proof"  of 
the  truth  of  religion.  Requests  of  such 
sort  have  reached  this  department  of  The 
Press  in  considerable  number.  We  cannot 
comply  with  them  if  by  "proof"  is  meant 
the  same  kind  of  demonstration  that  is  ac- 
corded to  a  proposition  in  geometry,  unless 
the  reader  is  willing  to  begin  with  certain 
fundamental  assumptions,  as  we  do  in 
geometry.  "Proof"  is  at  best  a  fickle  word. 
There  are  few  things  in  the  universe  that 
can  be  "proved"  beyond  all  possibility  of 
dissent.  The  law  of  gravitation  has  never 
been  proved,  yet  scientific  men  do  not  ques- 
tion it. 

2.  Not  even  that  familiar  and  relentless 
foe  of  all  theology,  Prof.  Haeckel — most 
persistent  of  materialists — ^was  able  to  the 
end  to  hold  the  ground  for  that  old-fash- 
ioned, gross  materialism  of  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ago  which  utterly  denied  the 
existence  of  Mind  or  Spirit  as  an  essence  of 
the  universe,  and  which  held  that  the  "brain 


secretes  thought  as  the  liver  secretes  bile." 
Prof.  Haeckel  in  his  later  writings  held  that 
the  universe  contains  but  one  substance,  but 
that  it  is  an  essentially  animated  substance, 
at  once  extension  (i.  e.  matter)  and  energy 
(i.  e.  mind).  He  saw  the  difficulty  he  would 
be  in  if  he  took  for  his  starting  point  a 
substance  destitute  of  energy  and  on  that 
account  incapable  of  evolving  by  itself.  So 
he  animated  his  substance. 

3.  Well,  that  is  precisely  what  the  be- 
liever thinks  God  did.  To  make  scientific 
monism  even  superficially  plausible,  Haeckel 
was  obliged  to  endow  the  one  substance  of 
the  universe  with  a  principle  of  change  and 
of  creation.  It  is  because  of  just  this,  we 
presume,  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica  in  its 
last  edition  declared  Haeckel  had  miscon- 
ceived the  doctrine  of  real  materialism.  His 
one  substance  is  evidently,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Encyclopedia  writer,  too  spiritual  by 
half.  But  recent  discoveries  as  to  the 
astounding  degree  to  which  matter  is  ener- 
gized explain  the  emphasis  Haeckel  felt  con- 
strained to  place  in  this  direction.  It  also, 
presumably,  explains  the  inclination  of  re- 
cent theological  writers  to  cut  loose  from 
their  old  dualistic  hypothesis  and  trust  them- 
selves to  monism  (or  the  theory  that  there 
is  but  one  substance)  in  full  confidence  that 
their  trust  will  not  be  betrayed. 

4.  For  an  authoritative  statement  of  the 
new  theological  attitude  we  are  referred  to 
Prof.  Augustus  H.  Strong's  "Systematic 
Theology,"  in  which,  after  noting  the 
powerful  tendency  toward  monism  in  physi- 
cal and  metaphysical  science,  the  writer 
says:  "Prolonged  examination  of  the  Bible 
leads  me  to  believe  that  monism  is  itself 
the  Scripture  doctrine,  implicitly  if  not  ex- 
plicitly taught  not  only  by  John  but  by 
Paul;  and  I  therefore  provisionally  accept 
that  doctrine."  If  this  willingness  of  a  new 
theology  to  trust  itself  to  monism  is  sur- 
prising, it  is  no  more  so  than  the  seal  of 
approval  which  men  of  the  greatest  emi- 
nence in  Science  are  placing  upon  theological 
dogmas.  In  his  book  on  "The  Philosophy  of 
Effort,"  Armand  Sabatier  declares  that 
there  is,  in  actual  evolutionism,  the  indica- 
tion of  the  Divine  Personality,  of  the  Crea- 
tion, of  the  Fall,  of  the  efficiency  of  Prayer, 
and  of  the  soul's  immortality. 

5.  That  here  is  a  reaction  from  the  re- 
ligious despair  of  the  two  preceding  genera- 
tions is  quite  clear.  It  is  a  reaction  none 
the  less  interesting  because  Herbert  Spen- 
cer predicted  reactions  if  there  should  be 
sudden  changes  of  religious  institutions. 
The  concrete  is  the  essence  of  science  and 
Spencer  was  the  greatest  scientific  thinker 
of  the  Nineteenth  century.    It  is,  therefore. 


116 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


not  singular  to  find  him  forecasting  revolts 
of  mankind  against  materialistic  and 
mechanistic  theories  of  the  universe.  It 
was  on  the  contrary  natural  enough,  as  Prof. 
Boutroux  points  out,  that  toward  the  close 
of  a  life  spent  in  search  of  concrete  fact  he 
should  manifest  a  greatly  reduced  severity 
toward  dogmas  and  institutions — that  is, 
toward  religion  in  the  concrete  and  given 
form.  Thus  Spencer  both  foresaw  reaction 
and,  as  his  Autobiography  indicates,  in  a 
measure  experienced  it.  No  less  prophetic 
of  a  reaction  against  scientific  dogmatism 
was  the  famous  speech  of  thirty  years  ago 
in  which  Dubois  Reymond  declared  that  the 
limits  of  Science  were  already  discernible. 
Four  enigmas,  he  said,  were  forever  in- 
soluble— namely,  the  essence  of  matter  and 
force,  the  origin  of  movement,  the  origin 
of  simple  consciousness  and  the  freedom  of 
the  will.  And  yet,  said  he,  the  physicist 
must  explain  all  of  them  if  a  Godless  uni- 
verse is  to  be  established. 

6.  Eleven  years  ago  the  growth  of  the 
tendency  of  Science  towards  faith  was  most 
impressively  revealed  on  a  most  anomalous 
occasion,  none  other  than  the  Darwin  cen- 
tenary, when  the  chairman  of  the  memorial 
gathering  in  America,  Prof.  H.  F.  Osburn, 
remarked  that  there  was  no  use  denying  a 
wide  reaction  against  the  central  feature  of 
Darwin's  thought. 

7.  Lord  Kelvin  is  probably  the  foremost 
scientist  of  the  last  century.  We  who  main- 
tain that  we  are  not  forbidden  by  Science  to 
hold  to  our  faith  that  a  Supreme  Mind  gov- 
erns the  universe  may  well  rest  upon  his 
authority.  We  shall  find  his  full  and  un- 
qualified support  in  the  remarks  which  he 
made  at  the  University  college  in  London  17 
years  ago,  when  he  felt  it  incumbent  upon 
him  to  dissent  from  a  statement  by  Rev. 
Prof.  Henslow  that  Science  neither  affirmed 
nor  denied  Creative  power.  Science,  Prof. 
Kelvin  said,  positively  affirmed  Creative 
power.  Modern  biologists  had  come  once 
more  to  a  firm  acceptance  of  something. 
And  that  something  was  a  vital  principle. 
They  only  knew  God  in  His  works,  but  they 
were  absolutely  forced  to  admit  and  believe 
with  confidence  in  a  directive  power — in  an 
influence  other  than  physical,  dynamical, 
electrical  forces. 

8.  This  is  the  spirit  of  the  reaction  which 
the  anti-humanistic  dogmatism  of  Science 
appears  by  all  signs  to  have  provoked  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Twentieth  century.  Evo- 
lution is  subsequent  to  Involution  and  only 
equals  it.  Evolution,  admitted  and  estab- 
lished, but  limited  to  its  legitimate  claims, 
no  longer  disturbs  the  human  family  by 
threatening  to  rob  it  of  its  whole  spiritual 


wardrobe.  Hardly  a  day  passes  that  some 
laboratory  does  not  claim  to  have  produced 
life  out  of  inorganic  matter.  The  claim 
does  not  produce  a  tithe  of  the  commotion 
it  produced  forty  years  ago,  for  the  reason, 
apparently,  that  everywhere  the  tendency  is 
to  acknowledge  that  Leibnitz  was  right 
when  he  said:  "There  is  no  such  thing  as 
inorganic  matter." 

9.  All  matter  is  composed  of  electrons, 
of  which  one  scientist  says  they  seem  to  be 
alive — minute  personalities  which  know  al- 
ways what  to  do  and  where  to  go.  "Can 
it  be  that  the  Universal  Mind  dwells  in 
them?"  science  asks.  The  mere  question  is 
symptomatic  of  the  confidence  that  Uni- 
versal Mind  exists. 

10.  And  thus  we  are  back  again  in  the 
majestic  company  of  Plato,  Moses,  Paul, 
John,  Augustine  and  all  others  who  have 
believed,  standing  with  shoes  removed  and 
upturned  faces  awaiting  a  new  revelation — 
a  revelation  which  should  be  fuller  and 
richer  than  anything  that  has  preceded  it — a 
spiritual  renaissance. 

This  editorial  upon  faith  and  science  is  in  the 
nature  of  an   essay  because : — 

1.  It  is  a  somewhat  comprehensive  consideration, 
though  less  complete  and  elaborate  than  a  pamphlet, 
monograph,    or   treatise. 

2.  It   has    unity  of   theme   and   of   purpose. 

3.  It    is    methodically    developed. 

4.  It  is  written  with  a  certain  degree  of  care  or 
finish    in    the    language. 

FOREIGN  EXCHANGE— THE 

MODERN  MYSTERY 

Boston    Transcript 

1.  Foreign  exchange  has  become  such  a 
vital  factor  in  the  scheme  of  things  that  an 
elementary  idea  of  what  it  means  and  how 
it  operates  is  essential  to  a  popular  under- 
standing of  present  conditions  in  the  world 
of  business. 

2.  We  may  regard  foreign  exchange  as 
the  trading  of  the  commodities,  services,  se- 
curities, and  attributes  of  one  country  for 
the  commodities,  services,  securities  and 
attributes  of  another  country,  the  rela- 
tive value  of  the  transactions  being  ex- 
pressed by  translating  the  currency  of  one 
country  in  terms  of  the  currency  of  an- 
other. It  is  international  reciprocation  into 
which  the  various  currencies  of  this  world 
enter  as  a  means.  Gold  being  the  one  fea- 
ture which  national  currencies  have  in  com- 
mon, this  is  made  the  basis  of  exchange 
quotations.  It  is  because  of  the  amount  of 
fine  gold  represented  by  the  pound,  the 
franc,  the  dollar,  etc.,  that  the  parity  quota- 
tions exist;  there  is  normally  $4.8665  worth 
of  gold  back  of  each  pound,  and  19.3  cents 
worth  of  gold  back  of  1  franc,  or  as  it  is 
stated,  there  are  5.181/2  francs  in  the  dollar. 
Hence  the  foreign  exchange  quotations. 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


117 


3.  Now  in  normal  times  what  forces  con- 
trol the  action  of  the  exchanges?  Why  is 
the  lira  worth  more  than  19  cents  one  week 
and  less  than  19  cents  the  next?  Why- 
should  the  pound  fluctuate  in  terms  of  francs 
or  dollars  from  day  to  day?  The  answer 
is  supply  and  demand.  If  there  is  a  greater 
supply  of  bills  of  exchange  (drafts)  offered 
on  England  than  there  is  a  demand  to  buy 
them,  the  price  of  these  bills  will  be  lower 
than  if  the  opposite  were  true  and  there 
appeared  more  bidders  for  the  bills  than 
there  were  bills  to  go  around.  As  an  ex- 
ample, John  Wanamaker  has  an  order  from 
a  British  customer  for  a  gross  of  cut-glass 
bathtubs.  John  Wanamaker  exports  the 
consignment  and  presents  his  bank  with  a 
60-day  draft  payable  in  pounds  by  the  cus- 
tomer in  England.  John  Wanamaker  doesn't 
care  to  wait  60  days  and  more  for  the 
money,  and  so  the  bank  discounts  the  draft 
and  pays  Wanamaker  in  cash,  eliminating 
him  from  the  transaction.  There  is  no 
need  of  going  into  the  technique  of  the 
operation  involved  in  collecting  this  draft. 
The  point  is,  the  bank  is  willing  to  buy  the 
draft  at  the  prevailing  rate  of  60-day  bills, 
knowing  that  it  can  be  readily  sold  to  some- 
one who  is  importing  goods  from  England 
and  who  will  buy  this  sterling  draft  in  order 
to  pay  for  them.  One  draft  thus  clears  two 
deals — it  pays  the  exporter  and  enables  the 
importer  to  settle  his  score. 


4.  Were  it  not  for  the  existence  of  the  ex- 
change machinery  people  buying  goods  from 
another  country  would  have  to  ship  gold  in 
payment  thereof,  and  the  exporter  of  the 
goods  would  have  to  await  the  arrival  of 
this  gold  before  receiving  payment.  All  this 
causes  delay  and  waste.  At  times,  however, 
gold  must  be  shipped  to  settle  the  balance  of 
trade,  and  usually  a  shipment  of  gold  takes 
place  when  exchange  is  at  a  discount  of 
2^/^  or  3  cents.  The  "gold  points"  may  be 
defined  as  those  points  in  exchange  quota- 
tions below  or  above  which  it  is  more  profita- 
ble to  ship  gold.  For  example,  if  the  pound 
costs  an  American  importer  more  than 
about  $4.89  (3  cents  above  parity)  theo- 
retically it  is  cheaper  for  him  to  buy  gold 
and  ship  it  to  London  than  to  pay  more 
than  $4.89  for  a  draft  which  would  entitle 
him  to  one  pound.  Conversely,  if  the  rate 
falls  below  $4.83  it  is  advisable  for  the  Brit- 
isher to  ship  gold  to  us.  The  gap  between 
a  gold  point  and  parity  indicates  the  total 
cost  of  shipping  gold.  It  is  well  not  to 
forget  that,  after  all,  gold  is  a  commodity. 
It  has  the  advantage  of  being  accepted  as 
the  common  standard  by  most  countries, 
but  it  is  nevertheless  a  commodity  just  like 


celluloid  collars  and  hard  cider  and  other 
things. 

5.  Naturally  the  questions  arise,  why 
haven't  England,  France,  Belgium,  and  Italy 
exported  more  gold  to  us  since  their  ex- 
changes have  fallen  way  below  the  gold 
points.  The  answer  is  patent.  They 
haven't  had  enough  gold  to  spare,  and  they 
have  wisely  accumulated  and  held  what  they 
could.  To  continue,  if  the  simple  case 
stated  in  the  preceding  paragraph  were  al- 
ways true,  and  the  A's  and  E's  always 
balanced,  there  would  be  no  fluctuations  in 
exchange,  but  when  there  are  numerous 
John  Wanamakers  offering  drafts  against 
the  pound  sterling,  and  there  are  only  a 
few  who  need  to  make  payment  to  England, 
then  the  value  of  these  drafts  declines — 
that  is  to  say,  the  value  of  the  pound  de- 
clines. Likewise  in  England  when  we  are 
sending  across  more  goods  than  they  are 
sending  us,  there  is  a  greater  demand  for 
the  dollar  than  there  is  a  supply  of  claims 
against  the  dollar;  so  the  value  of  the  dollar 
mounts. 


6.  We  may  summarize  the  principal 
forces  which  influence  the  trend  in  ex- 
changes, as  follows: 

1.  Exports  and  imports  of  merchan- 
dise. 

2.  Exports  and  imports  of  securities. 

3.  Interest  and  dividends  remitted 
abroad. 

4.  Repayment  of  foreign  loans. 

5.  Remittances  by  foreigners  to  their 
home  countries. 

6.  Shipping. 

7.  International  services  of  various 
kinds. 

8.  High  or  low  money  rates  at  home 
or  abroad. 

9.  Distrust  of  financial  conditions 
existing  abroad,  where  a  country  has 
large  deposits  of  capital. 

7.  In  thinking  of  foreign  exchange  it  is 
a  good  plan  to  consider  everything  which 
one  country  does  for  another  as  exports  and 
everything  done  in  return  as  imports.  The 
balance  of  these  imports  and  exports  de- 
termines the  rate  of  exchange.  England 
has  almost  always  imported  more  goods 
than  she  has  exported.  In  1913  the  United 
Kingdom's  excess  of  imports  over  exports 
was  $651,000,000.  England  has  kept  the 
scales  of  exchange  in  equilibrium  largely 
by  "exporting"  marine  and  freight  services, 
and  by  services  in  acting  as  the  world's 
recognized  banker.  Italy  has  in  the  past 
depended  largely  on  the  money  brought  into 
the  country  by  foreign  travellers  and  remit- 
tances made  by  Italians  living  in  the  United 


118 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


States  for  the  stabilizing  of  the  lira.  For 
years  she  has  imported  a  large  excess  of 
goods  over  exports. 

8.  When  Belgium  floated  a  loan  of  $25,- 
000,000  in  this  country  she  helped  her  ex- 
change because  she  exported  bonds,  but 
when  Americans  cash  their  coupons  they 
will  tend  to  lower  Belgium  exchange  be- 
cause they  will  export  coupons  which  must 
be  paid  for.  When  the  bonds  mature  in 
1925  the  United  States  will  export  the  bonds 
and  Belgium  must  pay.  It  can  be  seen  from 
this  that  when  a  nation  receives  credit  its 
exchange  is  helped  temporarily,  but  in  the 
long  run  it  produces  an  opposite  force  be- 
cause the  bonds  must  be  paid  for  in  full 
plus  the  interest.  When  the  war  broke  out 
in  August,  1914,  there  was  a  flood  of 
foreign-held  bonds  dumped  on  our  market, 
with  the  result  that  a  large  demand  was 
created  for  foreign  drafts  with  which  to 
pay  for  these  securities,  and  the  price  of 
the  European  exchanges  soared.  Sterling 
reached  the  unheard  of  point  of  7  dollars 
to  the  pound.  Europe  was  merely  exporting 
securities  to  us. 

9.  The  most  elusive  factor  which  affects 
exchange  rates  is  the  domestic  and  foreign 
rates  on  money.  It  is  evident  that  when 
money  is  higher  in  one  country,  let  us  say 
France,  than  in  other  countries,  funds  will 
be  sent  to  France  for  investment  and  this 
"importing*'  of  the  loaning  facilities  of 
France  will  tend  to  raise  the  price  of  francs 
by  creating  a  demand  for  them. 

10.  This  is  all  very  well,  but  the  world  is 
confronted  today  with  an  extraordinary  ex- 
change situation.  Prices  of  foreign  moneys 
in  many  cases  have  shrunk  to  a  shadow  of 
their  former  selves.  On  February  5th  the 
pound  touched  a  low  of  $3.19,  the  franc 
reached  6^/^  cents,  the  lira  5  cents,  the 
mark  1  cent.  The  par  value  of  the  pound 
is  $4.86%,  of  the  franc  and  lira  19.3  cents, 
of  the  mark  23.82  cents.  But  there  is 
nothing  unreasonable  in  this  behavior  of  the 
exchanges.  During  the  past  five  years  we 
have  rolled  up  against  the  nations  of  Eu- 
rope an  enormous  debt  because  of  exports. 
These  exports  must  be  balanced,  and  the 
days  of  reckoning  have  come.  Europe  must 
repay  America  and  with  interest.  We  have 
been  in  the  unique  position  of  loaning  to 
Europe  so  that  Europe  could  create  an  ex- 
change situation  unfavorable  to  herself. 
Europe,  to  carry  out  our  figure,  has  ex- 
ported little  to  us  but  her  indebtedness. 
We  have  imported  her  future,  and  not 
enough  of  that  to  square  the  account. 

11.  A  great  part  of  the  world's  gold  is  in 
the  United  States.     The  premium  on  gold 


and  the  depreciated  currency  of  many 
European  nations  are  one  and  the  same 
thing.  The  buyer  of  this  depreciated  cur- 
rency, this  copious  paper  money,  naturally 
demands  more  of  it  in  proportion  as  it  is 
depreciated.  One  dollar  will  buy  almost  a 
dozen  eggs;  it  might  buy  two  dozen  bad 
eggs,  if  the  quantity  in  this  case  were  any 
advantage.  The  buyer  of  foreign  goods 
would  do  better  to  remit  in  gold,  if  this 
theory  were  not  true.  Furthermore,  be- 
yond the  point  to  which  currency  is  de- 
preciated exchange  will  not  deviate,  be- 
cause gold  (even  at  a  premium)  would  be 
used  to  settle  the  debt.  However,  and  this 
applies  to  Europe  today,  if  the  exports  do 
not  equal  imports,  and  gold  cannot  be 
shipped,  the  balance  which  a  country  has 
to  pay  can  be  settled  only  by  enormous 
sacrifice;  in  fact,  not  at  all,  except  by 
diminution  of  imports  or  by  foreign  loans, 
an  expedient  to  gain  time. 

12.  The  fall  in  exchange  is  not  per  se  an 
evil.  It  is  an  automatic  corrective.  It  is 
a  thermometer,  not  a  cause,  of  conditions. 
The  high  prices  which  Europe  must  pay 
for  the  dollar  acts  as  a  tariff  wall,  but  by 
no  means  an  insurmountable  one,  against 
her  importations,  and  the  low  prices  at 
which  Americans  can  purchase  European 
goods  stimulate  our  imports. 


13.  In  the  end  the  exchanges  will  rectify 
themselves,  unless  we  are  to  return  to  the 
primitive  methods  of  barter — one  barrel  of 
rum  for  ten  slaves.  One  country  will  not 
indefinitely  send  its  treasure  to  another 
country  and  receive  nothing  in  return  but 
promises.  If  that  were  the  case  trade 
would  cease  altogether.  Exchanges  will  re- 
turn towards  normal  when  Europe  begins  to 
produce  and  export  more  than  she  imports 
and  consumes,  or  when  the  sufficient  credit 
is  extended  her;  and  the  possibility  of  abus- 
ing the  latter  method  is  dangerous.  Un- 
questionably it  is  this  country's  duty  to 
keep  Europe  from  starving  and  to  extend 
credit  with  which  she  may  secure  such 
goods  as  are  essential  in  the  reconstruction 
of  her  industries.  But  it  would  be  fool- 
hardy to  attempt  an  absolutely  artificial 
bolstering  up  of  the  exchanges  by  any 
wholesale  credit  arrangements.  Europe 
must  work  out  her  own  salvation. — Lewis 
P.  Mansfield. 

This  article,  or  essay-editorial,  is  didactic,  em- 
ploying expository  criticism-and-philosophy  in  finance, 
and  including  some  survey.  It  may  be  called  an 
editorial  lesson  in  simplified  finance.  It  has  im- 
mediate contemporary  interest  for  two  reasons,  each 
stated  in  HI.  In  addition,  at  the  time  when  the 
article  was  printed,  foreign  exchange  was  badly  up- 
set by   abnormal  conditions  and  was  attracting  gen- 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


119 


eral    attention    from    being    prominent    in    the    day's 
news. 

I.  Foreign    exchange    described    by    its    importance 
(Ifl)    and   by   definitions    (112). 

II.  Basic    reason    why    the    exchange    rate    varies 

(113).    H3.     Excess    of    accounts    on    one    side    to 

be  balanced  by  exchange  1I1I4-5.     How  this   pro- 
duces   gold  shipment. 

III.  Important    influences    affecting    the    exchange 

rate.    116.     Listed.    1I1I7-8.     The    export-and- 

import  influence. 

IV.  The    situation     in     foreign     exchange     at    the 

time    of    writing.    11119-11.        Summarized.    

112.     Interpreted. 

V.  Concluding     inferences     presented     (113). 

GOVERNMENT    AND    CITIZENSHIP 

Indianapolis    News 

Government 

A    Human    Need 

1.  There  would  never  have  been,  as  far 
as  one  can  see,  such  a  thing  in  the  world  as 
government  had  it  not  been  for  the  deeply 
felt  need  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and 
order  within  the  social  group.  This,  there- 
fore, is  the  primal  duty,  as  it  is  the  most 
important  function  of  government.  No  gov- 
ernment can  fail  to  perform  them  without 
being  false  to  the  law  of  its  life.  If  an 
institution  that  was  established  to  main- 
tain peace  and  order  is  unwilling  or  unable 
to  do  so,  it  ceases  to  be  the  institution  that 
men  meant  to  create,  and  did  create.  In 
the  bad  old  days  of  rulers  and  ruled  the 
case  was  exceedingly  simple.  Though  there 
were  often  much  disorder,  and  later  re- 
bellion and  revolution,  the  differentiation 
■made  it  clear  that  there  was  a  class  charged 
with  the  duty  of  suppressing  disorder,  and 
another  class  bound  to  obey.  There  was 
some  law — the  law  of  the  land  or  the  ruler's 
will  or  whim — that  was  enforced  on  the 
people. 

2.  There  was  no  possibility  of  any  con- 
fusion of  thought.  Tyranny  there  was,  and 
often  the  greatest  cruelty  and  injustice,  but 
there  were  also  authorities  and  men  under 
authority.  The  laws  were  enforced  un- 
equally; favoritism  abounded,  and  corrup- 
tion permeated  public  life.  Through  revo- 
lutions, whether  sudden  and  violent,  or 
peaceful  and  gradual,  old  abuses  were  swept 
away,  the  sphere  of  liberty  was  widened, 
and  government  became  more  and  more  an 
affair  of  the  people.  But  there  was  one 
thing  that  was  not  done  away  with,  and 
that  is  government  itself,  or  the  need  for  it. 
Both  endured,  both  will  continue  to  endure. 
Change  of  spirit  and  form  there  has  been, 
together  with  a  redistribution  of  power. 
But  there  has  been  little  change  in 
human  nature,  which  is  no  more  able  than 
it  was  a  thousand  years  ago  to  get 
along  without  government.  No  proof  of 
this  ought  to  be  needed;  but  if  it  is  de- 
manded one  has  only  to  point  to  Russia,  in 


which  country  men  are  even  driven  to  toil, 
and  kept  at  it,  by  governmental  taskmasters. 
Looking  to  the  east  for  light,  we  find  that 
despotism  has  succeeded  revolution — quite 
according  to  precedent.  The  path  is  well 
worn. 

Self -Government 

3.^  As  the  result  of  centuries  of  toil, 
sacrifice  and  struggle,  we  in  this  country 
enjoy  what  is  called  self-government.  The 
old  separation  of  classes  into  governing 
and  governed  has  disappeared.  The  law  is 
the  people's  law;  it  is  by  the  people,  acting 
through  their  representatives,  that  it  must 
be  enforced;  and  it  is  always  against  some 
of  the  rulers — that  is  the  people — that  it  is 
necessary  to  enforce  it.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  surprising  that  some  men  should  be 
confused  in  their  thinking  on  this  subject. 
When  rulers  and  ruled  are  identical,  it  is 
hard  for  some  to  see  how  there  can  be  any 
ruled — how  the  rulers,  if  they  are  truly 
such,  can  be  ruled.  Yet  this  is  what  self- 
government  means — it  can  mean  nothing 
else.  There  is  no  escape  from  government 
and  law.  One  of  our  greatest  democrats, 
Walt  Whitman,  says:  "Democracy,  too,  is 
law,  and  of  the  strictest,  amplest  kind. 
Many  suppose  (and  often  in  its  own  ranks 
the  error),  that  it  means  a  throwing  aside 
of  law,  and  running  riot.  But,  briefly,  it  is 
the  superior  law,  not  alone  that  of  physical 
force,  the  body  which,  adding  to,  it  super- 
sedes with  that  of  the  spirit.  Law  is  the 
unshakable  order  of  the  universe  forever." 

4.  If,  he  goes  on  to  say,  the  law  of  the 
spirit  does  not  operate,  if  people  do  not 
live  in  it,  then  the  people  must  apply  the 
law  which  is  based  on  force.  Self-govern- 
ment is  government,  and  not  the  denial  or 
abrogation  of  it.  It  should  be  peculiarly 
sacred,  since  it  is  the  creation  of  the  people, 
is  consented  to  by  them,  and  cannot  survive 
unless  it  is  upheld  by  them.  There  has  been 
neither  usurpation  nor  conquest,  but  a  free 
yielding  by  the  people  of  powers  to  a 
government  of  their  own  creation,  powers 
which  that  government  must  use,  if  it  is 
to  justify  the  trust  reposed  in  it,  and  per- 
form the  duties  assigned  to  it  by  its  cre- 
ators. The  choice  is  between  self-govern- 
ment and  no  government,  followed  as 
always  by  despotism,  whether  it  be  of  one 
or  many.  The  people  of  England  have  more 
than  once  enforced  the  law  against  the 
monarch.  It  is  not  remarkable,  therefore, 
that  Americans  should  sometimes  be  under 
the  necessity  of  enforcing  it  against  some 
of  those  in  whom  sovereignty  resides. 

State    and    People 

5.  Yet  there  are  people  who  think,  or 
pretend  to,  that  the  American  government 


120 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


is  a  government  of  the  old  type,  and  that 
those  against  whom  it  is  sometimes  forced 
to  act  are,  as  were  the  people  of  other 
days,  slaves.  The  old  division  into  rulers 
and  ruled  still,  in  their  minds,  exists.  The 
conception  of  the  identity  between  the  two 
is,  apparently,  so  complex  as  to  be  beyond 
their  grasp.  Of  course  they  do  not  realize 
that  the  American  government  would  be 
wholly  without  power  unless  it  had  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  behind  it,  and  do 
not  understand  that  whenever  the  govern- 
ment acts,  it  acts  as  the  representative  of 
the  people,  in  their  name,  and  as  the  em- 
bodiment and  wielder  of  their  power. 

6.  Radicalism  is  weak  in  this  country  be- 
cause it  is  directed,  not  against  a  govern- 
ment— as  it  thinks — but  against  a  people,  a 
people  who  are  for  the  most  part  contented, 
and  who  are  devoted  to  their  country  and  its 
institutions  and  laws.  Precedents  drawn 
from  the  French  revolution  which  are  such 
great  favorites  with  our  radicals,  do  not 
apply;  the  very  attempt  to  apply  them 
makes  those  who  rely  on  them  rather  ridicu- 
lous in  the  eyes  of  their  fellow-countrymen, 
who  are  not  conscious  of  being  oppressed 
or  enslaved,  and  to  whom  grass  is  not  a 
familiar  article  of  diet. 

7.  Our  would-be  revolutionists  are  the 
victims  of  their  own  false  or  mistaken 
analysis.  It  was  no  difficult  matter  to  stir 
up  and  infuriate  the  mob  against  a  French 
king,  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to  get  it  into 
successful  action  against  100,000,000  Amer- 
icans, some  of  whom,  at  least,  have  a  sense 
of  humor,  which  latter,  by  the  way,  is  a 
saving  grace.  It  is  like  fighting  the  force 
of  gravitation.  Self-government  means,  as 
it  might  be  supposed  anyone  could  see,  gov- 
ernment by  self.  Where  that  exists,  as  it 
does  in  America,  there  is  not  much  danger 
that  men  will  be  betrayed  into  a  surrender 
of  their  liberty.  In  our  Americanizing  pro- 
gram this  relation  of  the  people  to  the  state, 
and  of  the  state  to  the  people  should  be 
made  clear.  For  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
misunderstanding  abroad,  which  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  our  foreign-born  citizens. 


Citizenship 


Self -Control 


8.  But  self-government  implies  the  pos- 
session of  certain  characteristics  by  those 
who  practice  it.  Intelligence  of  course  is 
necessary,  for  it  takes  intelligence  to  enable 
one  to  understand  what  self-government  is, 
and  how  it  works.  This  is  why  ignorance 
has  in  this  country  been  regarded  as  a  great 
evil  and  menace.  Men  who  are  to  rule 
must  know  how  to  rule,  and  if  they  are  to 


be  ruled  they  must  understand  why.    Her- 
bert Spencer  said: 

The  republican  form  of  government 
is  the  highest  form  of  government,  but 
because  of  this  it  requires  the  highest 
type  of  human  nature — a  type  nowhere 
at  present  existing. 

9.  There  is,  however,  the  comforting 
thought  that  the  best  chance  of  producing 
the  type  needed  is  found  under  a  republican 
form  of  government.  The  natural  tendency 
is  toward  the  development  of  the  kind  of 
citizenship  that  is  needed.  The  problem  is 
one  of  encouraging  and  strengthening  that 
tendency,  and  co-operating  with  it.  There 
are  many  things  we  can  do — educate,  for 
example.  But  underlying  all  means  and 
methods  that  are  proposed,  there  is  a  prin- 
ciple which  must  be  understood,  and  applied, 
and  enforced.  It  is  the  principle  of  self- 
control  in  the  individual  life.  No  man  is  fit 
to  rule  others  or  to  govern  himself  through 
the  political  organism,  or  likely  to  submit 
loyally  to  authority,  unless  he  is  in  his 
daily  life  master  of  himself.  "If,"  writes 
the  apostle,  "a  man  know  not  how  to  rule 
his  own  house,  how  shall  he  take  care  of 
the  church  of  God?"  But  he  cannot  rule 
his  own  house  unless  he  is  able  to  rule 
himself.  Men  are  not  much  given  these 
days  to  tracing  responsibility  back  to  the 
individual,  but  there  is  where  it  belongs. 
In  a  recent  interview  in  the  New  York 
World,  Prof.  John  Erskine  of  Columbia 
University  said: 

We  drift  toward  a  condition  of  gen- 
eral irresponsibility  for  what  we  do.  We 
are  so  apt  at  explaining  our  conduct  in 
the  light  of  heredity,  or  of  environment, 
or  of  political  and  economic  conditions, 
that  •  we  have  no  occasion  to  think  of 
personal  responsibility. 

10.  Nothing  is  more  greatly  needed  to- 
day than  a  recognition  of  this  truth — and 
submission  to  it.  In  a  self-governing  com- 
munity individual  self-control  is  a  necessity. 

Good    Men 

11.  Yet  most  of  the  effort  of  the  day  is 
directed  toward  the  formulation  of  political 
and  social  programs,  which  may  be  good  or 
bad,  the  assumption  being  that  it  is  only 
through  some  sort  of  political  action  that 
evils  can  be  cured.  Most  of  our  discussion 
is  of  these  subjects.  But  life  is,  as  Pro- 
fessor Erskine,  harking  back  to  Aristotle, 
says,  largely  made  up  of  choices,  and  man  is 
free  to  choose,  and  he,  and  he  alone,  is  re- 
sponsible for  his  decisions.  The  professor 
further  says: 

Because  this  philosophy  lays  the  re- 
sponsibility upon  man  and  therefore 
ennobles  the  importance  of  his  spirit, 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


121 


it  has  been  called  humane.  This  doc- 
trine of  morals  would  say  that  although 
economic  conditions  in  the  world  provide 
a  large  field  of  moral  choice,  they  do 
not  compel  the  choice.  It  would  say 
that  the  great  war  was  not  brought 
about  by  economic  pressure  any  more 
than  robbery  is  brought  about  by  the 
poverty  of  the  thief  or  the  wealth  of 
his  victims.  Conditions  such  as  these  in 
the  humane  philosophy  are  called 
temptations,  not  causes,  and  the  man 
who  yields  to  temptations  has  made  a 
bad  moral  choice. 

12.  Men  are  looking  further  and  further 
afield  for  remedies,  and  neglecting  those 
that  lie  right  at  hand.  There  is  no  civic 
duty  that  begins  to  compare  in  importance 
with  that  which  rests  on  each  American 
citizen  of  being  the  best  man  he  possibly 
can  be.  The  civic  virtues  are,  after  all, 
individual  virtues — honesty,  loyalty,  truth- 
fulness, sincerity,  self-reliance,  self-control, 
industry.  The  profiteer  is  a  bad  citizen  be- 
cause he  is  a  bad  man.  A  community  of 
ideal  men  living  under  very  bad  laws  would 
be  a  better  community  than  one  of  bad  men 
living  under  ideal  laws. 

13.  Morality,  in  other  words,  is  not  and 
cannot  be  law-made — it  is  the  fruit  of  char- 
acter. Where  self-government  prevails, 
these  qualities  are  specially  needed,  because 
when  the  self  is  weak  or  debased  the  gov- 
ernment must  suffer  in  the  same  way.  When 
the  people  rule  they  must  be  fit  to  rule; 
otherwise  there  would  be  power  without 
virtue,  and  acknowledging  no  responsibility. 
And  the  result  would  be  the  end  of  self- 
government;  or  if  it  survived,  it  could  hard- 
ly be  more  than  in  mere  name.  Government 
is  trusteeship,  and  the  people  are  trustees 
for  themselves.  "It  is  required  in  stewards 
that  a  man  be  found  faithful."  What 
America  shall  be  depends,  not  on  what  con- 
gress does,  but  on  what  Americans  are. 
Here  is  a  program  that  every  man  can,  if 
he  will,  put  into  effect. 

The    stale 

14.  Lawlessness  and  disorder  are  more 
dangerous  in  free  countries  than  in  others, 
for  there  can  be  no  lawlessness  or  disorder 
in  such  countries  in  which  a  part  of  the 
state,  that  represented  by  lawnessness,  does 
not  participate.  So  there  is  a  schism  in  the 
government  itself.  If  the  state  is  "all  of 
us,"  as  it  is,  it  is  in  effect,  and  for  the  time 
being  destroyed  when  some  of  us  are  set 
against  others  of  us.- 

15.  Americans  should  try  to  think  of  the 
framework  of  the  state  as  sacred,  and,  as 
Arnold  argued,  of  the  state  itself  as  repre- 
senting our  "best  self."    Just  in  proportion 


as  the  best  self  is  not  developed,  or,  when 
developed,  is  not  so  good  as  it  ought  to  be 
or  might  be,  the  state  will  be  weak,  and  our 
politics  selfish  and  corrupt,  in  spite  of  all 
the  reforms  that  may  be  put  into  effect. 

16.  Finally,  it  should  be  said  that  self- 
control  and  a  sense  of  individual  responsi- 
bility are  the  correlatives  of  freedom.  We 
all  agree  that  a  man  should  be  his  own 
master,  but  we  often  fail  to  understand 
what  that  means.  If  he  is  his  own  master, 
he  must  be — a  master.  When  men  are  free 
from  sin,  they  are  free  of  course,  but  not 
from  obligations,  for  they  become  the 
servants  of  righteousness. 

17.  If  the  spirit  of  liberty  prevails  in 
this  country  we  shall  look  less  and  less  to 
the  government  for  salvation,  realizing  that 
when  the  government  assumes  duties  that 
the  citizen  should  perform,  or  relieves  him 
of  responsibility,  it  necessarily  narrows  his 
freedom.  Paternalism  costs  enormously, 
and  is  extremely  dangerous  to  liberty.  It 
weakens  self-reliance,  which  is  a  vital  ele- 
ment of  freedom,  and  tends  to  destroy  the 
very  instinct  of  liberty.  Self-government  can 
exist  only  among  people  who  are  capable  of 
managing  their  own  private  affairs,  for  it 
implies  individual  self-rule.  Even  with  its 
defects,  which  are  the  defects  of  the  people, 
self-government  is  the  strongest  and  most 
solidly  based  government  known  to  man.  It 
is  a  precious  possession,  and  should  be  cher- 
ished and  jealously  guarded  by  the  American 
people,  and  strengthened  in  every  way 
possible. 

This  essay  (printed  in  a  department  called  Case 
and  Comment)  is  a  criticism.  It  is  a  serious  ap- 
peal to  intelligence  and  patriotism  through  a  phil- 
osophical interpretation  of  the  purposes  of  gov- 
ernment and  the  duties  of  citizenship — an  exposi- 
tion of  principles  and  relations.  Note  how  the  em- 
ployment of  cross-line  heads  and  sub-heads  results  in 
a  clear  formal  indication  of  the  plan  of  consideration. 
The  article  consists  of  two  main  divisions  (I.  Grov- 
ernment;  II.  Citizenship).  The  subdivisions  in  each 
part  are  labeled  by  means  of  sub-heads,  thus  clearly 
marking  the  advance  of  the  discussion.  Tb  facili- 
tate more  detailed  analysis  in  the  classroom,  the 
article  is  here  paragraphed  more  freely  than  it  was 
originally. 

At  the  time  when  this  was  written,  the  World 
War  had  increased  the  number  of  serious  articles 
dealing  frankly  and  directly  with  larger  problems 
for  their  own  sake.  As  time  advances,  the  propor- 
tion of  more  superficial  and  "popular"  articles  may 
increase  once  more.  The  student  will  benefit  from 
taking  a  survey  of  the  field  to  see  if  this  shift 
has    yet    occurred. 

"THERE  IS  NO  POWER  BUT  OF  GOD" 

Dallas    Morning    News 

1.     'Whoever   sees    'neath    winter's    field 
of  snow 
The  silent  harvest  of  the  future  grow, 
God's  power  must  know." 
2.     It  is  a  tremendously  significent  thing 
that  it  has  never  been  claimed  that  power 


122 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


has  ever  been  given  a  bad  man  to  perform 
a  miracle. 

3.  Only  of  those  who  are  credited  with 
having  been  pre-eminent  for  their  goodness 
has  it  been  asserted  that  they  healed  the 
sick,  cleansed  the  lepers  or  raised  the  dead. 
Only  of  those  whose  devoutness,  faith  and 
obedience  were  known  of  all  men  has  it  been 
recorded  that  they  received  divine  power  to 
the  extent  of  being  able  to  do  such  things  as 
required  Divine  power  to  do. 

4.  From  the  prophets  on  down  through 
the  ages,  only  for  those  who  recognized 
God's  power  and  dominion  has  the  ability 
to  perform  miracles  been  claimed. 

5.  It  is  they  who  have  been  able  to 
realize  that,  as  the  Psalmist  says,  "Power 
belongeth  unto  God";  and  the  great  Apostle 
to  the  Gentiles  says,  "There  is  no  power  but 
of  God."  nm 

6.  The  man  who  had  been  blind  from  his 
birth  was  not  blind  mentally  or  spiritually, 
for  when  some  of  those  who  knew  him  began 
to  condemn  the  Great  Physician  he  said: 
"Why,  herein  is  a  marvelous  thing,  that  ye 
know  not  from  whence  He  is,  and  yet  he 
hath  opened  mine  eyes.  Now  we  know  that 
God  heareth  not  sinners;  but  if  a  man  be  a 
worshiper  of  God,  and  doeth  his  will  him  he 
heareth."  This  statement  is  given  impres- 
sive emphasis  and  confirmation  by  the 
Apostle  when  he  says:  "The  prayer  of  a 
righteous  man  availeth  much."  The  blind 
man  alluded  to  had  sat  without  physical 
vision  for  many  long,  dark  years.  He  real- 
ized that  without  the  intervention  of  God 
he  would  go  the  rest  of  his  life  with  sight- 
less eyes.  Thus  when  the  Pharisees  de- 
nounced the  Savior  as  a  sinner  this  grateful 
beneficiary  of  His  love  said,  "Whether  he  be 
a  sinner  or  no,  I  know  not:  one  thing  I 
know,  that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see." 
He  recalled  that  the  prophets  had  been  able 
to  perform  miracles  in  the  past,  that  they 
only  who  sought  "first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  his  righteousness"  had  ever  been  able 
to  do  these  things,  and  that  in  every  in- 
stance this  power  was  given  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  good  works  only,  he  very 
logically  came  to  the  conclusion,  "If  this 
man  were  not  of  God  he  could  ^o  nothing." 
Here  it  is  plainly  seen  that  unless  he  who 
seeks  power  from  the  source  of  all  power  is 
a  fit  instrument  for  using  it,  he  cannot  re- 
ceive it.  He  recalled  that  it  had  been  said, 
"They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew 
their  strength,"  and  that  this  waiting  con- 
sisted of  obedience,  patience,  loving  kind- 
ness, hope  and  faith.  The  Master  Himself 
said,  "I  can  of  mine  own  self  do  nothing. 
.  .  .  The  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  hej 
doeth  the  works."     And  it  is  another  very' 


significant  thing  that  before  the  accomplish- 
ment of  His  great  works  Jesus  went  to  His 
Father  in  prayer.  Indeed,  he  prayed  "with- 
out ceasing,"  and  said,  showing  the  great 
importance  of  obedience,  "I  do  always  those 
things  that  please  him." 

7.  The  power  of  God  has  never  been 
manifested  through  those  who  regard  not 
His  law. 

8.  The  blind  man  mentioned  before 
seemed  to  understand  this,  for  he  said:  "We 
know  that  God  heareth  not  sinners:  but  if 
any  man  be  a  worshiper  of  him,  and  doeth 
His  will,  him  he  heareth."  This  statement 
also  received  confirmation  from  the  Apostle 
when  he  said:  "The  prayer  of  the  wicked 
availeth  nothing." 

9.  Thus  we  see  the  great  enigma  that 
all  men  agree  that  only  the  good  are  ever 
favored  of  God  with  an  impartation  of  His 
power,  and  yet  many  refuse  to  fit  them- 
selves as  channels  of  His  love  and  power  by 
being  obedient  to  His  will  and  law,  when 
such  obedience  is  of  itself  the  only  means 
by  which  they  can  be  happy,  either  in  this 
world  or  the  next.  What  a  marvelous  thing 
is  this,  that  man  knows  what  is  best  for 
him,  realizes  that  it  must  be  so,  sees  in 
right  living  not  only  spiritual  growth,  but 
an  economic  principle,  and  yet  disregards 
what  he  knows  to  be  right,  what  he 
knows  is  the  only  means  by  which  he 
can  be  happy  and  make  others  so,  and 
goes  on  in  sin!  One  must  be  thoroughly 
convinced  of  the  mercy,  love  and  infinite 
goodness  of  God  in  order  to  be  able  and  will- 
ing to  trust  Him.  It  is  he  who  can  say,  with 
one  whom  we  do  not  know,  "One  thing  I  do 
believe — more  surely  than  the  evidences  of 
the  senses,  for  they  may  be  imposed  upon; 
more  surely  than  those  self-evident  axioms 
upon  which  mathematical  truth  is  built,  for 
these  axioms  are  only  spun  out  of  the 
human  mind,  and  not  external  to  it.  I  do 
believe  that  God  is  true.  I  do  believe  that 
whenever  God  makes  a  promise  He  will  as- 
suredly fulfill  it.  I  do  believe  that  if  you 
or  I  come  under  the  terms  of  the  promise 
He  will  fulfill  it  to  us." 

10.  This  is  the  kind  of  faith  and  love 
one  must  have  if  he  would  rejoice  in  the 
blessings  of  God's  love.  It  is  the  kind  that 
gives  joy  to  the  dejected  and  disconsolate, 
courage  to  the  desolate  and  hope  to  the 
despairing.  Such  a  faith,  such  a  hope, 
changes  one's  life  from  the  sinful  or  in- 
different to  one  of  devoted  consecration, 
from  the  doubtful  and  fearful  to  one  of  cer- 
tainty and  zeal;  from  one  of  idleness  and 

i^neglect  to  one  of  spiritual  energy  and  con- 
secrated endeavor.  It  causes  him  to  hate 
sin,  but  love  the  sinner;  to  look  with  love 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


123 


upon  all  God's  children,  to  see  in  them  His 
image  and  likeness;  to  find  in  them  purity, 
where  before  he  saw  only  the  impure;  to 
see  honesty  instead  of  dishonesty,  good  in- 
stead of  evil,  love  instead  of  hate. 

11.  The  idea  that  the  power  of  God  would 
be  given  to  one  with  material  thought  is 
given  most  terrible  rebuke  in  the  case  of 
Simon  the  sorcerer.  He  offered  the  Apostles 
money,  saying,  "Give  me  also  this  power, 
that  on  whomsoever  I  lay  hands,  he  may 
receive  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  reply  was, 
"Thy  money  perish  with  thee,  because  thou 
hast  thought  that  the  gift  of  God  may  be 
purchased  with  money.  Thou  hast  neither 
part  nor  lot  in  this  matter,  for  thy  heart  is 
not  right  in  the  sight  of  God."  And  the 
heart  of  no  one  is  right  in  the  sight  of  God 
who  thinks  the  power  of  God  can  be  pur- 
chased with  anything  other  than  obedience 
to  His  law,  the  law  of  Love. 

This  Sunday-topic  essay-editorial,  is  a  brief  disserta- 
tion, carefully  expressed  and  methodically  developed, 
upon  a  unified  theme;  hence  its  relationship  with 
the  essay.  Were  this  religious  essay  delivered  orally, 
instead  of  literally,  it  would  be  a  sermon.  (Variety, 
substantiality,  geniality,  and  good  sense  make  the 
editorial  page  of  The  News  enjoyable  and 
profitable.) 

PILSUDSKI   AND   CONDITIONS  , 
IN  POLAND 

The    Outlook 

1.  Years  ago,  a  Polish  authority  informs 
us.  General  Pilsudski  was  a  bandit  and  was 
prominent  in  the  troubles  of  1905.  A  So- 
cialist, but  with  influence  over  the  Polish 
troops,  his  movements,  we  are  told,  were 
favored  and  furthered  by  Germany.  In  re- 
turn he  has  not,  we  learn,  pushed  Polish 
independence  and  supremacy  in  former  Ger- 
man territory  as  vigorously  as  has  Pade- 
rewski. 

2.  Mr.  Paderewski  has  especially  resented 
the  cruel  rumors  spread  abroad  by.  the 
enemies  of  Poland  of  the  wholesale  killing 
of  Jews  in  that  country.  Months  ago  our 
papers  reported  "thousands"  of  Jews  slain 
there.  At  Mr.  Paderewski's  request  Secre- 
tary Lansing  appointed  a  commission,  con- 
sisting of  Henry  Morgenthau,  the  distin- 
guished Hebrew  diplomat.  General  Jadwin, 
and  Mr.  Homer  Johnson,  to  investigate  these 
rumors.  The  Commission  remained  in  Po- 
land for  two  months,  traveling  by  auto- 
mobile more  than  twenty-five  thousand 
miles,  and  making  a  personal  investigation 
in  every  town  where  anti-Jewish  outbreaks 
had  been  reported.  It  discovered  that  252 
Jews  had  been  killed  and  many  more  Gen- 
tiles. The  Jews  were  killed  either  by  un- 
controlled troops  or  by  local  mobs.  The 
acts  were  apparently  not  premeditated,  for 
if  they  had  been  part  of  a  preconceived  plan 

10 


the  number  killed  would  have  run  into  the 

thousands. 

3.  Madame  Paderewski's  work  in  Poland 
has  been  as  unremitting  as  has  been  her 
husband's.  She  is  the  head  both  of  the 
White  and  Red  Cross,  and  has  effectively 
aided  the  beneficent  mission  of  relief  headed 
by  Herbert  Hoover.  After  Mr.  Hoover  ar- 
rived in  Warsaw  he  said  to  the  Prime  Min- 
ister, "Mr.  Paderewski,  I  owe  you  money." 
It  seems  that,  years  ago,  two  boys  out  in 
San  Jose,  California,  wanted  Paderewski  to 
give  a  concert  there  and  wrote  to  him  about 
it.  He  replied  that  he  could  not  come  ex- 
cept for  a  guaranty  of  $2000.  The  confident 
boys  promised  it,  but,  on  the  evening  of  the 
concert,  were  aghast  to  discover  that  their 
receipts  amounted  to  far  less  than  that  sum. 
They  frankly  told  Paderewski  about  it,  and 
he  indulgently  said,  "Take  your  expenses 
out  of  what  you  have  received,  then  take 
ten  per  cent  for  yourself,  and  give  me  the 
rest."  There  was  little  "rest,"  and  this  is 
what  Mr.  Hoover  meant  by  his  remark — for 
he  was  one  of  the  two  boys. 

This  and  the  next  editorial,  Paderewski  the  Pa- 
triot, show  an  evident  connection  with  each  other. 
They  represent  the  editorial  sequence.  In  the  se- 
quence, two  or  more  editorials  are  grouped  to- 
gether, each  dealing  with  some  part  or  aspect  of 
the  main  subject.  The  sequence  therefore  serves,  or 
may  serve,  the  purpose  of  a  full-length  conspectus 
or  critical  essay-editorial ;  Hit  it  may  be  and 
usually  is  less  thoroughly  unified,  looser  of  structure 
and  more  flexible. 

PADEREWSKI  THE  PATRIOT 

The    Outlook 

1.  Ignace  Paderewski,  who  has  now  re- 
signed as  Prime  Minister  of  Poland,  has  not 
touched  the  piano  for  more  than  two  years. 
His  fingers  have  had  other  work  to  do. 
They  throttled,  for  example,  the  neck  of  a 
man  found  in  the  Premier's  apartment  one 
night.  With  one  hand  the  assassin  pre- 
sented a  paper  to  Paderewski;  with  the 
other  a  pistol.  On  the  paper  was  written 
Paderewski's  abdication  as  Prime  Minister. 
"Sign  that,"  said  the  villain,  "or  you  are  a 
dead  man."  Paderewski  grappled  with  his 
visitor  and  held  him  until  help  arrived.  To- 
day that  visitor  is  Paderewski's  firmest 
friend.  For,  with  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
country,  the  patriot  had  not  haled  the  man 
to  court. 

2.  Physically,  mentally,  and  morally, 
Paderewski  is  a  towering  figure.  When,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  he  commenced  his 
work  of  recruiting  Polish  troops  here  and 
getting  American  aid  for  his  country,  our 
people  looked  at  these  activities  as  praise- 
worthy detachments  ftom  his  real  work  in 
life  as  pianist  and  composer.  America  had 
yet  to  learn  that,  before  everything  Pade- 
rewski is  a  Pole  and  a  patriot.    They  were 


124 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


even  amused  at  his  setting  sail  for  Poland 
to  help  in  the  effort  to  bring  some  law  and 
order  into  that  chaotic  land;  they  supposed 
him  quite  too  unpractical;  indeed,  we  heard 
a  great  deal  about  the  artistic  temperament 
which. never  gets  down  to  "the  real  facts 
of  life."  So,  when  the  news  reached  Amer- 
ica that  Paderewski  had  become  a  part  of 
the  Polish  Government,  and  actually  Prime 
Minister,  it  took  one's  breath  away.  We 
heard,  "Why,  he  never  yet  kept  an  engage- 
ment.   What  a  man  to  choose!" 

3.  To  cap  this  we  heard  that  he  was 
going  as  ambassador  to  define  the  claims  of 
his  country  before  the  Paris  Peace  Confer- 
ence! But  he  has  justified  his  premiership 
and  his  ambassadorship.  Even  more  than 
to  Pilsudski,  President  of  Poland,  that 
country,  it  is  said,  owes  to  him  the  increase 
of  her  army  from  1056  men  to  a  million  in 
the  active  and  half  a  million  in  the  reserve 
force.  As  to  the  Conference,  certainly  more 
than  to  any  other  man  Poland  owes  to  him 
its  sanction  regarding  her  boundaries.  His 
persuasive  eloquence  has  elicited  high 
praise  from  the  conferees;  among  others, 
from  Mr.  Polk,  who  lately  returned  from 
Europe  at  the  head  of  the  American  dele- 
gation. 

4.  Now  that  the  Conference  is  practically 
a  thing  of  the  past  and  Poland  has  got  all 
that  Paderewski  could  get  there,  Pilsudski 
drops  him.  But  Paderewski  would  not  re- 
sign except  with  a  guaranty  that  he  would 
be  succeeded  by  men  whom  he  had  trained, 
men  in  sympathy  with  his  views.  So  we 
now  have  Skulski  as  Premier  at  Warsaw 
and  Padek  as  representative  in  Paris. 

See  the  note  on  Pilsudski. 

MR.  ROBINSON'S  NEW 

ARTHURIAN  POEM 

New  York   Times   Book  Review 
LAJiCELOT.     By    Edwin    Arlington    Robinson.    New 
York:     Thomas    Seltzer. 

1.  Many  poets,  unable  to  keep  continually 
to  the  serene  eminence  of  poetry,  descend 
from  time  to  time  to  the  flat  lowlands  of 
verse,  or  even  stumble  into  the  mere  ditches 
of  doggerel.  This  is  not  true  of  Edwin 
Arlmgton  Robinson.  Although  he  does  not 
always  achieve  the  perfection  of  a  poem 
like  Flammonde,"  he  never  offers  the  pub- 
lic any  slovenly  writing.  Reviewers  know 
that  any  book  by  Mr.  Robinson  will  be  well 
written,  to  say  the  least. 
^rh  "Lancelot,"  which  won  the  prize  of 
?500  offered  by  Samuel  Roth  through  his 
magazine  the  Lyric,  is  no  exception  to  this 
rule.  It  has  been  well  thought  out,  well 
felt  and  well  made.  This  is  not  to  say 
that  it  is  a  great  poem,  however,  or  that 
no    important    criticism    can    be    brought 


against  it.  Readers  will  have  to  answer 
once  again  the  question  that  suggested  it- 
self when  Mr.  Robinson's  "Merlin"  was 
published.  Has  he  the  temperament  for  the 
task  he  has  chosen?  Mr.  Robinson  is  a 
modern,  psychologically  acute,  accurate  and 
subtle.  When  he  draws  personality  the 
lines  are  firm  and  flawless.  But  can  he  show 
us  the  color  and  texture  of  life,  and  make 
us  feel  the  heat  of  it  in  those  old  days  of 
myth  and  magic? 

3.  Perhaps  he  could  if  that  were  his  in- 
tention, but  he  has  not  done  so.  He  has 
provided  no  background  for  his  great  lovers, 
Lancelot  and  Guinevere,  created  no  atmos- 
phere that  belongs  essentially  and  exclu- 
sively to  the  legendary  period  of  King  Ar- 
thur. Tennyson,  in  spite  of  much  that  we 
find  fulsome  in  his  "Idylls  of  the  King,"  did 
really  give  to  youth  a  sense  of  participation 
in  tournaments,  in  mad,  chivalrous  battles, 
in  quaintly  old-fashioned  miracles.  He 
lifted  Excalibur  out  of  the  lake,  and  his 
Grail  was  more  than  a  Light.  Mr.  Robinson 
tells  us  that  battles  are  being  fought,  or, 
lets  his  characters  tell  us.  But  he  never 
lets  us  see  the  fighting.  His  miracles  are 
of  the  modern  sort  that  happen  even  today 
in  the  minds  of  men  and  women. 

4.  Such  miracles,  however,  he  under- 
stands far  better  than  Tennyson  under- 
stood them.  With  the  utmost  lucidity  and 
precision  he  shows  us  what  is  happening 
in  the  mind  of  his  hero,  and  convinces  us 
that  what  he  shows  is  truth.  His  Lancelot 
is,  indeed,  an  "engine  of  jrenown"  and  s 
Prince  among  lovers: 

And   I    remember   more   fair   women's 

eyes 
Than  there  are   stars   in   Autumn,  all 

of  them 
Thrown  on  me  for  a  glimpse  of  that 

high  knight. 
Sir  Lancelot— Sir  Lancelot  of  the  Lake. 
I  saw  their  faces  and  I  saw  not  one 
To  sever  a  tendril  of  my  integrity; 
But    I   thought    once    again,   to    make 

myself 
Believe    a    silent    lie,    "God    save    the 

King!"    .     .     . 
I   saw   your   face   and   there   were   no 

more  Kings. 

5.  He  is  also  that  unfortunate  idealist 
who  learns  that  the  woman  he  has  chosen 
cannot  seek  the  Light  with  him;  but  he  will 
not  forego  the  Light. 

What  I  said  once  to  you  I  said  forever— 
That  I  would  pay  the  price  of  hell  to 

save  you. 
As   for   the   Light,  leave  that  for  me 

alone; 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


125 


6.  Mr.  Robinson's  Guinevere  is  of  baser 
metal. 

With  many  questions  in  her  dark-blue 

eyes 
And  one  gay  jewel  in  her  golden  hair. 

7.  She  is  the  woman  far  more  feminine 
than  womanly.  Even  after  disaster  sends 
her  to  the  convent  at  Almesbury  she  re- 
mains the  proud  and  grave  coquette.  She 
still  has  the  heart  to  taunt  Lancelot  with 
echoes  of  his  own  words  to  her. 

8.  When  Tennyson's  Guinevere  retired 
to  Almesbury  she  repented  and  prayed  to  be 
united  to  Arthur  again  in  heaven,  saying, 
properly  enough,  but  not  all  convincingly: 

It    was    my    duty    to    have    loved    the 

highest; 
It  surely  was  my  profit  had  I  known; 
It  would  have  been  my  pleasure  had  I 

seen. 
We  needs  must  love  the  highest  when 

we  see  it, 
Not  Lancelot,  nor  another. 

And  having  come  to  this  decision  sHe  sets 
out  to  be  a  sensible  nun  and  finally  becomes 
a  worthy  abbess. 

9.  But  Mr.  Robinson's  Guinevere,  even 
at  the  end,  thinks  of  Arthur  only  as  a 
shadow  cast  upon  her  life  by  the  will  of  her 
father.  (And  indeed  in  Mr.  Robinson's  ver- 
sion of  the  story  the  King  is  little  more 
than  a  shadow!)  We  are  made  to  feel  that 
she  loved  Lancelot  and  Lancelot  alone,  not 
because  of  "duty,"  certainly,  but  in  spite 
of  it,  and  in  spite  of  "profit"  and  "pleasure," 
because  he  was  an  individual  person, 
Lancelot.  And  when  he  is  about  to  say 
good-bye  to  her  forever  (as  Arthur,  not 
Lancelot,  said  good-bye  to  Tennyson's 
Guinevere)  she  is  not  making  penitent 
speeches  and  planning  to  be  an  abbess.  She 
is  simply  a  woman  broken  by  life  and  her 
mad  passion.  She  is  telling  Lancelot  how 
to  remember  her! 

When  you  see  one  woman — 
When  you  see  me  before  you  in  your 

fancy. 
See  me  all  white  and  gold,  as  I  was 

once. 

10.  Of  the  other  characters  in  the  poem 
Gawaine  is  most  interesting  and  very  well 
presented,  a  man  with  the  nonchalant  wit  of 
worldlings  in  every  generation,  who  is  will- 
ing to  be  "fried  with  other  liars  in  the 
pans  of  hell"  if  it  can  be  proved  that  he  is 
not  a  friend  of  Lancelot! 

11.  To  sum  it  up,  "Lancelot"  is  a  pene- 
trative study  of  the  interplay  of  personali- 
ties. In  presenting  Lancelot  and  Guinevere 
Mr.  Robinson  seems  to  have  thought  of  them 


chiefly  as  two  unique  and  powerful  human 
beings  who  might  have  lived  at  any  time  in 
the  world's  history  and  simply  happened  to 
live  in  the  reign  of  King  Arthur.  In  this 
poem,  as  in  many  others,  Mr.  Robinson 
shows  a  fine  knowledge  of  life  and  a  deep 
sympathy  with  the  great  who  must  live  it  to 
the  full.  "Lancelot"  is  easier  to  read  than 
"Merlin,"  also  being  simpler  and  more 
concise. 

12.  But,  although  it  is  an  idle  task  to 
give  themes  to  any  poet,  one  cannot  help 
wishing  that  Mr.  Robinson  would  interpret 
modern  American  life.  He  is  one  of  the 
few  who  could  show  us  the  light  in  cities 
whose  towers  are  taller  than  those  in 
Camelot. — Marguerite   Wilkinson. 

An  essay  in  literary  criticism  made  timely  by 
the  fact  that  the  author  and  the  poem  discussed 
were  prominent  in  the  contemporary  literary  news. 
Observe  the  employment  of  what  is  virtually  the 
8-8tage    structure : 

|1.  General  estimate  of  the  author.  1I1I2-10.  De- 
velopment, amplifying,  particularizing,  and  consid- 
ering with  the  book  as  a  basis.  f1[ll-12.  Con- 
clusion, especially  with  reference  to  the  poem 
discussed. 

^FRANCE 

A.  Glutton  Brock 
London    Times    Literary    Supplement 

1.  Among  all  the  sorrows  of  this  war 
there  is  one  joy  for  us  in  it — that  it  has 
made  us  brothers  with  the  French  as  no 
two  nations  have  ever  been  brothers  be- 
fore. There  has  come  to  us,  after  ages  of 
conflict,  a  kind  of  millennium  of  friendship; 
and  in  that  we  feel  there  is  a  hope  for  the 
world  that  outweighs  all  our  fears,  even  at 
the  height  of  the  world-wide  calamity. 
There  were  days  and  days,  during  the  swift 
German  advance,  when  we  feared  that  the 
French  armies  were  no  match  for  the  Ger- 
man, that  Germany  would  be  conquered  on 
the  seas  and  from  her  eastern  frontier,  that 
after  the  war  France  would  remain  a  Power 
only  through  the  support  of  her  Allies.  For 
that  fear  we  must  now  ask  forgiveness;  but 
at  least  we  can  plead  in  excuse  that  it  was 
unselfish  and  free  from  all  national  vanity. 
If,  in  spite  of  ultimate  victory,  France  had 
lost  her  high  place  among  the  nations,  we 
should  have  felt  that  the  victory  itself  was 
an  irreparable  loss  for  the  world.  And  now 
we  may  speak  frankly  of  that  fear  because, 
however  unfounded  it  was,  it  reveals  the 
nature  of  the  friendship  between  France 
and  England. 

2.  That  is  also  revealed  in  the  praise 
which  the  French  have  given  to  our  army. 
There  is  no  people  that  can  praise  as  they 
can;  for  they  enjoy  praising  others  as  much 
as  some  nations  enjoy  praising  themselves, 
and  they  lose  all  the  reserve  of  egotism  in 


126 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


the  pleasure  of  praising  well.  But  in  this 
case  they  have  praised  so  generously  be- 
cause there  was  a  great  kindliness  behind 
their  praise,  because  they,  like  us,  feel  that 
this  war  means  a  new  brotherhood  stronger 
than  all  the  hatreds  it  may  provoke,  a 
brotherhood  not  only  of  war,  but  of  the 
peace  that  is  to  come  after  it.  That  wel- 
come of  English  soldiers  in  the  villages,  of 
France,  with  food  and  wine  and  flowers,  is 
only  a  foretaste  of  what  is  to  be  in  both 
countries  in  a  happier  time.  It  is  what  we 
have  desired,  in  the  past  of  silly  vn-angles 
and  misunderstandings,  and  now  we  know 
that  our  desire  is  fulfilled. 

3.  For  behind  all  those  misunderstand- 
ings, and  in  spite  of  the  differences  of 
character  between  us,  there  was  always  an 
understanding  which  showed  itself  in  the 
courtesies  of  Fontenoy  and  a  hundred  other 
battles.  When  Sir  Philip  Sidney  spoke  of 
France  as  that  sweet  enemy,  he  made  a 
phrase  for  the  English  feeling  of  centuries 
past  and  centuries  to  be.  We  quarreled  bit- 
terly and  long;  but  it  was  like  a  man  and 
woman  who  know  that  some  day  their  love 
will  be  confessed  and  are  angry  with  each 
other  for  the  quarrels  that  have  delayed  the 
confession.  We  called  each  other  ridiculous, 
and  knew  that  we  were  talking  nonsense; 
indeed,  as  in  all  quarrels  without  real 
hatred,  we  made  charges  against  each  other 
that  were  the  opposite  of  the  truth.  We 
said  that  the  French  were  frivolous;  and 
they  said  that  we  were  gloomy.  Now  they 
see  the  gaiety  of  our  soldiers  and  we  see  the 
deep  seriousness  of  all  France  at  this  crisis 
of  her  fate.  She,  of  all  the  nations  at  war, 
is  fighting  with  the  least  help  from  illusion, 
with  the  least  sense  of  glory  and  romance. 
To  her  the  German  invasion  is  like  a  pes- 
tilence; to  defeat  it  is  merely  a  necessity 
of  her  existence;  and  in  defeating  it  she  is 
showing  the  courage  of  doctors  and  nurses, 
that  courage  which  is  furthest  removed 
from  animal  instinct  and  most  secure  from 
panic  reaction.  There  is  no  sign  in  France 
now  of  the  passionate  hopes  of  the  revolu- 
tionary wars;  1870  is  between  them  and 
her;  she  has  learnt  like  no  other  nation  in 
Europe,  the  great  lesson  of  defeat,  which  is 
not  to  mix  material  dreams  with  spiritual; 
she  has  passed  beyond  illusions,  yet  her 
spirit  is  as  high  as  if  it  were  drunk  with  all 
the  illusions  of  Germany. 

4.  And  that  is  why  we  admire  her  as  we 
have  never  admired  a  nation  before.  We 
ourselves  are  an  old  and  experienced  people, 
who  have,  we  hope,  outlived  gaudy  and 
dangerous  dreams;  but  we  have  not  been 
tested  like  the  French,  and  we  do  not  know 
whether  we  or  any  other  nation  could  en- 


dure the  test  they  have  endured.  It  is  no' 
merely  that  they  have  survived  and  kep' 
their  strength.  It  is  that  they  have  a  kinc 
of  strength  new  to  nations,  such  as  we  se< 
in  beautiful  women  who  have  endured  grea* 
sorrows  and  outlived  all  the  triumphs  anc 
passions  of  their  youth,  who  smile  when 
once  they  laughed;  and  yet  they  are  mor« 
beautiful  than  ever,  and  seem  to  live  witl 
a  purpose  that  is  not  only  their  own,  bu' 
belongs  to  the  whole  of  life.  So  now  w« 
feel  that  France  is  fighting  not  merely  fo: 
her  own  honor  and  her  own  beautiful  coun 
try,  still  less  for  a  triumph  over  an  ar 
rogant  rival,  but  for  what  she  means  to  al 
the  world;  and  that  now  she  means  fai 
more  than  ever  in  the  past.  i 

5.  This  quarrel,  as  even  the  German: 
confess,  was  not  made  by  her.  She  saw  i 
gathering,  and  she  was  as  quiet  as  if  shi 
hoped  to  escape  war  by  submission.  Th- 
chance  for  revenge  was  offered  as  it  ha< 
never  been  offered  in  forty  years;  yet  sb 
did  not  stir  to  grasp  it.  Her  enemy  gav' 
every  provocation,  yet  she  stayed  as  still  a; 
if  she  were  spiritless;  and  all  the  while  sh^ 
was  the  proudest  nation  on  the  earth,  s« 
proud  that  she  did  not  need  to  threaten  o: 
boast.  Then  came  the  first  failure,  and  sh< 
took  it  as  if  she  had  expected  nothing  better 
She  had  to  make  war  in  a  manner  wholl: 
contrary  to  her  nature  and  genius,  and  sh' 
made  it  as  if  patience,  not  fire,  were  th« 
main  strength  of  her  soul.  Yet  behind  thi 
new  pa,tience  the  old  fire  persisted;  and  th 
furia  francese  is  only  waiting  for  its  chance 
The  Germans  believe  that  they  have  deter 
mined  all  the  conditions  of  modern  war,  and 
indeed,  of  all  modern  competition  betweei 
the  nations,  to  suit  their  own  national  char 
acter.  It  is  their  age,  they  think,  an  age  i] 
which  the  qualities  of  the  old  peoples,  Eng 
land  and  France,  are  obsolete.  They  mab 
war  after  their  own  pattern,  and  we  hav 
only  to  suffer  it  as  long  as  we  can.  Bu 
France  has  learnt  what  she  needs  from  Ger 
many  so  that  she  may  fight  the  German  ide- 
as well  as  the  German  armies;  and  whe: 
the  German  armies  were  checked  befor 
Paris  there  was  an  equal  check  to  the  Ger 
man  idea. 

6.  Then  the  world,  which  was  holding  it 
breath,  knew  that  the  old  nations,  the  oL 
faith  and  mind  and  conscience  of  Europe 
were  still  standing  fast  and  that  scienc 
had  not  utterly  betrayed  them  all  to  th^ 
new  barbarism.  Twice  before,  at  Tours  an< 
in  the  Catalanian  fields,  there  has  been  sue] 
a  fight  upon  the  soil  of  France,  and  no\ 
for  the  third  time  it  is  the  heavy  fate  ani 
the  glory  of  France  to  be  the  guardian  natior 
That  is  not  an  accident,  for  France  is  stU 


THE  SERIOUS  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


127 


the  chief  treasury  of  all  that  these  conscious 
barbarians  would  destroy.  They  know  that 
while  she  stands  unbroken  there  is  a  spirit 
in  her  that  will  make  their  Kultur  seem 
unlovely  to  all  the  world.  They  know  that 
in  her,  as  in  Athens  long  ago,  thought  re- 
mains passionate  and  disinterested  and  free. 
Their  thought  is  German  and  exercised  for 
German  ends,  like  their  army;  but  hers  can 
forget  France  in  the  universe,  and  for  that 
reason  her  armies  and  ours  will  fight  for  it 
as  if  the  universe  were  at  stake. 

7.  Many  forms  has  that  thought  taken, 
passing  through  disguises  and  errors,  mock- 
ing at  itself,  mocking  at  the  holiest  things; 
and  yet  there  has  always  been  the  holiness 
of  freedom  in  it.  The  French  blasphemer 
has  never  blasphemed  against  the  idea  of 
truth  even  when  he  mistook  falsehood  for 
it.  In  the  Terror  he  said  there  was  no  God, 
because  he  believed  there  was  none,  but  he 
never  said  that  France  was  God  so  that  he 
might  encourage  her  to  conquer  the  world. 
Voltaire  was  an  imp  of  destruction,  perhaps, 
but  with  what  a  divine  lightning  of  laughter 
would  he  have  struck  the  Teutonic  Anti- 
christ, and  how  the  everlasting  soul  of 
France  would  have  risen  in  him  if  he  could 
have  seen  her  most  sacred  church,  the  visible 
sign  of  her  faith  and  her  genius,  ruined  by 
the  German  guns.  Was  there  ever  a 
stupidity  so  worthy  of  his  scorn  as  this  at- 
tempt to  bombard  the  spirit?  For,  though 
the  temple  is  ruined,  the  faith  remains;  and, 
whatever  war  the  Germans  may  make  upon 
the  glory  of  the  past,  it  is  the  glory  of  the 
future  that  France  fights  for.  Whatever 
wounds  she  suffers  now  she  is  suffering  for 
all  mankind;  and  now,  more  than  ever  be- 
fore in  her  history,  are  those  words  become 
true  which  one  poet  who  loved  her  gave  to 
her  in  the  Litany  of  Nations  crying  to  the 
earth : 

I  am  she  that  was  thy  sign  and  stand- 
ard-bearer. 
Thy  voice  and  cry; 
She  that  washed  thee  with  her  blood 
and  left  thee  fairer. 
The  same  am  I. 
Are   not  these    the   hands   that   raised 
thee  fallen  and  fed  thee, 
These  hands  defiled? 
Am  not  I  thy  tongue  that  spake,  thine 
eye  that  led  thee. 
Not  I  thy  child? 

An  essay-study  in  national  character  (therefore 
of  the  critical  class).  Note  the  earnest  fervor  that 
shows  in  its  generous  appreciation,  its  sustained 
vigor,  its  hightened  expression.  Note  its  style  and 
diction,  combining  simplicity,  clarity,  dignity,  force 
and  beauty.  Note  the  evidences  of  wide  reading ; 
and  note  especially  how  the  phrasing  is  made  to 
describe,  to  characterize,  to  define,  to  interpret — 
with   clearness,  with  vividness,   with   philosophic  ade- 


quacy and  precision.  That  the  article  was  written 
in  the  stress  of  doubtful  war,  and  with  the  propa- 
gandic  purpose  of  creating  in  Britain  a  high  and 
trustful  admiration  for  her  ally,  makes  more  nota- 
ble its  intellectual,  its  literary,  and  its  spiritual 
quality.  But  for  its  enthusiasm — eager  and  ex- 
alted, yet  sober  and  restrained — it  might  have 
been  written  in  some  placidly  studious  chamber  far 
set  away  from  things  and  thoughts  of  battle,  suffer- 
ing, and  death.  Thus  to  keep  serene  balance  and 
sure  judgment,  in  the  midst  of  conflict,  yet  above  it 
— that   should  be  the   editorial   ideal. 

Chapter  VIII.    Exercises 

1.  Examine  3  issues  of  such  a  journal  as 
The  Outlook  or  The  Independent  for  serious 
essay-editorial  articles,  setting  down  memo- 
randa of  your  observations  and  conclusions. 

2.  Prepare  yourself  (A)  to  discuss  from 
the  data  of  No.  1  the  kind  of  essay-editorials 
characteristic  of  the  magazine  studied,  or 
(B)  to  write  a  paper  of  about  500  words  on 
the  same  subject.  Be  ready  in  either  case 
to  produce  satisfactory  examples  or  illus- 
trations from  the  matter  read.  Unless  other- 
wise directed,  do  (B). 

3.  As  in  No.  1,  study  such  a  journal  as 
Harvey's  Weekly  or  The  Review  (New 
York). 

4.  Repeat  No.  2  with  reference  to  No.  3. 

5.  As  in  No.  1,  study  such  a  journal  as 
The  Nation,  The  Dial,  or  The  New  Republic. 

6.  Repeat  No.  2  with  reference  to  No.  5. 

7.  Work  out  a  comparison  of  the  maga- 
zine studied  in  No.  1  with  that  studied  in 
No.  3,  with  reference  to  their  essay-editorial 
articles.  Put  it  in  outline  form,  ready  to 
submit  to  the  instructor  should  it  be  called 
for. 

8.  As  in  No.  7,  comparing  the  magazines 
of  No.  3  and  No.  5. 

9.  Develop  in  a  brief  essay  the  com- 
parison outlined  in  No.  7.  Endeavor  to  give 
the  presentation  the  journalist  slant. 

10.  Repeat  No.  9  with  reference  to  No.  8. 

11.  Examine  a  week's  issue  of  a  good 
daily  paper,  clipping  all  the  articles  that  you 
regard  as  being  in  the  nature  of  essay- 
editorial. 

12.  Classify  the  clippings  made  in  No.  11 
as  regards  subject,  length,  structure,  tone 
and  manner,  and  purpose.  From  this  data, 
write  a  brief  characterization  (up  to  500 
words)  of  the  paper  with  reference  to  its 
essay-editorial  tendency. 

13.  Draw  up  a  list  of  10  suggestions  for 
essay-editorials  dealing  with  science,  so- 
ciology, economics,  and  commerce  or  indus- 
try. Set  down  the  subjects  proposed,  and 
in  a  single  sentence  indicate  the  intended 
line  of  thought. 

14.  Selecting  one  of  the  10  suggestions 
(No.  13),  prepare  an  outline  of  the  essay- 
treatment  in  form  for  submission  to  the  in- 


128 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


structor  or  the  class  for  consideration  should 
it  be  called  for. 

15,  16.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  14. 

17.  Repeat  No.  14,  using  another  of  the 
suggestions  in  No.  10. 

18,  19.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  17. 

20.  As  in  13,  draw  up  suggestions  for 
essay-editorials  dealing  with  history,  biog- 
raphy, politics,  and  government. 

21.  As  in  No.  14,  making  it  apply  to 
No.  20. 

22.  23.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  21. 

24.  As  in  No.  14,  using  another  of  the 
suggestions  in  No.  20. 

25,  26.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  24. 

27.  As  in  No.  13,  the  editorials  to  deal 
with  art,  literature,  music,  drama,  and  phi- 
losophy. 

28.  No.  14  applied  to  the  suggestions  of 
No.  27. 

29.  30.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  28. 

31.  No.  14  applied  to  another  of  the  sug- 
gestions of  No.  27. 

32,  33.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  31. 

34.  No.  13  applied  to  religion,  morals, 
and  the  inner  life. 

35.  No.  14  applied  to  the  suggestions  of 
No.  34. 


36,  37.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  35. 

38.  No.  14  applied  to  another  suggestion 
from  No.  34. 

39,  40.  Write  the  essay-editorial  laid  out 
in  No.  38. 

41.  Write  an  essay-editorial  of  contro- 
versial trend. 

42.  Write  an  essay-editorial  of  the  "wis- 
dom" or  reflective  sort. 

43.  Write  an  editorial-essay  of  the  con- 
spectus class,  unless  you  have  already  done 
one  of  these  in  the  previous  exercises. 

44.  Write  an  essay-editorial  of  the  crit- 
icism class,  unless  you  have  already  done 
one  of  these  in  the  previous  exercises. 

45.  Review  the  essay-editorials  you  have 
written,  examining  them  with  reference  to 
their  journalistic  suitability. 

46.  Continuing  the  review  of  No.  45,  con- 
sider your  editorials  with  reference  to  their 
plan  and  structure,  clearness,  comprehen- 
siveness of  treatment,  interest,  informative 
and  interpretive  value,  attractiveness  of 
presentation,  etc. 

47.  Write  a  thorough-going  criticism  of 
your  essay-editorials  based  on  the  review  of 
Nos.  45  and  46.  Deal  with  merits  as  well  as 
weaknesses. 

48.  Write  an  essay-editorial,  under  the 
title  Editors  as  Essayists,  in  which  you  dis- 
cuss the  essay-editorial,  its  value,  and  its 
characteristics. 


CHAPTER    IX 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


The  casual  essay  characterized. — 

The  essay  we  described  as  a  limited 
treatment  or  dissertation,  methodi- 
cally developed,  in  careful  or  finished 
manner.  If  now  we  incline  to  shorten 
this  essay,  thereby  further  restrict- 
ing its  thoroughness  and  comprehen- 
siveness; if  we  make  it  lighter  in 
manner,  mood,  and  touch;  and  if  we 
give  it  the  air  of  being  cursory,  of 
coming  by  chance  suggestion  as  much 
as  by  studied  purpose,  or  even  some- 
times of  being  a  bit  indifferent  to 
deeper  significance  so  long  as  it 
pleases  and  entertains — then  we  pro- 
duce the  casual  essay. 

Its  eighteenth-century  models. — 
Those  who  know  The  Spectator  need 
go  no  further  for  excellent  examples 
of  the  casual  essay.  Addison,  Steele, 
and  the  other  eighteenth-century  es- 
sayists of  the  Spectator  school,  did 
the  thing  to  a  nicety.  Wit,  humor, 
gaiety,  finish,  lightness  of  touch, 
fancy,  urbanity,  sympathy,  keenness 
of  perception,  variety  of  subject  and 
of  theme — all  these  desiderata  of  the 
casual  essay  characterize  their  work. 
Nor  is  there  missing  that  sin- 
cerity, or  ultimate  wholesomeness  of 
thought  and  strength  of  purpose, 
which  worthy  writing  inevitably  dis- 
closes. 

In  twentieth-century  dress. — ^To 
catch  the  spirit  and  manner  of  the 
Spectator  essays,  and  to  learn  to  em- 
body them  in  the  speech  of  our  own 
day,  is  to  qualify  for  essay-writing 
of  this  kind.  True,  so  far  as  sub- 
ject-matter, and  to  some  extent  in- 
clusiveness,  are  concerned,  many  of 
the  Spectator  essays  can  be  classified 
as  serious.  Such  are  the  essays  on 
writing,  on  politics,  on  religion  and 


morals,  and  on  critical  themes.  But 
in  manner  and  method  even  these  in- 
cline on  the  side  of  the  casual.  In 
brief,  the  Spectator  article  needs 
little  more  than  some  up-to-date 
"peg"  of  pertinence  and  a  twentieth- 
century  diction,  to  be  an  essay-edi- 
torial, quite  corresponding  to  those 
of  our  later  type. 

The  "free  spirit"  form  of  editoriaL 
— The  casual  essay-editorial  is  the 
natural  medium  for  expressing  spon- 
taneous moods  and  treating  transi- 
tory, incidental  or  accidental  topics 
— ^though  contradictorily  enough  its 
themes  will  at  bottom  frequently  be 
found  more  permanent  and  more  uni- 
versal than  in  editorials  seeming 
more  purposeful.  As  a  consequence, 
no  other  form  of  editorial  allows  the 
individuality  and  personality  of  the 
writer  more  freedom.  The  only 
things  prohibited  in  writing  it  are 
dulness,  heaviness,  a  too  obvious 
didacticism,  and  coarseness.  It  has 
the  extent  and  variety  of  subject 
legitimate  to  the  editorial  in  any  cate- 
gory, and  in  addition  it  permits  the 
utmost  liberty  of  treatment. 

Representative  editorials.  —  The 
spirit  of  the  casual  essay-editorial,  its 
informal,  cursory  manner,  and  its 
range  of  subject  and  theme,  are  sug- 
gested by  the  specimens  here  re- 
printed. 

"POWER"  TO  THE  MOVIE  AD. 


Some    Seen    on   Twelfth    Street    Have    the 
"Gripping"  Qualities. 

Kansas   City  Times 

Robert  W.  Service  has  nothing  on  the 
modern  movie  man  for  "power"  and  "grip- 
ping" qualities,  so  on,  ad  infinitum.  Look 
at  these,  all  from  the  same  picture,  seen  on 
Twelfth  street  yesterday. 


130 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


"Far  to  the  North  is  the  land  of  the  un- 
conquered  primal." 

(Speaking  of  the  hero.)  "Breed  of  the 
silver  North,  with  the  gentleness  of  a  baby 
and  the  ferocity  of  a  wolf." 

"The  land  where  men  go  to  forget." 

(A  line  about  the  asbestos  heroine.)  "A 
girl  of  the  silver  North  in  whose  veins  runs 
the  fiery  sunset." 

(Alaska.)  "Where  the  soul  of  a  man  is 
awed  by  the  big  silence." 

This  is  editorial  in  manner,  but  was  printed  as 
a  reader-interest  item  on  a  news  page;  observe  the 
news-story   head. 

WHO  WILL  BE  OUR  CURTIUS? 

Lowell    Courier-Citizen 

1.  An  underground  stream,  conveyed 
through  an  ancient  conduit  beneath  Brook- 
line  avenue  in  Boston,  has  produced  a  curi- 
ous subsidence  in  the  surface  of  the  street, 
making  a  hole  from  five  to  eight  feet  deep, 
twenty  feet  wide,  and  100  feet  long.  In 
ancient  times  such  a  cleft  appeared  in  the 
Roman  Forum,  and  the  engineering  wisdom 
of  the  day  decided  that  it  would  only  be 
closed  if  the  "most  precious  object  in  the 
city"  were  thrown  into  it.  Whereupon  one 
Marcus  Curtius,  modestly  estimating  him- 
self to  be  said  most  precious  object,  leaped 
with  his  horse  into  the  yawning  chasm — 
which,  we  are  credibly  informed,  closed  obe- 
diently above  his  head.  Will  Boston  call  for 
prominent  volunteers?  Do  we  hear  an 
eager  response  from  John  F.  Fitzgerald? 
Or  Mayor  Peters?  Or  Mr.  Filene?  Here 
seems  to  be  a  chance  to  become  immortal — 
at  a  considerable  sacrifice,  to  be  sure,  but 
for  the  lasting  good  of  Brookline  avenue  and 
within  hailing  distance  of  Fenway  Park. 

Mere  fun-making  over  unimportant  current  news. 
Yet  observe  how  the  exaggerated  analogy  between 
Boston  and  old  Rome  suggests  the  world's  progress 
in  freeing  itself  of  superstition.  Whether  the  grin- 
ning writer  in  the  Courier-Citizen  office  intended 
this  or  not,  does  not  greatly  matter.  He  did  his  stick- 
ful of  casual  funning,  and  there  the  thought  is, 
willy  nilly.  Shall  we  so  misjudge  his  readers  within 
the  zone  of  The  Hub's  intellectual  influence  as  to 
think  that,  when  they  had  smiled  at  his  little  es- 
say in  poking  fun,  they  missed  the  deep  signifi- 
cance   of    his    comparison? 

"OVERALLS"  OR  "OVERHAULS" 

Detroit   Free   Press 

1.  Anent  this  new  "overall"  fad,  Chris- 
topher Morley,  who  probably  knows  much 
more  about  books  and  bookshops  than  about 
farms  and  farmers,  remarks  that  if  this 
particular  kind  of  fans  knew  anything  about 
the  garments  they  affect  they  would  give 
them  their  customary  rustic  name,  "over- 
hauls." Not  so,  brother  of  the  pen.  The 
agriculturist,  in  this  particular,  at  least,  con- 
forms to  established  dictionary  pronuncia- 
tion and  spelling  in  calling  them  overalls. 


garments  worn  to  protect  the  workingman's 
clothing. 

2.  Carlyle  has  been  accused  of  coining 
the  word,  which  is  used  in  "Sartor  Resartus" 
in  referring  to  "the  vestural  tissue  of  woolen  ^ 
or  other  cloth  which  Man's  soul  wears  as  its 
outmost  wrappage  and  overall."  But  the 
word  was  in  use  before  Carlyle's  time,  and 
has  always  been  associated  with  blue  or 
brown  denim. 

Tenuous  and  almost  insubstantial,  this  cursory  bit 
of  comment  nevertheless  commands  interest.  _  It 
touches  on  something  that  is  in  the  public  mind, 
and  its  casual  detachment  offers  a  pleasing  variety 
from  most  of  the  discussion  on  the  same  subject. 
In  a  word,  besides  settling  a  question  that  doubtless 
puzzled  some  readers,  it  gives  relief  from  monotony 
of   viewpoint. 

THAT  DELECTABLE  BROWN  SUGAR 

New  York  Sun 

1.  How  about  the  light  brown  sugar  of 
boyhood  days?  Thrifty  housewives  may 
have  bought  it  because  it  was  cheaper  than 
the  ultimately  refined  white  sugar,  but  it 
was  not  always  consumed,  we  will  say  be- 
cause we  know,  for  that  reason.  It  was 
spread  in  spoonfuls  over  buckwheat  cakes, 
over  deep  saucers  filled  with  whole  grain 
hominy,  over  cornmeal,  over  oatmeal,  over 
layers  of  griddle  cakes,  full  griddle  size, 
with  plenty  of  butter  to  enrich  the  luscious 
tower.  And  when  boys  came  home  after  a 
half  day  in  the  lake,  the  pond,  the  old  swim- 
ming hole,  after  an  all  day  nutting  excur- 
sion, best  of  all  then  was  a  thick  slice  of 
fresh — hot  on  red  letter  days — home  baked 
bread  well  spread  with  butter  and  then 
thickly  topped  with  a  feast  of  brown  sugar, 
to  be  repeated  until  the  partaker  felt  his 
buttons.  Who  wanted  lamb  chops  with 
creamed  potatoes,  pork  tenderloin  with  apple 
sauce,  after  that  perfect  repast  ? 

Timely,  because  when  it  appeared  most  of  the 
world  was  thinking  about  sugar  and  how  to  get 
it ;  housewives  were  glad  to  get  even  a  pound  or 
two  of  the  formerly  disdained  brown  article.  Pleas- 
ing, because  it  has  the  human  interest  of  boyhood 
remembrances. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  CLOTHES 

Providence  Journal 

1.  The  near-tragic  experience  of  the 
President  of  the  French  Republic  is  another 
reminder  of  the  large  part  played  by  clothes 
in  our  daily  life. 

2.  The  trackwalker  to  whom  he  appealed 
after  falling  off  his  train  would  not  believe 
that  the  barefooted,  bareheaded  figure  clad 
only  in  pajamas  was  the  head  of  the  nation. 
"Might  you  not  be  the  Czar  of  Russia?"  he 
inquired  ironically. 

3.  M.  Deschanel  did  not  have  a  visiting 
card  in  his  pocket.  Perhaps  he  lacked  even 
a  pocket.  In  his  scanty  night  apparel  he 
was  unrecognizable  as  the  chief  dignitary  of 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


131 


the  republic.  No  man,  it  is  said,  is  a  hero 
to  his  valet;  and  none,  it  may  be  added, 
looks  like  a  President  in  his  pajamas. 

4.  Thus  it  was  that  for  several  hours 
M.  Deschanel  was  utterly  unable  to  estab- 
lish his  identity.  His  experience  gives  us 
food  for  philosophic  thought. 

Obvious  comment  upon  a  theme  as  old  as  time 
and  almost  as  threadbare  as  often  are  clothes  them- 
selves. But  it  is  not  every  day  that  the  President 
of  a  great  Republic  tumbles  off  his  sleeping-car  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  and  the  incident  is  too 
unusual  not  to  be  employed  in  re-pointing  the  ancient 
moral. 

AN  OLDEST  LIVING  GRADUATE 

Providence  Journal 

1.  Hats  off  to  Rev.  George  G.  Rice,  the 
oldest  living  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Vermont.  He  was  born  in  1819  at  Enos- 
burg  Falls,  and  now  lives  at  Council  Bluffs, 
Iowa,  being  "still  actively  engaged  as  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  church  in  that  city." 
Moreover,  "besides  his  work  in  the  church 
he  is  managing  one  of  the  largest  fruit- 
farms  in  western  Iowa." 

2.  At  one  hundred  and  one,  this  veteran 
graduate  is  certainly  a  marvel.  How  does 
he  manage  to  perform  his  dual  task  in  life? 
Perhaps  by  forgetting  his  age  and  attending 
strictly  to  every  day's  business.  That  is  a 
pretty  good  rule  for  old  people — and  for 
everyone  else,  for  that  matter. 

A  passing  comment  (casually  made),  largely  of 
an   incidental   news    (human-interest)    value. 

A  WEAPON  BURGLARS  FEAR 

Omaha    Bee 

1.  The  Mexican  gentleman  who  emerged 
from  an  Omaha  alley  at  2  o'clock  Friday 
morning  with  a  twelve-inch  knife  on  his  per- 
son had  the  one  sure  weapon  for  attack  or 
defense.  The  man  with  a  knife  is  exceed- 
ingly dangerous  to  the  health  of  his  an- 
tagonist. A  bullet  hole  here  or  there  may 
heal  up  in  time.  A  ten  or  twelve-inch  thrust 
of  a  knife  in  the  body  starts  a  lot  of  com- 
plications not  easily  overcome. 

2.  The  inoffensive  citizen  whose  home  is 
invaded  in  the  darkness  of  night  by  a  feloni- 
ous intruder  has  only  to  say  audibly  to  his 
wife:  "Mary,  hand  me  my  bowie-knife!"  and 
the  visitor  will  go  while  the  going  is  good. 

Another  example  of  chance  comment  upon  an 
incidental  bit  of  nevfs.  It  owes  its  readability 
mainly  to  its  brevity  and  its  tone  of  cursory 
lightness. 

SUNBONNET  SUE 

New    York    Sun 

1.  The  orchestra  at  a  recent  denim-ging- 
ham wedding  played  "Sunbonnet  Sue."  Sun- 
bonnet  Sue  herself,  so  far  as  we  can  make 
out,  was  not  there.    Why  was  she  not  there  ? 

2. ,  Ah,  sweet  Sunbonnet  Sue!    How  many 


youngsters,  as  young,  say,  as  that  merry 
hearted  stripling,  Dr.  Depew — how  many  of 
them,  we  ask,  remember  the  sweet  Sun- 
bonnet Sues  of  other  days?  How  many  of 
them  remember  that  cool,  umbrageous  pas- 
sage down  which  they  had  to  go  to — well, 
never  mind  what  they  went  down  that  pas- 
sage for.  It  is  nobody's  business  what  hap- 
pened when  they  got  down  to  the  end  of 
shady  Sunbonnet  lane,  where  dwelt  Sue's 
sparkling  eyes  and  laughing  lips.  Besides, 
they  only  went  down  there  to  see  for  them- 
selves whether  Sue  really  did  have  a  freckle 
on  her  nose. 

3.  But  one  thing  they  did  find  at  the  end 
of  that  flower  bordered  little  lane  of  smartly 
frilled  gingham — the  finest  thing  in  the 
world,  the  face  of  a  true-blue  American  girl. 
Now  if  there  is  anybody  on  earth  who  wants 
more  than  that,  bring  him  on.  He  would  be 
a  curiosity.    We  should  like  to  see  him. 

4.  When  will  you  come  back  to  us  once 
more,  sweet  Sunbonnet  Sue?  If  you  are 
going  in  for  gingham,  why  stop  at  the 
gown  ?  Why  not  cap  all  the  gingham  glory 
with  the  ravishing  gingham  sunbonnet  the 
American  girl  would  so  well  know  how  to 
wear,  the  sunbonnet  with  dainty  shadows 
which  carried  a  lure  all  their  own? 

5.  Ah,  what  a  fine,  pleasant  day  for  our 
own  sweet  Sue,  and  a  glorious  day  for  the 
youngsters  of  the  time  when  Sunbonnet  Sue 
returns  to  us! 

Light  casual  comment  in  the  mood  of  semi-serious 
reflection — a  pleasant  relief  from  weightier  subjects 
and    more   "strenuous"    writing. 

THOSE  WHO  LAUGH  AT 

A  DRUNKEN  MAN 

New  York  Evening  Journal 

1.  How  often  have  you  seen  a  drunken 
man  stagger  along  the  street! 

2.  His  clothes  are  soiled  from  falling, 
his  face  is  bruised,  his  eyes  are  dull.  Some- 
times he  curses  the  boys  that  tease  him. 
Sometimes  he  tries  to  smile,  in  a  drunken 
effort  to  placate  pitiless,  childish  cruelty. 

3.  His  body,  worn  out,  can  stand  no  more, 
and  he  mumbles  that  he  is  going  home. 

4.  The  children  persecute  him,  throw 
things  at  him,  laugh  at  him,  running  ahead 
of  him.  

5.  Grown  men  and  women,  too,  often 
laugh  with  the  children,  nudge  each  other, 
and  actually  find  humor  in  the  sight  of  a 
human  being  sunk  below  the  lowest  animal. 

6.  The  sight  of  a  drunken  man  going 
home  should  make  every  other  man  and 
woman  sad  and  sympathetic,  and,  horrible 
as  the  sight  is,  it  should  be  useful,  by  inspir- 
ing, in  those  who  see  it,  a  determination  to 
avoid  and  to  help  others  avoid  that  man's 
fate. 


132 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


7.  That  reeling"  drunkard  is  going  home. 

8.  He  is  going  home  to  children  who  are 
afraid  of  him,  to  a  wife  whose  life  he  has 
made  miserable. 

9.  He  is  going  home,  taking  with  him 
the  worst  curse  in  the  world — to  suffer  bitter 
remorse  himself  after  having  inflicted  suf- 
fering on  those  whom  he  should  protect. 

10.  And  as  he  goes  home  men  and  wom- 
en, knowing  what  the  home-coming  means, 
laugh  at  him  and  enjoy  the  sight 

11.  In  the  old  days  in  the  arena  it  occa- 
sionally happened  that  brothers  were  set  to 
fight  each  other.  When  they  refused  to 
fight  they  were  forced  to  it  by  red-hot  irons 
applied  to  their  backs. 

12.  We  have  progressed  beyond  the 
moral  condition  of  human  beings  guilty  of 
such  brutality  as  that.  But  we  cannot  call 
ourselves  civilized  while  our  imaginations 
and  sympathies  are  so  dull  that  the  reeling 
drunkard  is  thought  an  amusing  spectacle. 

11.  Note  the  appeal  to  every  day  experience. 
11112-4.  Note  how  plain  and  unpretentious,  yet  ef- 
fective, is  the  description.  fUS-lO  make  the  reader 
feel  that  he  personally  is  addressed.  1(1111-12  drive 
home  the  thought  that  has  now  been  prepared  for 
by  makine:  the  reader  sense  the  human  purport  of 
the  thing  that  he  has   often  seen. 

This  editorial  is  one  of  the  "Brisbane  editorials," 
written  by  Arthur  Brisbane,  editor  of  the  New 
York  Journal,  himself  owner  and  publisher  of  im- 
portant papers  elsewhere.  Mr.  Brisbane  has  a  world- 
wide reputation,  gained  by  his  editorials,  and  is  said 
to  be  the  highest-paid  editorial-writer  in  the  pro- 
fession. If  common  report  is  to  be  depended  on,  his 
salary  as  an  editor  is  at  least  $50,000,  and  it  has 
been  stated  as  larger  than  that  of  the  president  of 
the  United  States.  His  editorials  are  distinguished 
by  simplicity  and  clearness  of  exposition  and  by 
extensive  knowledge  in  many  subjects,  but  still  more 
by  their  dependence  upon  human-interest.  He  is, 
indeed,  the  leader  among  the  writers  of  human- 
interest  editorials,  and  his  reputation  and  influence 
are  the  result  of  this  remarkable  ability  of  his  to 
write  about  his  manifold  subjects  in  a  way  that 
makes  them  interesting  by  showing  their  bearing  upon 
every  day  human  concerns.  There  are  other  writers 
in  the  same  kind  who  equal  and  perhaps  surpass 
Mr.  Brisbane,  in  literary  quality,  or  keenness  of  wit 
or  humor,  or  fancifulness  and  imaginativeness,  or 
skill  in  phrasing.  Yet  because  of  his  long-sustained 
output,  and  of  his  wonderful  ability  to  lead  the 
common  man  to  think  by  way  of  his  every  day  ex- 
periences and  emotions,  Mr.  Brisbane's  pre-eminence 
in  the  editorial  of  human-interest  effectiveness  is 
difficult  to  question.  Additional  Brisbane  editorials 
are_  reprinted  in  this  book.  Let  the  student  analyze 
their  employment  of  human-interest,  and  compare 
them  in  this  respect  with  other  human-interest 
editorials.  To  write  a  study  of  a  thousand  words 
based   on   this   examination   will  be   worth  his   effort. 

WHAT  IS  A  GENTLEMAN? 

Omaha    Bee 

1.  There  has  never  yet  been  written  a 
definition  of  a  gentleman  that  covers  the 
meaning  of  the  word  in  every  enlightened 
country.  A  gentleman  of  France  might  not 
be  accepted  as  such  in  England,  in  Spain,  in 
Italy,   or  in  America.     And  an   American 


gentleman  is  surely  a  quite  different 
creature  from  the  gentleman  of  foreign  na- 
tions. 

2.  Some  think  that  clothes  make  a  gen- 
tleman— an  obvious  error.  Others  consider 
gentle  birth  the  first  requisite,  and  groups 
differ  in  consideration  of  breeding,  refine- 
ment, profession  and  character.  A  gambler, 
a  burglar,  a  confidence  man,  may  be  a 
gentleman  under  many  definitions;  even  a 
libertine  is  not  barred  in  some  conceptions 
of  the  world's  meaning. 

3.  In  America  we  think  the  general  ac- 
ceptation of  the  word  the  best  in  the  world, 
because  it  considers  character,  conduct,  and 
kindly  helpfulness  and  consideration  for 
others,  regardless  of  social  station  or  finan- 
cial standing,  more  vital  to  gentility  than 
education  or  polish.  It  considers  interior 
qualities  rather  than  exterior  appearances. 
A  little  girl  mentioned  in  the  Atlanta  Con- 
stitution has  beautifully  expressed  the 
American  idea  of  what  the  word  means.  A 
heavy  wind  blew  her  and  a  companion  down 
on  the  street  while  they  were  going  to 
school.  A  man  picked  them  up  and  escorted 
them  to  the  school  house,  holding  them  by 
the  hand.    We  quote  the  Constitution: 

4.  When  one  of  them  related  the  occur- 
rence at  home,  she  was  asked  what  kind  of 
a  man  he  was.  She  answered:  "I  don't 
know  exactly.  He  wasn't  a  gentleman  by 
his  clothes,  but  I  think  he  was  inside." 

What  caused  the  editor  to  write  this  passing  con- 
sideration of  "what  is  a  gentleman"?  Who  knows? 
The  subject  came  to  him ;  he  saw  that  it  was 
good,  and  wrote.  Once  started,  he  said  some  sensi- 
ble though  by  no  means  novel  things,  and  gave  us 
a  good  descriptive  definition.  But  after  all,  the  in- 
terest is  mostly  in  the  chance  nature  of  the  theme — 
like  the  interest,  always  attractive,  of  "the  things 
that's  said  in  passing  by  the  stranger  in  the  street." 

A  STRANGE  RITE 

Chicago    Evening    Post 

1.  The  inhabitants  of  Manhattan — ^which 
is  described  by  geographers  as  an  island 
lying  about  a  thousand  miles  east  of  the 
great  city  of  Chicago — have  a  strange  cus- 
tom, the  origin  of  which  is  lost  in  antiquity. 

2.  Every  twelvemonth  the  guardians  of 
the  law  of  these  people  gather  together  all 
the  weapons  which  have  been  taken  from 
evildoers — revolvers,  dirks,  blackjacks  and 
"knucks" — load  them  on  a  boat  and  proceed 
in  the  direction  of  the  sea  until  they  reach 
a  great  statue  called  Liberty. 

3.  Here  the  boat  pauses,  and  the  weapons 
— to  the  value  of  $30,000,  it  is  said — are  then 
cast  into  the  deep,  one  by  one,  by  the  guar- 
dians of  the  law.  Whether  the  throwing  is 
accompanied  by  incantations  or  prayers  is 
not  known,  as  the  guardians  are  very  jealous 
of  this  rite. 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


133 


4.  It  is  supposed  that  by  this  ceremony 
the  guardians  hope  to  purge  the  evildoers  of 
their  evil  spirit  and  thus  preserve  the  lives 
and  the  properties  of  the  Manhattaners. 
Otherwise,  it  is  difficult  to  explain  it,  as  the 
iron  and  steel  in  the  weapons  could  by  a 
process  well  known  to  the  people  of  the 
island  be  melted  down  and  converted  into 
useful  articles,  as  is,  in  fact,  done  by  them 
with  other  old  iron  and  steel. 

5.  Neither  can  the  strange  custom  be  ex- 
plained as  a  desire  to  lessen  the  number  of 
revolvers,  etc.,  for  they  are  produced  in 
large  quantities  in  territory  contiguous  to 
Manhattan,  and,  indeed,  are  openly  sold  in 
the  market  places  of  the  island. 

6.  By  others,  however,  it  is  said  that  the 
ceremony  is  an  offering  to  propitiate  Nep- 
tune, that  he  may  be  more  favorable  to  the 
ships  which  the  Manhattaners  dispatch  upon 
the  sea.  Still  others  regard  it  as  a  tribute  to 
Venus,  who  is  held  in  great  esteem  by  the 
islanders,  and  who,  we  are  told,  was  born 
from  the  foam  of  the  sea. 

Here  is  an  editorial  imitation  of  Irving.  The  un- 
accustomed manner  attracts  us,  and  enables  the 
writer  to  comment  on  what  has  many  times  before 
been  commented  upon.  Quite  likely,  in  a  New  York 
paper  a  more  direct  treatment  would  have  been  given, 
the  subject  being  local.  But  the  Chicago  editor's 
little  essay  would  have  been  quite  as  good  in  New 
York,  whereas  the  subject,  being  local  to  New  York, 
would  not  so  easily  yield  itself  to  a  direct,  matter- 
of-fact  approach   for   Chicago   readers. 

PUMPKIN  AND  FODDER  SHOCK 

Minneapolis    Journal 

1.  When  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  first  saw 
about  the  Indian  villages  of  Massachusetts 
fields  of  corn  with  golden  pumpkins  between 
the  rows,  they  saw  something.  We  who 
have  looked  upon  similar  sights  since,  mul- 
tiplied and  glorified  by  good  agriculture, 
know  what  they  missed  by  not  having  their 
kodaks  along. 

2.  There  is  something  about  freshly 
shocked  corn,  standing  in  a  stubble-field  iall 
spattered  with  globes  of  gold,  that  brings 
the  soul  to  tiptoe,  smiling.  Showier  gardens 
were  known  to  the  old  World;  but  nothing 
just  like  this — orderly  rows  of  greenish,  dun- 
colored  shocks  in  orderly  rows  of  corn 
stubble,  and  in  and  among  them  disorderly 
gold,  and  enough  of  ripened  weeds  to  give 
to  the  scene  the  air  of  accidental  growth  and 
accidental  discovery. 

3.  Cutting  corn  in  the  days  of  the  corn 
knife  was  the  farm  boy's  expedition  in 
search  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  To  cut  a  swath 
two  rods  wide  and  eighty  rods  long  through 
a  growthy  cornfield  was  a  ten-hours'  work, 
and  the  showiest  day's  work  in  the  year's 
programme.  If  the  field  contained  un- 
counted pumpkins,  the  work  partook  of  the 
joy  both  of  forest  clearing  and  of  bonanza 


mining.    For  the  small  boy  on  the  unevent- 
ful farm,  corn  cutting  was  glorious. 

4.  But  now  the  corn  knife  and  the  pump- 
kin are  driven  from  the  cornfield  to  the  corn 
patch.  Horses  and  harvesters  mow  the  crop. 
Pumpkins  would  be  in  the  way  of  the  wheels. 
On  many  well-managed  farms  there  are  no 
fodder  shocks,  no  slatted  cribs  of  golden  com. 
The  whole  com  growth — ^tassel,  stalk,  leaf 
and  ear — are  swept  up,  run  through  a  vege- 
table sausage  grinder,  and  canned  for  win- 
ter use  in  the  big  barn  towers,  those  benevo- 
lent rural  dungeon  keeps  of  democracy  that 
stand  as  a  guarantee  of  national  prosperity 
— good  milk  for  babies  and  nourishing  meat 
for  all. 

Casual  description  and  reminiscence  suggested  by 
the  season.  Perhaps  the  writer  had  been  taking  an 
auto  drive  among  the  Minnesota  fields  of  corn  at 
harvesting  time,  and  had  his  memory  of  boyhood 
farming-days  aroused  by  the  contrast  between  them 
and  the  present.  Observe  how  in  %i  he  finds  com- 
pensation for  the  change  in  the  matters  of  fact 
that  he  there  mentions.  Like  the  rest  of  us,  the 
editor  may  lament  the  past,  but  must  see  the  good 
in   the  present. 

A  STRIKE  AGAINST  STIFF  COLLARS 

New  York   Sun  and  Herald 

1.  Every  man  who  wears  a  stiff  collar 
will  have  some  sympathy  with  the  strike  in 
Chicago  against  the  starched  yoke.  Not 
only  have  collars  advanced  painfully  in  price, 
but  the  cost  of  laundering  has  doubled  in 
the  last  two  years.  Four  cents  a  day  for 
a  clean  collar  runs  into  money,  eating  as  it 
does  the  interest  on  nearly  $300.  As  for 
starched  shirts,  which  the  indignant  Chi- 
cagoese  have  also  foresworn,  they  have  been 
growing  fewer  in  recent  years. 

2.  The  soft  white  collar,  which  we  pre- 
sume is  the  substitute  adopted  in  Cook 
County,  is  an  admirable  garment.  It  looks 
good  on  any  man,  at  least  for  a  few  min- 
utes. On  some  men  it  looks  well  all  day, 
but  these  men  are  particularly  favored  by 
nature.  There  are  other  men  unsuited  by 
their  anatomic  architecture  to  wear  the 
pliable  cotton  circle.  They  put  one  on  in  the 
morning  and  the  mirror  approves  it,  but  in 
an  hour  all  the  beauty  is  gone. 

3.  The  collar  wilts  under  its  own  weight, 
like  certain  presidential  booms,  or  is  crushed 
by  the  relentless  neck  and  jowl  of  the  wear- 
er. Nor  will  it  rise,  like  truth,  again.  It 
grovels  and  writhes,  and  no  effort  of  its  un- 
happy owner,  no  scientific  adjustment  of  the 
necktie,  can  make  it  stand  up  and  be  any- 
thing like  the  pictures  of  it  that  appear  in 
the  soft  collar  advertising. 

4.  No,  the  soft  collar  is  like  pearls  and 
rubber  plants,  quickly  affected  by  the  pos- 
sessor's personality.  Some  persevering 
men,  after  years  of  effort,  have  learned  to 
make  the  soft  collar  change  its  ways  and 


134 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


love  them;  yet  it  has  never  looked  the  same 
on  them  as  it  appears  on  the  gifted  fellows 
born  to  wear  soft  collars. 

5.  Incidentally,  there  is  a  common  super- 
stition that  soft  collars  are  more  com- 
fortable than  starched  ones  in  hot  weather. 
This  is  a  fallacy  as  widespread  as  the  notion 
that  it  is  a  felony  to  hit  a  man  who  wears 
glasses.  Costly  as  it  is,  and  uncomfortable 
as  it  sometimes  looks,  the  stiff  collar  is 
infinitely  cooler  than  the  soft.  But  it  is  not 
hot  now  in  Chicago  or  anywhere  else  north 
of  Dixie,  so  the  strike  against  the  hard- 
boiled  collar  can  proceed  in  comfort. 

Informal  discursive  remarks  suggested  by  the 
news  in  the  peg.  Very  common  and  commonplace 
details  are  handled  "with  a  manner;"  so  that  they 
are  raised  above  their  uninteresting  matter-of-fact- 
ness  and  unpleasant  associations,  and  tajte  a  tone 
of  homely  fancy  and  entertaining,  realistic  pic- 
turesqueness.  (This  effect  is  obtained  largely  by 
means  of  good-natured  comparisons,  slightly  exag- 
gerated but  kept  well  on  this  side  of  burlesque  or 
farce.  The  result  is  pleasing ;  and  the  editorial 
affords  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  possibilities 
of  very  ordinary,  not  to  say  commonplace  subjects, 
in    skilful    hands.) 

THE  APOTHEOSIS  OF  MINCE  PIE 

Detroit   Free   Press 

1.  A  writer  of  pessimistic  disposition  re- 
cently bewailed  the  decadence  of  mince  pie 
— the  winter  pie-timber  of  the  old-fashioned 
housekeeper — complaining  that  faddists  and 
prohibitionists  had  quite  ruined  that 
"noblest  of  desserts,"  so  that  it  no  longer 
enchants  the  palate. 

2.  Time  brings  changes  in  culinary 
recipes  as  well  as  in  date  lines.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  mince  pie  of  today  is  a 
triumph  of  matter  over  mind.  When  a 
sixth  section  is  placed  before  the  consumer 
he  is,  after  the  initial  mouthful,  a  firm 
advocate  of  territorial  expansion.  He  has 
tasted  a  sublimated  and  etherialized  viand 
that  far  surpasses  in  deliciousness  of  flavor 
and  palatability  his  former  knowledge  of 
pie,  no  matter  what  its  species.  The  high 
price  of  meat  compelled  a  reconstruction  of 
the  time-honored  formula;  the  cook  set  out 
upon  a  plan  of  improvement  which  has  suc- 
ceeded admirably,  especially  in  that  it  re- 
moves all  danger  of  indigestion  and  night- 
mare. The  mince  pie  of  today  may  be 
meatless  and  moral,  nevertheless  it  is  not  a 
menace  to  sound  sleep. 

3.  The  science  of  the  cookbook  has  been 
revised  to  suit  altered  conditions  of  living, 
less  gross  appetites  and  more  refined  pal- 
ates. We  do  not  scorn  gastronomic  joys,  but 
we  temper  them  more  discreetly.  Who  of 
us  could  endure  a  series  of  Elizabethan 
breakfasts,  with  their  huge  joints  of  beef 
and  mutton  and  prodigious  meat  pastries, 
washed  down  with  copious  draughts  of  ale? 


Man  no  longer  feeds;  he  eats  with  more 
moderation,  and  for  the  most  part  more 
decorously. 

4.  It  has  been  claimed  that  the  degenera- 
tion of  a  nation  is  measured  by  the  deteriora- 
tion of  its  food  and  cooking,  and  the  deca- 
dence of  Rome  has  been  instanced  as  an 
example.  But  we  are  not  mutilating  larks 
and  nightingales  to  emulate  the  feasts  of 
Lucullus.  We  are  rather  progressing  in  re- 
finement and  knowledge  of  nutrition  and, 
incidentally,  exalting  the  evolution  of  the 
more  ideal  mince  pie. 

A  second  example  of  the  commonplace  homely 
subject  skilfully    "essay-ized."     See   the   comment   on 

"A   Strike  Against  Stiff   Collars," 

ORIGIN  OF  A  HOME-WRECKING 
DISTEMPER 

Omaha    Bee 

1.  In  all  the  city,  town  and  country 
homes  of  Nebraska,  as  the  vernal  season 
gathers  headway,  all-too-busy  housewives 
are  succumbing  to  the  housecleanlng  germ, 
whose  attacks  come  suddenly  with  each  suc- 
ceeding springlike  day.  We  find  it  hard  to 
write  of  this  semi-annual  horror  without  be- 
traying great  bitterness  of  spirit,  because  it 
is  a  form  of  industry  we  despise.  We  men- 
tion it  only  because  it  comes  in  the  line  of 
public  duty  to  do  so,  in  order  to  prepare 
men's  minds  for  the  inevitable  week  of  an- 
noyance, disarranged  books,  misplaced  fur- 
niture, dust,  flurry  and  cold  meals. 

2.  When  and  where  did  housecleaning 
originate?  Not  in  ancient  Greece  or  Rome, 
nor  in  the  land  of  the  unspeakable  Turk, 
nor  in  Russia.  Not  in  Cleopatra's  mystic 
realm,  nor  anywhere  in  all  Asia  and  Africa. 
China's  curious  civilization  of  3000  years 
has  been  free  from  it,  as  have  Greenland's 
icy  mountains  and  India's  coral  strands. 
Even  the  Moors  who  settled  in  Spain  and 
gave  personal  and  civic  cleanliness  its  first 
victories  in  Europe,  cannot  be  charged  with 
it.  The  American  Indian  also  is  guiltless, 
as  are  the  denizens  of  the  innnumerable  isles 
of  the  seven  seas. 

3.  Who,  then,  inflicted  housecleaning, 
with  all  its  attendant  ills,  on  America  ?  We 
shall  no  longer  conceal  the  truth.  The  New 
Englanders  did  it,  the  Yankees,  the  busy- 
bodies  of  the  New  World.  But  why?  The 
answer  is  easy.  It  was  invented  as  a  con- 
trast to  that  other  New  England  institu- 
tion. Thanksgiving  day.  And  it  is  some 
contrast,  verily.  We  used  to  think  it  a  cus- 
tom. Now  we  know  better.  It  is  a  disease, 
"peculiar  to  women,"  as  dear  old  Lydia 
Pinkham  would  say.  But  not  even  her 
genius  for  medical  discoveries  ever  found  a 
specific  for  it.  We  fear  it  never  will  be 
shaken  off  in  this  world.    Its  tentacles  have 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


135 


too  firm  a  grip  everywhere.  It  is  the  cancer 
of  housekeeping,  the  black  plague  of  do- 
mestic life,  the  scrub-brush  and  broom- 
handle  itch  of  modern  times.  It  began 
when  the  Blue  law  that  prohibited  men  from 
kissing  their  sweethearts  and  wives  on  Sun- 
days went  into  effect.  In  their  displeasure 
the  New  England  women  began  raising  a 
dust  and  called  it  housecleaning.  They  have 
been  raising  this  dust  ever  since,  and  men 
flee  when  no  man  pursueth.  Can  you  blame 
them? 

In  one  or  another  form,  the  sense  of  humor  is 
responsible  for  a  large  proportion  of  our  casual- 
essay  editorials ;  sentiment  (sometimes  sentimen- 
tality) and  pathos,  for  some;  and  pure  wit  for  occa- 
sional example.  The  fact  that  so  many  deal  with 
matters  of  daily  existence  may  indicate  that  we 
Americans  are  a  domestic-minded  people.  Some 
might  say  "bourgeois"-minded.  But  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  these  lowly-sprung  essays  are  likely  to 
reveal  something  of  a  philosophic  quality,  ability 
lightly  yet  significantly  to  interpret  or  reveal,  an 
imaginative  or  fanciful  sympathy — in  short,  a  power 
to  idealize  the  commonplace  into  something  higher 
than   mere  commonness. 

REDHEADS 

Pittsburg  Press 

1.  A  woman  writes  to  a  current  literary 
journal  protesting  against  novelists  who 
ascribe  undesirable  characteristics  to  per- 
sons with  red  hair.  She  says  truly  that 
this  is  unfair  to  all  redheads,  who  are  just 
as  nice  as  blackheads  any  day  in  the  week 
or  month. 

2.  Thackeray,  with  his  redheaded,  mali- 
cious Becky  Sharp — Dickens,  with  his  red- 
headed Uriah  Heep — Henry  James,  Edith 
Wharton,  Marion  Crawford,  arid  many  other 
novelists  seem  to  accept  the  dictum  of  a 
bumptious  Frenchman  that  people  with  red 
hair  are  "either  violent  or  false  and  usually 
they  are  both." 

3.  The  slander  isn't  exactly  new.  Judas 
was  gratuitously  given  red  hair  and  a  red 
beard  in  paintings  by  ancient  artists. 
Shakespeare  wrote  of  one  of  his  characters, 
"His  very  hair  is  of  the  dissembling  color, 
something  browner  than  Judas'."  Shake- 
speare to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  the 
notion  is  as  idle  as  the  saying  that  "If  you 
see  a  white  horse  you  will  meet  a  red- 
headed girl."  The  insult  to  redheaded  people 
which  is  involved  in  the  fable  that  Judas  was 
redheaded  has  never  received  the  sympathy 
of  artists.  One  of  the  greatest  of  them, 
Titian,  regarded  red  hair  as  a  mark  of  su- 
preme beauty,  and  P.  J.  Dagnan-Bouveret 
in  his  great  picture  "Christ  at  Emmaus," 
which  hangs  in  our  Carnegie  gallery,  por- 
trays Christ  with  a  mass  of  glorious  red 
hair. 

4.  Nearly  everyone  is  familiar  with  the 
circumstance  that  hair  which  is  red  in  youth 


often  darkens  with  age.  Does  anyone  imag- 
ine that  temperament  changes  with  the  color 
of  the  hair?  Or  that  the  change  in  color 
results  from  a  change  in  character  or  tem- 
perament? It  is  to  be  doubted  even  that 
red  hair  indicates  a  short  temper.  A  few 
ladies  with  Titian  red  hair  show  temper, 
perhaps,  because  they  have  been  led  to  think 
that  the  shade  of  their  hair  explains  or  ex- 
cuses it.  But  is  it  really  true  that  persons 
with  red  hair  are  quicker  of  temper  or  more 
violent  of  action  than  those  whose  hair  is 
black?  What  is  your  own  observation  in 
regard  to  this?  The  chances  are  that  the 
worst-tempered  people  the  majority  of  us 
have  ever  known,  and  the  least  reliable,  were 
NOT  redheaded.  It  is  time  that  the  nov- 
elists of  whom  the  woman  correspondent 
complains  found  a  more  interesting  and 
plausible  fallacy.  Nature  may  occasionally 
seem  capricious,  but  hair  doesn't  determine 
character. 

Chance,  cursory  remarks  provoked  by  a  subject 
that  is  familiar,  but  has  been  approached  from  a 
slightly  different  angle.  The  subject  "appeals"  be- 
cause all  mankind  consists  of  only  four  classes — 
those  who  haven't  red  hair  and  those  who  have, 
and  those  who  admire  it  and  those  who  don't. 

THE  TIRED  WORKINGMAN 

Oliver   Herford,    in    Leslie's 

1.  It  used  to  be  the  Tired  Business  Man. 

2.  You  know  him  well,  dear  reader;  you 
see  his  picture  almost  every  week  in  some 
newspaper. 

3.  He  sits  in  a  massive  mahogany  chair 
at  a  massive  mahogany  table,  surrounded 
by  telephones,  stock  tickers,  dictaphones, 
letters,  telegrams,  secret  documents  of  every 
description,  and  a  photograph  of  his  wife  or 
some  one,  in  a  massive  gold  frame. 

4.  Sometimes  he  is  alone,  sometimes 
there  are  twelve  tired  business  men  who  re- 
semble him  strangely.  Take  a  good  look 
at  him;  the  time  of  his  passing  is  at  hand. 
If  we  are  to  believe  the  handwriting  on  the 
wall,  the  Tired  Workingman  will  soon  be 
sitting  in  his  place. 

5.  All  day  he  toils  over  his  telephones 
and  secret  documents  and  the  photograph 
of  his  wife  in  the  massive  gold  frame,  until 
his  brain  is  numb  and  turgid,  like  cold  cereal. 

Toiling,  quick-lunching,  borrowing, 
Onward  through  life  he  goes; 
Each  morning  sees  some  deal  begun, 
Each  evening  sees  its  close. 

6.  In  the  evening  he  is  conveyed  to  a 
theatre  where  his  tired  brain  is  massaged 
to  sleep  by  scented  music  and  a  peroxide 
play  from  which  all  traces  of  plot  or  mean- 
ing have  been  removed  by  the  careful  author 
for  his  especial  benefit. 

7.  And  while  the  Tired  Business  Man 
sleeps,  in  the  outer  darkness  the  two  Genii, 


136 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Brain  and  Brawn,  are  fighting  for  his  soul. 
If  Brawn  wins,  the  Tired  Business  Man 
must  go;  there  will  be  no  place  for  him. 
The  Tired  Workingman  will  sit  in  his  chair 
at  the  massive  mahogany  table  and  eat  his 
quick-lunches  and  talk  into  his  telephone 
and  fumble  his  ticker — but  who  will  write 
the  plays  for  the  Tired  Workingman  ?  Why, 
the   Moving  Picture   Mechanics,   of  course. 

Here  satirizing  wit  is  directed  in  passing  irony 
upon    a    timely    aspect    of    affairs. 

THE  INEVITABLE  CANDIDATE 

New    York    Evening    Post 

1.  Nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to 
suppose  that  a  candidate's  chances  at  Chi- 
cago or  San  Francisco  are  to  be  reckoned 
in  terms  of  delegates.  The  nominations  will 
be  really  determined  by  forces  metaphysi- 
cal, logical,  geographical,  physiological, 
ouija-logical,  historical-pastoral,  pastoral- 
comical,  etc.  By  these  various  methods  it 
has  been  demonstrated  that  the  candidate 
who  holds  a  commanding  lead  has  no  chances 
at  all,  and  the  candidate  with  no  chances 
at  all  is  a  sure-fire  winner.  Take  it  from 
the  various  campaign  headquarters. 

2.  By  a  rigid  application  of  such  methods 
it  has  been  demonstrated  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  reasonable  men  that  the  winning  can- 
didate at  Chicago  will  be  a  man  with  no 
perceptible  virtues  and  therefore  with  no 
striking  flaws;  with  no  friends  and  conse- 
quently no  enemies;  no  record  and  conse- 
quently no  hostile  criticism;  no  strong  views 
and  consequently  no  prejudices.  The  win- 
ner will  not  be  a  force,  but  a  resultant  of 
forces.  He  will  (1)  be  bom  close  to  the 
centre  of  population,  somewhere  near  the 
Wabash;  (2)  be  affiliated  with  a  respectable 
but  small  religious  denomination,  so  as  not 
to  antagonize  the  Methodists,  Baptists, 
Presbyterians  and  other  sects  which  count  in 
millions,  and  (3)  drive  a  Buick  so  as  to  be 
equally  acceptable  to  the  Ford  proletariat 
and  to  the  solid  supersixes. 

3.  An  entire  class  of  Republican  candi- 
dacies has  been  based  on  Woodrow  Wilson  as 
a  horrible  example.  Since  Mr.  Wilson  is  the 
worst  President  any  republic  ever  had,  the 
candidate  who  can  show  the  strongest  di- 
vergence from  the  man  in  the  White  House 
is  obviously  the  man  of  the  hour.  Mr.  Wil- 
son's illness  has  emphasized  the  need  of 
good  health  in  a  President,  and  there  is  at 
least  one  Republican  aspirant  who  takes  a 
ten-mile  walk  every  morning.  The  next 
President  must  not  be  a  college  professor, 
which  disposes  of  Nicholas  Murray  Butler. 
His  name  must  not  begin  with  a  "W,"  which 
disposes  of  Leonard  Wood.  It  must  not  end 
m    "son,"    which    settles    Hiram    Johnson. 


Lowden  is  partially  affected,  since  three 
letters  in  his  name  occur  in  Woodrow.  The 
chances  for  Herbert  Hoover  are  nil.  Her- 
bert has  the  same  number  of  letters  as 
Woodrow  and  Hoover  the  same  number  of 
letters  as  Wilson. 

4.  On  all  these  grounds — spelling,  geog- 
raphy, good  health,  charm,  lack  of  personal 
enemies,  a  record  immune  against  all  crit- 
icism, and  a  belief  in  fairies — the  inevitable 
candidate  would  seem  to  be  Maude  Adams. 

The  casual-essay  editorial  (the  student  will  have 
discovered  from  the  examples  so  far  given),  is, 
like  beauty,  often  its  own  excuse  for  being.  It  needs, 
and  often  has,  no  purpose  ulterior  to  that  of  en- 
tertaining, of  touching  gracefully,  humorously, 
wittily,  or  otherwise  lightly.  If  a  meaning  under- 
lies, it  is  likely  to  be  suggested  or  implied,  not 
urged,  and  it  is  treated  "with  an  air  of  assumed 
indifference."  In  the  "shy"  here  taken  by  the 
Evening  Post  at  our  methods  of  nominating  presi- 
dential candidates,  the  tone  of  casualness  prevails, 
but  the  reader  will  perceive  a  degree  of  ironical 
and  satirical  temperature  that  is  a  trifle  above  the 
normal  of  the  casual  essay.  Cf.  the  note  on  A  Lit- 
tle Appreciation. 

A  LITTLE  APPRECIATION 

Charleston    News    and    Courier 

1.  The  value  of  appreciation  is  far  from 
being  correctly  measured  by  the  majority  of 
persons.  Too  often  we  simply  say  "Thank 
you"  in  acknowledgment  of  some  good  deed 
done  for  us  when  instead  we  should  strive 
by  every  possible  means  to  show  just  how 
much  that  good  deed  means.  It  is  so  easy 
to  take  for  granted  the  kind  feelings  of 
others  for  us,  when  if  we  only  knew  it  we 
really  deserve  but  little  of  their  charity. 
Particularly  is  this  true  in  our  treatment  of 
older  persons.  In  some  ways  the  present 
generation  seems  to  have  missed  the  happi- 
ness that  springs  from  a  proper  apprecia- 
tion of  our  elders,  but  very  probably  every 
generation  throughout  the  ages  has  failed  in 
some  way  in  this  regard.  The  man  who  has 
had  his  day,  we  argue,  should  be  satisfied 
to  step  aside  and  give  others  a  chance,  but 
do  we  realize  that  as  long  as  a  spark  of 
ambition  bums  in  the  human  breast  no  one 
can  become  reconciled  to  be  merely  a  looker- 
on  at  events  as  they  transpire?  Men  and 
women  everywhere  are  sacrificing  much  in 
order  to  give  their  children  the  chance  the 
latter  demand,  and  the  sacrifice,  we  may  be 
sure,  is  not  made  without  a  hard  wrench. 
No  one  wants  to  step  aside  unless  he  is 
forced  to  do  so,  well  knowing  that  such  ac- 
tion means  the  final  renunciation  of  all  the 
personal  hopes  and  ambitions  he  has  clung 
to  throughout  the  years. 

2.  "All  of  my  life  I  have  wanted  to  do 
something  worth  while  and  I  haven't," 
writes  a  father  of  today  in  a  recent  com- 
munication to  his  daughter.  "It  seems  the 
fires  of  my  life  have  always  been  banked." 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


137 


What  a  tragedy  is  here  glimpsed  in  these 
simple  words!  How  pitiful  it  has  been  for 
this  man  to  realize  that  no  opportunity  has 
been  afforded,  nor  ever  will  be  afforded  now, 
of  achieving  his  heart's  ambition  ?  He  must 
be  content  to  get  what  compensation  he  can 
from  the  works  and  deeds  of  his  children, 
making  himself  believe  that  in  their  success 
he  will  attain  at  least  a  shadow  of  the 
gratification  he  yearned  for  on  his  own  ac- 
count. That  the  fires  of  his  life  never  died 
out  completely  is  one  thing  for  which  he 
has  much  to  be  thankful,  for  many  men  in 
his  position  would  have  given  up  the  game 
long  before.  That  the  lesson  he  uncon- 
sciously taught  the  daughter  to  whom  he 
wrote  is  being  learned  well  and  thoroughly 
is  demonstrated  in  the  fact  that  today  she 
is  beginning  to  appreciate,  and  is  not  afraid 
to  acknowledge  it,  the  noble  heritage  that 
has  come  to  her  from  that  father.  She  is 
seeing  him  in  a  different  way  from  that  in 
which  she  has  been  accustomed  to  regard 
him  throughout  her  life.  He  is  the  same 
father,  to  be  sure,  but  she  has  now  glimpsed 
certain  great  depths  to  his  character  that 
she  had  not  dreamed  existed,  and  like  the 
good  sport  she  is  she  has  determined  to 
live  up  to  the  fine  spirit,  the  noble  self- 
sacrifice,  the  unhesitating  renunciations  he 
has  been  forced  to  make  in  order  to  give  her 
the  chance  to  succeed  where  he  believes  he 
has  failed. 

3.  The  heights  are  always  just  before  us. 
We  are  eager  to  scale  them  and  some  of  us 
seem  weighed  down  by  the  impression  that 
we  are  the  first  to  attempt  the  ascent.  What 
do  we  know  of  the  bitter  failures,  the  hard 
disappointments,  the  hidden  sorrows  of  those 
whom  experience  shows  us  have  made  the 
same  attempt  many  times  before  we  uncon- 
sciously pushed  them  out  of  the  way  ?  What 
do  we  know  of  the  hard  knocks  that  life  has 
administered  to  them,  to  these  fathers  and 
mothers  who  in  their  day  went  through  the 
same  experiences  that  some  of  us  are  today 
tasting  for  the  first  time,  only  to  go  down 
in  defeat  ?  What  do  we  know  of  their  piti- 
ful life  tragedies,  their  burnt  offerings  on 
the  altar  of  self-renunciation  in  order  that 
we  may  have  the  chance  they  missed  ?  Are 
we  appreciative  of  what  they  have  done  for 
us  ?  Are  we  ready  to  acknowledge  to  them 
by  word  of  mouth  the  debt  we  owe  them? 
Let  us  turn  these  things  over  in  our  mind 
and  see  for  ourselves  just  where  we  stand. 
They  have  done  much  for  us  in  their  time; 
are  we  doing  anything  for  them  now  that 
we  have  told  them  in  a  thousand  ways  that 
their  day  is  over  and  they  must  make  room 
for  us?  A  little  appreciation  goes  a  long 
way  in  this  world  to  make  things  easier  and 


pleasanter.  Often  it  acts  as  a  sweet  oint- 
ment to  rub  on  wounds  that  reach  deep  down 
into  lives  that  have  made  heroic  sacrifices 
apparently  in  vain.  It  is  never  too  late  to 
accord  a  full  measure  of  understanding  and 
appreciation  to  those  who  have  done  some- 
thing worth  while  for  us,  not  in  the  hasty, 
matter-of-course  way  in  which  so  many  of 
us  make  our  acknowledgments,  but  in  that 
earnest,  sincere,  lovable  manner  which 
floods  with  light  the  heart  that  has  long  for- 
gotten to  expect  true  appreciation. 

This  editorial,  though  discussing  its  subject  from 
the  angle  of  a  proposition,  considers  it  with  an 
informality,  or  avoidance  of  obvious  plan,  that  is 
characteristic  of  the  casual  essay.  So  is  the  detached 
manner,  as  if  one  were  indifferent  to  the  impres- 
sion he  made,  and  interested  merely  to  express  ade- 
quately his  ideas  upon  the  topic  that  has  chanced 
to  come  up.  (This  editorial  reminds  us — notwith- 
standing our  comment  on  The  Inevitable  Candidate — 
that  the  casual  essay  may  at  times  merge  into  the 
editorial    of    interpretation    or    of    "purpose".) 

ON  SANDY  VALLEY  ROAD 

Boston   Herald 

1.  At  the  farther  edge  of  Dedham  you 
may  have  noticed  a  rather  narrow  street 
swinging  out  of  the  formal  highway  as  if 
with  a  will  of  its  own.  The  weathered  sign- 
board on  the  corner  reads  "Sandy  Valley 
Road."  Local  historians  may  know  the  rea- 
son for  that  name,  but  you  will  find  none 
if  you  accept  the  challenge  of  this 
curving  byway  and  follow  where  it  leads 
past  pleasant  estates,  over  a  meadow 
brook  and  up  a  winding  climb  to  the  wooded 
uplands  southwest  of  the  town.  In  a  very 
few  minutes  your  road  becomes  a  grassy 
memorial  of  forgotten  use;  soon  it  is  out 
of  fence  and  side  wall,  a  cart  path,  stony 
on  the  slopes  as  the  bed  of  a  torrent  and 
leveled  on  the  summits  not  by  transit  and 
drill,  but  by  the  glacier  worn  ledges  on 
which  generations  of  oxen  and  horses 
scratched  the  records  of  their  slipping  steps. 
And  you  have  hardly  entered  the  pines  that 
like  huge  mullions  bar  the  golden  windows 
of  the  west,  before  you  find  your  road  fork- 
ing and  forking  again  with  not  even  a 
mouldered  signpost  for  your  guidance. 
Presently  you  are  tracing  your  way  only 
by  the  ruts  of  long  ago,  now  masked  with 
vines  and  screened  with  saplings.  Within 
a  mile  of  railroads,  garages  and  a  county 
courthouse  you  are  in  a  silence  like  that  of 
Tuckerman's  ravine  or  the  Coconino  forest. 
A  mile  away  wood  is  selling  at  $16  a  cord; 
here  are  piles  of  four-foot  wood  that  by 
their  look  must  have  been  cut  and  for- 
gotten; or  perhaps  the  owner  died  while 
wood  hardly  paid  for  the  sledding.  Ten 
miles  away  are  Dewey  square  and  Park 
street;  here  you  would  not  be  startled  if 
you    came    upon    a    camp    of   John   Eliot's 


138 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


praying   Indians,   parching   their   com   for 
supper. 

2.  What  this  Sandy  Valley  road  is  to 
Dedham— a  short  path  to  the  quiet  of  un- 
disturbed nature — our  uncounted  "Mountain 
roads"  and  "Silver  lanes"  are  to  almost 
every  town  in  the  commonwealth.  For 
though  Massachusetts  ranks  among  the 
most  densely  peopled  states  of  the  union, 
our  population  is  so  compacted  into  cities 
and  mill  valley  towns  that  in  no  other 
state  are  so  many  people  dwelling  within 
such  easy  reach  of  wild  land.  Even  around 
Boston,  where  the  built-over  areas  are 
largest  and  community  centers  most  thickly 
set,  a  short  run  by  trolley  or  a  twenty-mile 
trip  by  steam  train  brings  the  Bostonian 
among  the  aboriginal  minks  and  muskrats; 
a  few  minutes  more  bring  him  to  the  haunts 
of  ruffed  grouse  and  red  fox.  In  other 
parts  of  the  state,  the  lands  that  nature  has 
reclaimed,  or  has  always  kept,  lie  closer  still 
to  cleared  pasture,  plowed  field  and  resi- 
dential street. 

3.  Such  ready  access  to  hills  and  low- 
lands where  life  goes  on  almost  as  in  the 
days  of  Massasoit  and  lyanough  we  but 
half  appreciate;  it  takes  the  cousin  who 
comes  down  from  Kansas  or  Maryland  or 
Indiana  to  point  out  to  us  our  own  advan- 
tage. And  these  October  days,  like  those  of 
May,  are  the  time  when  the  walking  in  the 
woods  is  at  its  best;  the  trees  are  not  yet 
bare  and  bleak,  but  their  thinner  foliage 
reveals  many  a  secret  of  the  summer  and 
lets  the  long  perspective  and  far  horizons 
show  through. 

4.  If  you  are  in  Massachusetts  and  have 
half  a  day  free,  you  have  no  excuse  if  you 
fail  to  bring  into  your  inner  mood  some- 
thing of  the  restful  mystery  of  our  autumnal 
woodlands. 

Fortuitously  discursive  description,  with  comment 
such  as  the  subject  naturally  suggests.  Note  how 
touches  of  realistic  fact  are  combined  with  the 
mood  of  sympathy  with  natural  beauty. 

"HEAVY,  HEAVY  HANGS" 

Emporia  Gazette 

1.  "Heavy,  heavy  hangs  over  our  head." 
The  white  light  that  beats  upon  a  candidate 
gleams  upon  the  minority  report  of  hair 
that  shelters  our  thought  works  in  our  de- 
clining years.  We  are  a  candidate  for  dele- 
gate to  the  Republican  national  convention 
from  this  congressional  district,  and  with 
that  candidacy  liberty  of  the  press  is  throttled 
in  the  Gazette.  For  twenty-five  years, 
under  monastic  vows  against  office  seeking, 
we  have  said  in  the  columns  of  this  paper 
whatever  we  pleased.  If  betimes  it  de- 
lighted us  to  be  a  complete  ten  volume, 
calf-bound  idiot,  we  went  at  the  job  free  and 
untrammeled  and  put  on  the  trimmings  with 


a  glad  hand.  If  we  desired  to  use  the  a 
upon  a  man,  a  cause,  or  a  sacred  institution 
whack  went  the  ax  and  in  she  went  to  tt 
handle,  and  we  tromped  on  the  top  if  w 
cared  to.  The  Emporia  Gazette  was  a  fre 
newspaper,  hampered  only  by  the  limits 
tions  of  a  steadily  growing  payroll  and 
circulation  thereunto  appertaining. 

2.  But  with  this  candidacy  tq  the  Rt 
publican  national  convention  we  have  give 
hostages  to  fortune.  We  are  hamstrun 
and  hobbled.  Every  line  we  write  has  t 
be  considered  in  view  of  its  effect  upon  a  Ic: 
of  lunatic  radicals  who  will  think  we  hav 
deserted  them,  or  mossback  standpatter 
who  will  see  us  flying  the  party  coop  ever 
time  we  indicate  that  Moses  did  not  writ 
the  Payne- Aldrich  tariff  upon  the  tablets  o 
stone. 

3.  For  instance,  now  comes  friend  Henr 
Allen  with  these  words  of  caution: 

Our  old  friend.  Smith,  of  Osage,  was 
in  today  to  tell  me  that  his  county  is 
lining  up  for  you  in  the  fourth  district 
scrap. 

He  was  a  little  afraid  that  just  about 
the  time  the  very  nice  banquet  of  har- 
mony they  are  preparing  in  the  district 
was  ready  to  serve,  you'd  kick  the  table 
over  and  drive  all  the  guests  screaming 
away  by  saying  something  brilliant, 
but  unwise  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
Grand  Old  Party.  I  think  I  can  say 
without  offense  that  you  have  a  cer- 
tain gift  in  this  direction  and  I  am  the 
last  man  in  the  world  to  ask  you  to 
curb  any  of  your  instincts,  but  won't 
you,  for  the  love  you  bear  me,  desist 
from  throwing  mud  at  any  mourner  in 
the  procession,  or  uttering  any  carping, 
criticism,  or  emphasizing  the  League  of 
Nations,  or  Wilson,  or  assaulting  the 
Constitution  in  any  place,  or  treading 
on  other  sensibilities?  I  do  not  ask  for 
even  a  suspension  of  your  viewpoint  on 
any  of  these  matters,  but  merely  for  a 
temporary  truce  out  of  decent  regard 
for  the  fact  that  the  enemy  has  ceased 
firing. 

4.  And  as  if  that  were  not  enough,  ente: 
our  good  friend,  Toronto  Kelley,  who  hai 
promised  to  support  us: 

And  William — Don't  spill  the  beans, 
yourself.  The  old  gang  will  close  their 
eyes  to  all  of  your  past  provided  you 
don't  print  anything  that  brings  up 
thoughts  of  1912  and  the  battle  of  Ar- 
mageddon. 01  Little  and  myself  seem 
to  be  about  the  only  ones  of  the  old 
gang  who  see  any  humor  in  the  days 
that  were.  Of  course  you  have  to 
write  editorials  occasionally.    But  there 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


139 


are  a  lot  of  mighty  fine  topics  that 
have  not  yet  received  full  treatment. 
There's 

The  Turk. 

The  exkaiser. 

Are  We  Receiving  Wireless  Messages 
From  Mars? 

The  Possibility  of  Meteors  Being 
Missiles  Hurled  at  the  Earth  From 
Neptune. 

Bald  Heads  and  How  to  Prevent 
Them. 

Is  Vers  Libre  a  Curable  Disease? 

The  Comparative  Value  of  Short 
Skirts  and  High  Top  Shoes. 

Village  Life  in  the  Golden  Age  of 
15-Cent  Butter  and  10-Cent  Eggs. 

And  an  occasional  book  review,  say 
on  "Seven  Buckets  of  Blood,"  or  the 
"Tragedy  of  the  Nail  in  the  Cellar 
Door."  But  you  doubtless  can  think 
up  plenty  of  innocuous  things  to  write 
about  during  the  next  eight  weeks, 
and  will  be  tickled  to  death  to  write 
about  them.  And  always  an  editorial 
that  lambasts  hell  out  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  is  not  only  in  order,  but  is 
in  good  taste.  I  don't  know  that  I 
know  much  more  than  you  do,  but 
I  am  two  or  three  years  older,  and  I 
avail  myself  of  the  elder  men's  priv- 
ilege of  making  suggestions. 

5.  We  shall  abide  by  the  advice  of  these 
:ood  men.  We  have  kissed  Liberty  a  long 
md  lingering  good-by  until  after  this  cam- 
)aign.  Not  that  we  are  going  to  send  back 
ler  picture  and  her  letters;  not  that  we 
hall  ever  forget  the  glad  days  when  we 
lisported  ourselves  with  Liberty  like  a  wild 
iss  of  the  desert.  Not  that  we  shall  fail  to 
ro  back  to  Liberty  and  love  her  as  of  old. 
But  not  now;  now  she  has  gone  out  of  our 
ife  and  we  are  a  respectable  member  of 
lociety.  The  owl  for  wisdom  and  decorum 
vill  look  like  a  dickey  bird  beside  us.  For 
ve  are  a  candidate,  and  will  pussyfoot 
icross  these  once  festive  pages  as  solemn 
IS  though  we  were  passing  the  hat  in 
ihurch.  You'd  never  think  to  see  us  walk- 
ng  the  straight  and  narrow  path  of  political 
•ectitude  that  we  have  galloped  up  and  down 
he  primrose  path  of  political  dalliance  with 
Joosevelt  and  Victor  and  Henry  in  the  dear 
iead  days  when  it  was  grand  to  be  bug- 
lousel 

6.  But  now  "heavy,  heavy  hangs  over  our 
lead"  and  the  dread  of  dur  life  is  spillin' 
ihe  beans! 

American  hnmor  (we  are  told)  is  based  dn  exag- 
seration  ;  bat  ebservation  wouM  pi'obably  reveal  that 
ntioh  of  it  is  also  basfed  on  thfe  p^tsrtmal.  Hpi'Q  we 
feve  thie  es^^ss^rWiOn  bf  Diet«ma|  ^sy^rmtltk—a 
\on  of  flWK-disdript   "pe'r^otial  ^say,"  half  a  take- 


oflF  on  politics  and  half  a  take-ofT  on  its  writer. 
The  desk-dictionary  gives  five  meanings  for  "casual," 
and  we  defy  anybody  to  prove  that  out  of  the  five, 
not  one  fits  this  essay.  It  therefore  is  a  casual- 
essay    editorial.     Q.    E.    D. 

THE  LISTENER 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  an  old-timer  to 
see  two  companies  playing  Shakespeare  in 
the  same  week  in  Boston,  with  good  au- 
diences resorting  to  two  theatres  and  mak- 
ing comparisons  between  rival  actors  in  the 
parts  of  Hamlet,  Shylock,  and  so  on.  The 
Listener  had  long  been  familiar  with  the 
sincere  if  somewhat  rough-cut  work  of  Mr. 
Mantell  in  Shakespeare  parts,  but  he  had 
never  before  seen  Mr.  Hampden's  Hamlet, 
and  was  delighted  to  have  the  opportunity. 
Without  assuming  the  critical  function,  the 
Listener  may  venture  to  record  one  or  two 
reactions  which  he  had  to  Mr.  Hampden's 
performance  of  Hamlet.  He  missed  in  this 
presentation  the  fine  subtlety  which  was  a 
memorable  feature  of  the  work  of  the 
Frenchman  Charles  Fechter,  who  played 
Shakspeare  parts  here  once,  long,  long  ago, 
and  whose  extraordinary  mastery  of  the 
use  of  the  voice  enabled  him,  though  he 
had  spent  his  life  upon  the  French  stage, 
to  play  in  English  with  but  the  slightest 
perceptible  accent,  and  in  a  manner  highly 
agreeable  to  the  ear.  He  also  played  it  in 
a  manner  agreeable  to  the  eye.  Fechter's 
note,  in  playing  Hamlet,  was  subtlety.  He 
introduced  the  auditor  to  a  passionate  but 
deeply  reflective  Hamlet,  whose  emotions 
were  continually  crossed  by  his  hesitations, 
his  purposes  generally  clouded  by  his  cogi- 
tations. The  Listener  has  seen  many  actors 
in  Hamlet,  but  not  one  has  ever  affected 
him  as  he  was  affected  by  Fechter's  per- 
formance. In  point  of  subtlety,  Edwin 
Booth's  performance  of  Hamlet  was  the  very 
reverse  of  Fechter's.  Booth  played  Hamlet 
with  straightforward,  solemn  dignity — ma- 
jestically, impressively,  but  without  a 
shadow  of  that  humor  of  which  one  is  al- 
ways conscious  in  reading  Hamlet.  His 
reading  was  sonorous  and  sententious — 
sometimes  quite  tiresomely  so. 


2.  Mr.  Hampden  is  not  subtle  in  Hamlet; 
he  plays  the  part  simply,  intelligently,  beau- 
tifully, but  not  as  if  it  contained  any  insolu- 
ble problem.  And  in  one  respect  he  comes 
forward,  to  the  Listenelr's  mind,  admirably 
— he  plays  the  part  with  k  keen  and  most 
natural  humtft*.  What  a  Stense  of  humor 
Hamlet  has!  How  he  is  amused  by  the 
capering  courtiers,  inciting  them  to  new 
capers  and  delivierances!  How  he  delights 
in  playing  thie  niaJQitji^n!  Hbw  trfcessant  are 
his  verb'kl  twists  a'ria  turns!    Hbw  grim  the 


140 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


laugh  in  the  scene  with  the  gravedigger, 
though  he  feels  full  upon  him  the  tragedy 
that  impends!  For  this  play  and  attitude 
of  humor  the  Listener  will  always  be  grate- 
ful to  Mr.  Hampden — for  his  new  and  most 
sensible  readings  in  the  matter  of  emphasis, 
too.  Mr.  Hampden  gives  the  Listener  the 
impression  not  merely  of  an  intelligent  stu- 
dent, but  of  a  man  who  has  gone  to  the 
stage  from  among  the  people,  and  who  has 
known  the  world  from  a  point  of  view  with- 
in its  life  and  homely  feeling,  not  contenting 
himself  with  viewing  it  from  the  boards 
above  it  and  from  behind  the  footlights  that 
it  faces. 

3.  Edwin  Forrest's  Hamlet  was  wooden, 
and  hewed  with  a  broad-axe.  Irving's  was, 
to  the  Listener's  recollection,  subtle  indeed, 
but  pretentious;  when  years  are  gone  one 
remembers  Irving  and  his  acting,  but  not 
the  Hamlet  whom  he  embodied;  whereas 
the  Hamlet  of  Fechter  abides  in  the  mem- 
ory as  Hamlet,  as  the  very  prince  himself. 
The  Listener  cannot  speak  of  the  Hamlet  of 
Forbes  Robertson,  for  by  the  unkindness  of 
fate  he  was  never  permitted  to  see  it. 

4.  The  editorials  in  the  New  York  Times 
seem  lately  to  have  taken  over  some  of  the 
old  picturesque  recondite  words  and  phrases 
which  used  to  be  regarded  as  the  especial 
property  of  the  Sun.  In  an  editorial  on 
Senator  Knox's  resolution  and  the  debate 
upon  it  on  Wednesday  last,  the  Times  speaks 
of  the  discussion  of  that  document  as  "a 
bombination  in  a  vacuum,"  and  further  re- 
fers to  the  talk  as  "mere  leather  and 
prunella."  Both  of  these  phrases  are 
precious.  "A  bombination  in  a  vacuum" 
strikes  the  Listener  as  familiar,  although  he 
cannot  tell  where  it  comes  from;  but 
"leather  or  prunello"  (not  prunella)  comes 
from  Pope: 

Worth  makes  the  man,  the  want  of  it 

the  fellow; 
The  rest  is  all  but  leather  or  prunello. 

5.  But  at  this  day  "prunella"  is  a  kind  of 
leather,  and  it  may  be  that— cheap  and  ordi- 
nary in  his  day  but  precious  in  this — ^which 
Pope  had  in  mind  when  he  wrote  the  lines 
and  inspired  the  Times  writer,  i  At  all 
events,  it  is  pleasant  to  see  these  evidences 
of  erudition  in  a  political  editorial. 

6.  Speaking  of  words  and  of  the  Hon. 
Philander  C.  Knox,  the  Listener  is  reminded 
of  the  old-time  use  of  that  word  "philander." 
Just  how  the  senator  got  his  name  the 
Listener  does  not  know.  His  name  is 
Philander  Chase  Knox,  and  his  parents  prob- 
ably called  him  after  some  person,  to  the 
world    unknown,    named    Philander    Chase. 


Anyhow,  it  took  courage  on  their  part  to 
call  him  by  that  name,  for  when  the  sen- 
ator from  Pennsylvania  was  born,  in  1853, 
the  word  "philander"  signified  (as  it  still 
does  in  the  title  of  Shaw's  play,  "The 
Philanderer"),  to  fool  away  one's  time  in 
flirting  with  the  ladies.  A  young  man  who 
was  frivoling  away  his  time  with  the 
women,  making  himself  agreeable  to  them; 
all,  but  not  marrying,  was  said  to  bei 
"philandering."  The  word,  somewhat  in  this 
sense,  was  used  by  the  Greeks,  but  in  Eng- 
lish literature  it  probably  had  its  start  from 
"Philander,  Prince  of  Cyprus,  passionately 
in  love  with  Erota,"  in  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher*s  play,  "Laws  of  Candy." 


7.  Once  more,  speaking  of  words:  The 
Listener  was  amused  to  see  in  the  clever 
verses  from  the  Manchester  Guardian,  re- 
printed in  the  Transcript's  Musical  and  Dra- 
matic columns  the  other  day,  a  new  proof 
of  the  way  in  which  American  terms  have 
become  household  words  in  England.  The 
English  writer  in  this  English  paper,  refer- 
ring to  the  scorn  which  actors  once  felt  for 
would-be  social  censors,  says:  "They  didn't 
give  a  continental."  This  is  an  American 
cant  word  purely;  it  refers  to  the  paper 
money,  which  became  at  last  almost  worth- 
less, issued  by  the  Continental  Congress 
during  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  bills 
were  known  as  "continentals,"  and  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  in  1779  they  were  so  much 
depreciated  that  $100  in  specie  would  pur- 
chase $2600  in  the  paper  money,  they  were 
treated  with  contempt  as  a  measure  of 
value.  Not  "giving  a  continental"  (dollar) 
then  meant  something.  The  phrase  survived 
the  war  and  the  continentals;  it  survives  to 
this  day,  and  has  spread  into  England.  Vive 
le  continental! 

Casual  editorial  writingr  of  this  kind  is  akin  to 
what  is  frequently  called  the  "personal"  essay.  An 
essay-editorial  that  is  not  only  casual,  but  also  dis- 
cursivtety  informal,  yet  in  the  main  adheres  to  one 
subject,  we  have  termed  a  causerie.  The  depart- 
ment comment  here  quoted  is  under  no  obligation  to 
adhere  to  a  single  subject.  It  is  editorial  in 
spirit,  however,  and  akin  to  the  causerie — is  infact 
two  causeries  making  up  the  day's  department.  The 
first  chats  informatively  about  actors  in  Shakes- 
perian  parts,  the  other  about  words  and  their 
meanings. 

Chapter  IX.    Exercises 

1.  Make  a  list  of  not  fewer  than  5  sug- 
gestions for  casual  essay-editorials,  drawn 
from  the  news-columns  of  current  papers. 
Indicate  the  direction  that  the  treatment  is 
to  take. 

2.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  according 
to  your  suggestion  in  No.  1. 

3.  Repeat  No.  2,  using  another  of  the 
suggestions. 


THE  CASUAL  ESSAY-EDITORIAL 


141 


4.  Make  a  second  list  as  directed  in  No.  1. 

5.  As  in  No.  2,  drawing  from  the  list  of 
No.  4. 

6.  As  in  No.  2,  using  another  of  the  sug- 
gestions in  No.  4. 

7.  As  in  No.  1,  make  a  list  of  not  fewer 
than  5  suggestions  for  casual  essay-edito- 
rials dealing  with  matters  of  commonplace 
environment. 

8.  Write  one  of  the  casual  editorials  sug- 
gested in  No.  7. 

9.  Write  another  of  the  casual  editorials 
suggested  in  No.  7. 

10.  As  in  No.  1,  make  a  list  of  not  fewer 
than  5  suggestions  for  casual  essay-edito- 
rials of  a  humorous  nature. 

11.  Write  one  of  the  casual  editorials 
suggested  in  No.  10. 

12.  Another  as  in  No.  11. 

13.  As  in  No.  1,  make  a  list  of  not 
fewer  than  5  suggestions  for  casual  essay- 
editorials  of  literary  or  imaginative  trend. 

14.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  13. 

15.  Another  as  in  No.  14. 

16.  Turn  one  of  the  essay-editorials  that 
you  wrote  under  Chapter  VIII,  into  a  casual 
editorial. 

17.  Another  as  in  No.  16. 


18.  Yet  another  as  in  No.  16. 

19.  Examine  a  number  of  newspapers  for 
examples  of  casual  essay-editorials.  Make 
memoranda  of  your  observations  and  con- 
clusions. 

20.  Examine  weekly  magazines  and  re- 
views for  examples  of  casual  essay-edito- 
rials, making  memoranda  of  your  observa- 
tions and  conclusions. 

21.  As  in  19  and  20,  examine  woman's 
magazines  and  monthly  magazines. 

22.  So  far  as  possible,  extend  the  exam- 
ination directed  in  Nos.  19-21  to  agricultural 
journals  and  other  periodicals. 

23.  Make  an  outline  of  a  paper  in  which 
you  intend  to  set  forth  your  observations 
and  conclusions  under  Nos.  19-22. 

24.  Write  the  paper  outlined  in  No.  23. 

25.  Review  the  casual  essay-editorials 
that  you  have  written,  and  write  a  criticism 
of  them  with  reference  especially  to  their 
interest  and  their  attractiveness  of  presen- 
tation. 

26.  Write  a  casual  essay-editorial  under 
the  heading.  When  the  Editor  Grows  Frisky. 
Endeavor  in  this  to  give,  in  the  casual  man- 
ner, an  accurate  all-round  impression  of  the 
purpose  and  spirit  of  the  casual  essay- 
editorial.  (Don't  let  the  word  "frisky" 
misguide  you,  as  it  might  do.) 


I 


CHAPTER    X 

HUMAN-INTEREST  EDITORIALS  AND  MOOD  IN  EDITORIAL- 
WRITING 


"Human  interest"  in  the  Casual- 
Essay  Type. — The  human-interest 
editorial  can  best  be  placed  in  the 
casual  category;  but  not  all  casual 
essay-editorials  are  human-interest 
editorials,  though  the  kinship  is 
close.  The  human-interest  editorial 
(like  the  human-interest  news  or 
feature-story)  is  one  that  so  selects 
and  presents  its  materials  as  to  pro- 
voke an  emotional  response  on  the 
part  of  the  reader.  The  casual  essay- 
editorial  may  aim  either  at  the  feel- 
ings or  at  the  understanding.  There- 
fore it  may  be  entirely  effective  when 
it  satisfies  merely  the  discriminating 
intellect,  taste,  or  wit.  But  the  hu- 
man-interest editorial  evokes  sym- 
pathy or  anti-sympathy — a  stirring 
of  sentiment,  of  amusement,  of  sur- 
prise, or  of  some  other  kind  of  emo- 
tional reaction,  light  or  serious.  It 
aims  at  the  feelings,  and  achieves  its 
effect  when  in  some  way  it  touches 
them. 

What  makes  the  human-interest 
editorial. — ^The  human-interest  edi- 
torial is  an  editorial  that  we  read,  not 
because  we  are  interested  in  its  sub- 
ject, but  because  we  are  interested  in 
men,  their  characters,  their  concerns, 
and  their  ways — because  we  are  in- 
terested in  life  and  people.  It  may  be 
serious — some  of  the  essay-editorials 
reprinted  in  this  volume  might  well 
have  been  classified  as  human-interest 
essays. 

But  in  journalistic  practice,  as  in 
general  literature,  the  human-interest 
essay  or  essayette  tends  to  deal  more 
frequently  with  brief  and  passing 
aspects.  "Essays,"  says  the  introduc- 
tion to  Earle's  Microcosmographie 
(ArKer  RbF/rmts),  *'(l€!ial  ralthleff  with 


the  permanent,  internal,  essential 
constituents;  characters  with  the 
passing,  external,  accidental  aspects 
of  men  [and  things]  .  .  .  Some 
.  .  .  are  delineations  of  human 
nature,  common  to  all  time;  others 
are  incisive  descriptions  of  'charac- 
ters* and  scenes  of  the  writer's  age." 
That  is,  they  are  casual  in  mood  and 
manner;  and  accordingly  we  have  so 
classified  them  in  this  book. 

Briefly,  then,  the  human-interest 
editorial  may  be  described  as  a  jour- 
nalistic essay  or  essayette  written  in 
a  mood,  or  from  a  point  of  view,  that 
appeals  to  the  reader's  general  in- 
terest in  life  and  people,  and  in  their 
concerns. 

Rise  of  the  human-interest  edi- 
torial.— The  "human-interest"  ele- 
ment, though  not  so  named,  is  noth- 
ing new  in  literature,  or  even  in 
journalism.  One  has  only  to  read  the 
Spectator  essayists,  already  men- 
tioned, or  realistic  Defoe,  or  the 
books  of  "characters,"  such  as  Earle's 
Microcosmographie,  to  discover  that 
this  quality  had  been  sensed  and  def- 
initely employed  as  a  distinctly  spe- 
cialized source  of  interest,  long  before 
the  newspaper  as  we  now  have  it  was 
developed. 

But  editorial-writers  did  not  soon 
perceive  how  this  appeal  could  be  em- 
ployed to  vitalize  and  improve  the  edi- 
torial page.  Not  until  the  war  be- 
tween the  states  was  almost  upon  us 
did  any  prominent  editor  break  away 
from  the  tradition  of  the  heavy  edi- 
torial of  siege-mortar  argument  or  of 
personalities,  partisan  politics,  and 
controversial  feud.  Samuel  Sullivan 
Cox>  of  the  Ohio  Statesman^  seems  to 
have  b^e^n  thfe  fir^t  to  vicflate  this 


HUMAN-INTEREST  EDITORIALS 


143 


hampering  tradition.  Osman  C. 
Hooper,  formerly  editorial  writer  of 
the  Columbus,  Ohio,  Dispatch,  now  of 
the  faculty  of  journalism,  Ohio  State 
University,  tells  the  story:* 

"Sunset"  Cox  Violates  Tradition. — 
The  power  of  the  human-interest  edi- 
torial (says  Professor  Hooper)  was 
demonstrated  in  Columbus  more  than 
sixty  years  ago,  when  Samuel  Sulli- 
van Cox  wrote  and  published  his  edi- 
torial, A  Great  Old  Sunset.  Accord- 
ing to  the  story  of  Samuel  Bradford, 
then  foreman  of  the  Statesman  com- 
posing-room, he  sent  word  to  Cox  one 
afte'rnoon  that  more  editorial  copy 
was  needed.  As  all  good  editors  do, 
Mr.  Cox  responded  to  the  S.  0.  S.  call 
of  his  mentor,  arriving  at  the  office 
as  the  sun  was  gloriously  setting. 
The  beauty  of  the  scene  drove  politics 
and  everything  else  out  of  his  mind. 
He  looked  and  marveled  and  then, 
leaning  over  the  imposing  stone  in 
the  room  where  the  men  were  waiting 
for  copy,  he  wrote  the  following  edi- 
torial : 

A  Great  Old  Sunset 

What  a  stormful  sunset  was  that  of  last 
night!  How  glorious  the  storm  and  how 
splendid  the  setting  of  the  sun!  We  do  not 
remember  ever  to  have  seen  the  like  on  our 
round  globe.  The  scene  opened  in  the  west, 
with  a  whole  horizon  full  of  golden  inter- 
penetrating lustre,  which  colored  the  foliage 
and  brightened  every  object  into  its  own 
rich  dyes.  The  colors  grew  deeper  and 
richer  until  the  golden  lustre  was  transfused 
into  a  storm  cloud  full  of  the  finest  light- 
ning, which  leaped  in  dazzling  zigzags  all 
around  over  the  city. 

The  wind  arose  with  fury,  the  slender 
shrubs  and  giant  trees  made  obeisance  to 
its  majesty.  Some  even  snapped  before  its 
force.  The  strawberry  beds  and  grass  plots 
turned  up  their  whites  to  see  Zephyrus 
march  by.  As  the  rain  came  and  the  pools 
formed  and  the  gutters  hurried  away,  thun- 
der rolled  grandly  and  the  firebells  caught 
the  excitement  and  rang  with  hearty  chorus. 

The  South  and  the  East  received  the 
copious  showers,  and  the  West  all  at  once 
brightened  up   in   a   long  polished  belt  of 

♦Ohio  state  University  Bulletin,  Vol.  XXI,  No.  7; 
Jouraalism  Series,  Vol.  I,  No.  1. 


azure,  worthy  of  a  Sicilian  sky.    Presently 
a  cloud  appeared  in  the  azure  belt  in  the 
form  of  a  castellated  city.    It  became  more 
vivid,  revealing  strange  forms  of  peerless 
fanes  and  alabaster  temples  and  glories  rare 
and  grand  in  this  mundane  sphere.     It  re- 
minded us  of  Wordsworth's  splendid  verse 
in  his  "Excursion": 
The  appearance  instantly  disclosed 
Was  of  a  mighty  city — boldly  say 
A  wilderness  of  building,  sinking  far 
And    self-withdrawn   into    a   boundless 

depth. 
Far     sinking     into     splendor — without 

end.* 
But  the  city  vanished,  only  to  give  place 
to  another  isle,  where  the  most  beautiful 
forms  of  foliage  appear,  imaging  a  para- 
dise in  the  distant  and  purified  air.  The 
sun,  wearied  of  the  elemental  commotion, 
sank  behind  the  green  plains  of  the  West. 
The  "great  eye  in  heaven,"  however,  went 
not  down  without  a  dark  brow  hanging  over 
its  departed  light.  The  rich  flush  of  the 
unearthly  light  had  passed,  and  the  rain 
had  ceased  when  the  solemn  church  bells 
pealed,  the  laughter  of  children  rang  out 
loud  and,  joyous  after  the  storm,  was  heard 
with  the  carol  of  birds;  while  the  forked 
and  purple  weapon  of  the  skies  still  darted 
illumination  around  the  Starling  College, 
trying  to  rival  its  angles  and  leap  into  its 
dark  windows. 

Candles  were  lighted.  The  piano  strikes 
up.  We  feel  it  good  to  have  a  home,  good 
to  be  on  earth  where  such  revelations  of 
beauty  and  power  may  be  made.  And  as  we 
cannot  refrain  from  reminding  our  readers 
of  everything  wonderful  in  our  city,  we 
have  begun  and  ended  our  feeble  etching 
of  a  sunset  which  comes  so  rarely  that  its 
glory  should  be  committed  to  immortal  type. 

That  editorial,  Mr.  Hooper  con- 
tinues, was  printed  in  the  Ohio  States- 
man, May  19,  1853.  It  created  a  sen- 
sation. It  was  a  gem  shining  out  of 
the  mud  and  common-place  of  pol- 
itics. The  Ohio  State  Journal  repub- 
lished it  with  annotations  intended  to 
ridicule  it.  A  Circleville  editor  wrote 
a  parody  on  it,  which  he  called  "A 
Great  Old  Henset."  Other  papers 
took  it  up  and  a  wave  of  derisive 
laughter  swept  the  state.  It  was  a 
lead  that  too  few  editors  could  fol- 

♦Excursion,  Book  Second,  The  quotation  made  by 
Mr.  Cox  from  memory  has  required  only  two  of 
three  slight  typographical  corrections  and  the  change 
of  one  word  to   make  it  exact. 


144 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


low,  and  none  of  them  had  the  vision 
of  universal  service;  they  were  all 
writing  about  politics  and  politicians, 
and  they  did  not  mean  to  be  pulled 
out  of  the  rut.  Somebody  dubbed 
Mr.  Cox  ''Sunset,"  and  the  sobriquet 
became  so  much  of  a  fixture  that,  no 
doubt,  a  great  many  people  to  this 
day  think  that  his  initials,  "S.  S.," 
stand  for  "Sunset." 

Editorials  as  an  expression  of 
mood. — ^Mr.  Cox's  editorial  was  an 
impressionistic  description,  a  word- 
painting,  that  sprang  from  the  mood 
produced  by  the  sunset  splendor 
spread  before  him  just  when  he  had 
occasion  to  write.  Nature  offered 
him  a  subject,  and  upon  impulse  he 
seized  it. 

From  one  point  of  view,  all  edi- 
torials may  be  called  the  expression 
of  a  mood,  though  probably  not  many 
of  those  written  every  day  are  the 
immediate  outcome  of  a  sudden  im- 
pulse or  an  impressionistic  mood 
such  as  that  which  determined  Mr. 
Cox's  choice  of  subject.  Neverthe- 
less, the  writer  who  can  depend  upon 
frequent  "inspirations",  or  happily 
spontaneous  and  varied  ideas  for  sub- 
jects and  their  treatment,  is  likely  to 
turn  out  more  than  the  usual  propor- 
tion of  original,  pleasing  and  worthy 
work. 

Mood  and  the  choice  of  subjects. — 

But  no  writer  can  depend  wholly  upon 
sudden  situations  and  access  of  feel- 
ing for  his  inspiration.  He  must 
have  his  head  full  of  a  constantly  re- 
newed stock  of  subjects,  about  which 
he  has  thought  conscientiously  and 
thoroughly  and  concerning  which  he 
has  a  supply  of  accurate  information ; 
and  his  choice  of  subjects  and  of 
theme  must  often  be  governed  by 
considerations  of  timeliness,  practi- 
cality, intrinsic  significance,  and  spe- 
cific purpose. 

Even  here,  however,  mood  enters 
into  editorial-writing.    Though  judi- 


cious consideration  and  practical 
weighing  of  appropriateness  and  of 
values  and  effects  are  necessary,  nev- 
ertheless feeling  also  may  and  does 
enter  largely  into  the  discovery  of 
subjects  and  the  choice  of  treatment 
for  them.  The  wider  the  range,  not 
merely  of  the  editor's  knowledge,  but 
equally  of  his  emotional  experiences, 
comprehensions,  and  sympathies,  the 
richer  his  store  of  subjects  and  the 
more  varied  his  resources  of  treat- 
ment. 

Effect  of  cast-of-mind  on  the  edi- 
torial page. — The  feeling  thus  in- 
fluencing the  writer  in  his  choice  of 
subjects  may  be  mood  in  its  strict 
sense — a  transitory  and  brief  state  of 
feeling — or  it  may  be  feeling  of  a 
more  inherent  and  permanent  kind. 
In  the  latter  case,  it  is  described  va- 
riously as  attitude  of  mind,  habitual 
mood,  characteristic  point-of-view, 
cast  of  mind,  temper,  mental  bias, 
sympathies,  leanings,  and  so  on — all 
vague  terms  and  loosely  employed, 
except  that  they  imply  a  prevailing 
emotional  or  intellectual  tendency. 

This  habitual  mood  or  cast  of  mind 
may  be  anything  from  romantic  sen- 
timentality to  frigid  intellectuality 
and  uncompromising  rationalism.  One 
person  may  be,  through  temperament 
or  training,  inclined  to  religious 
thought  and  feeling;  another,  to  phil- 
osophical examination;  another,  to 
scientific  analysis  and  demonstration. 
One  will  be  introspective,  retrospec- 
tive, reflective,  or  moralizing;  an- 
other, practical,  and  utilitarian  in  his 
sympathies ;  another,  imaginative, 
artistic,  and  esthetic.  One  will  be 
optimistic  or  idealistic;  his  neighbor 
may  be  matter-of-fact,  materialistic, 
or  cynical. 

Whatever  the  editorial  writer's  pre- 
vailing attitude  of  mind  may  be,  how- 
ever, his  "bias"  will  disclose  itself. 
Hence  the  ever-present  danger  of 
inadequacy,  dulness,  monotony,  or  nar- 


HUMAN-INTEREST  EDITORIALS 


145 


rowness.  There  are  papers  that  jus- 
tify the  worst  charges  made  by  hos- 
tile critics  against  the  editorial  page. 
True,  the  reason  for  this  occasionally 
is  the  deadening  control  exercised  by 
a  venal,  partisan,  ignorant,  or  self- 
seeking  owner,  or  by  an  incompetant, 
stupid,  or  narrow-minded  directing 
editor.  But  not  always.  The  over- 
indulgence by  the  editorial-writer  of 
his  individual  predilection  for  certain 
subjects,  themes,  views,  and  methods 
of  presentation  may  be  what  results 
in  dull  and  monotonous  columns ;  and 
sometimes  it  is  his  irremediable  stod- 
giness,  spiritual  and  mental,  that 
makes  his  lucubrations  flat,  stale,  and 
unprofitable.  Better  even  facile  flip- 
pancy and  easy  but  varied  trivial- 
ity than  the  nothing-at-all-ness  of 
sluggish  ditch-water. 

Fitting  mood  to  purpose. — Every 
experienced  writer  knows  that  not 
only  his  subject,  but  also  his  purpose 
in  presenting  it,  must  determine  the 
mood  in  which  he  writes — ^that  he 
must  write  in  one  tone  or  another 
tone  according  to  the  editorial.  If 
primarily  the  editorial  be  one  of  fact- 
statement,  he  must  treat  it  in  the 
fact-mood.  If  it  is  meant  to  have  a 
humorous  effect,  he  must  get  himself 
to  feeling — for  writing  purposes — 
the  humor  of  the  matter.  If  he  is 
writing  to  satirize,  he  must  get  him- 
self to  feeling  satire.  In  brief,  so  far 
as  his  writing-mind  is  concerned,  he 
must  throw  himself  into  the  spirit  of 
his  theme  as  determined  by  his  pur- 
pose. 

Ability  to  treat  the  same  subject 
from  differing  points  of  view  and  in 
different  moods  is  a  matter  of  course 
with  trained  writers.  Read  Steven- 
son's biographical  essay  upon  Fran- 
cois Villon,  and  then  his  fiction-story, 
A  Lodging  for  the  Night,  built  up  of 
the  same  materials.  Or  study  the 
news-stories  of  a  competent  reporter, 
and  then  the  special-feature  article 


written  by  the  same  man  about  the 
same  subject  for  the  Sunday  supple- 
ment. 

With  practice,  any  one  of  moderate 
intellectual  versatility  can  acquire 
ability  to  write  in  different  tones  or 
manners  ("moods")  according  to  the 
purpose,  the  subject,  and — ^frequently 
— ^the  class  of  readers.  Only  practice 
will  develop  it,  however;  for  writing 
"in  keeping"  is  a  subconscious  adapt- 
ation, almost  as  instinctive  as  the 
fisherman's  unconscious  adjustment 
of  his  position  to  the  motions  of  his 
dory.  The  apprentice  who  wishes 
practice  to  acquire  this  ability  can 
best  get  it  by  writing  about  his  sub- 
jects first  from  one  point  of  view  and 
with  one  special  effect  in  mind,  then 
from  another  angle,  with  a  different 
purpose. 

Representative  editorials. — The  va- 
ried mood  and  matter  of  human-in- 
terest editorials  are  suggested  by 
those  that  follow. 

THAT  BATHING  SUIT  IS  NO  JOKE 

Richmond    Times-Dispatch 

1.  It  is  time  for  us  to  strike  the  Jester's 
Lute  and  play  a  tune  about  that  bathing 
suit — ^the  one  he  sent  her  and  she  was  so 
surprised  when  she  opened  the  envelope. 
We  should  tell  you  about  the  bathing  suit 
sent  by  mail,  and  she  couldn't  find  it  any- 
where until  she  took  off  the  stamp,  and 
there  it  was!  We  might  mention  the  girl 
who  was  puzzled  because  she  didn't  know 
whether  to  wear  her  bathing  suit  or  stick 
it  on  her  chin  like  a  beauty  spot. 

2.  Yep;  it  is  time  to  pull  the  bathing- 
suit  jokes.  But  do  you  know,  we  haven't 
the  heart  ?  Somehow  or  other,  at  prevailing 
prices  for  feminine  foibles,  that  bathing  suit 
is  no  joke!  .  .  .  Therefore,  we  refrain. 
Let  some  other  loon  play  the  clown  for  the 
summer  girl. 

An  old-joke  human -interest  editorial,  springing  a 
surprise  at  the  end  with  a  touch  of  earnest  feeling. 
Why  has  this  editorial  human-interest?  Because  all 
mankind — ^both  sexes — are  interested  in  bathing- 
suits,  not  to  mention  the  question,  how  are  we  to 
pay  for  'em? 

SHE  IS  JOY 

Haverhill   Gazette 

1.  Corpulent  wom.en  are  truly  the  "fat 
of  the  land."  Macklyn  Arbuckle,  an  actor, 
made   famous   "nobody  loves   a   fat  man." 


146 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


But  they  do.  And  more  than  ever  does 
everybody  love  a  fat  woman.  She  is  Joy, 
and  Laughter,  and  Cheerfulness,  and  Op- 
timism, all  rolled  up  into  a  mountainous 
mass  of  happily  undulating  flesh. 

2.  One  of  them  had  recently  attended  a 
movie  comic  in  which  "Fatty"  Arbuckle 
portrayed  the  part  of  a  fireman.  No  doubt 
she  enjoyed  the  show.  And  it  was  better 
than  a  movie  treat  to  hear  her  describe  the 
fun  after  she  reached  home. 

3.  She  hoo-hooed  and  ha-hahed,  and  bent 
and  twisted  and  shook  with  unconfined 
mirth,  her  chair  the  meanwhile  creaking  as 
if  ready  to  give  up  the  ghost  because  of  the 
weight  thrust  upon  it. 

4.  Perspiration  rolled  down  her  face. 
Her  joy  and  her  laughter  were  contagious. 
Why,  the  first  thing  that  was  known  the 
whole  audience  at  her  house  was  visualiz- 
ing what  the  fat  woman  saw  at  the  picture- 
show,  and  with  her  was  laughing  until  it 
was  holding  its  sides. 

5.  A  fat  woman  is  always  the  life  of  the 
party.  As  good  as  gold,  as  solid  as  Gibral- 
tar, as  joyous  as  Peter  Pan,  she  sure  enjoys 
life. 

Not  to  be  too  formal  in  our  classifications,  let  us 
say  that  the  "human-interest"  editorial  is  usually 
but  a  casual-essay  editorial  wherein  interest  in  the 
human  quality  is  chief;  it  catches  xis  on  the  side  of 
our  interest  in  "folks"  as  "just  folks."  It  gets  next 
to  us  through  its  humor,  its  pathos,  its  sympathy, 
its  ridicule  or  scorn  of  what  is  mean  between  man 
and  man,  and  so  on.  In  a  word,  it  reaches  us 
through  one  or  another  of  our  many  human  leanings 
or  emotions.  Fat  folk,  for  instance.  Is  there  any- 
one who  cannot  be  stirred  to  amusement  or  pity  by 
contemplation  of  the  too  rolypoly  man  or  woman? 

SOME  KINDNESS  YET  IN  THE  WORLD 

Providence  Journal 

1.  There  is  more  neighborliness  in  the 
world  than  appears  to  the  casual  eye.  For 
instance,  a  poor  woman,  over  eighty,  and 
her  daughter,  whose  entire  income  is  fifty 
dollars  a  year,  have  the  life  use  of  their 
house,  and  a  charity  fund  contributes  some- 
what to  their  needs.  But  these  sources  of 
assistance  would  be  unavailing  if  it  were 
not  for  the  goodness  of  a  next-door  neigh- 
bor, who  furnishes  the  food  for  their  three 
daily  meals,  cooks  the  meals  and  sends  them 
into  the  house. 

2.  Here  is  another  instance:  A  woman  is 
in  a  highly  nervous  state,  and  therefore  the 
object  of  constant  apprehension  to  her  fam- 
ily. Her  husband  must  go  to  his  work  each 
day  to  support  her  and  her  small  children, 
so  the  next-door  neighbor — another  self- 
denying  woman— has  taken  upon  herself 
the  whole  care  of  the  disturbed  household, 
although  she  has  a  family  of  her  own  to 
look  out  for  also. 


3.  These  are  only  two  examples  of  the 
spirit  of  kindness  that  can  be  found  every- 
where in  the  world.  It  is  a  comfort  to 
realize  that  it  exists,  alongside  all  the  stress 
and  strife  of  our  times,  all  the  social  agita- 
tion, all  the  industrial  uncertainty.  It  is  a 
basic  human  principle  on  which  we  can 
count  in  the  midst  of  discontent  and  change. 

Kindness  relieving  distress.  Dickens's  novels  are 
fairly  stuffed  with  incidents  based  on  this  kind  of 
human-interest — some  of  it  sound,  some  of  it  sloppy. 
Few  readers  do  not  respond  to  the  appeal  of  suf- 
fering and   charitable   intervention. 

PUTTING  IT  ACROSS 

The  Finder 

1.  Nothing  can  be  put  across  in  this 
world  without  enthusiasm.  No  fame — no 
name  has  ever  been  gained  except  through 
belief,  backed  by  that  whole-hearted, 
earnest  effort  which  makes  long  hours  pass 
quickly  and  hard  work  a  pleasure. 

2.  Unless  you  have,  first  and  last,  an 
abiding  faith  in  your  project  and  in  your 
ability — you  cannot  successfully  carry  it 
out. 

3.  Enthusiasm  is  the  connecting  link  be- 
tween you  and  the  world. 

4.  It  carries  you  forward  with  a  rush, 
overcomes  obstacles,  surmounts  difficulties, 
beats  down  opposition,  and  gains  your  goal. 

5.  Enthusiasm  is  the  key  which  opens 
the  hearts  of  the  world's  people. 

6.  On  the  baseball  field,  the  battle  front, 
or  in  the  busy  ways  of  trade  and  industry 
— it's  all  the  same.  People  like  pep,  and 
their  plaudits  and  rewards  are  for  the  fellow 
who  goes  at  it  heart  and  soul. 

We  have  been  fairly  smothered  for  years  beneath 
the  outpourings  of  the  kind  of  human-interest  writ- 
ing called  "inspirational" ;  and  the  end  is  not  yet, 
nor  will  be.  In  reasonable  doses,  and  compounded 
from  wholesome  and  proved  ingredients,  it  is  good 
medicine,  at  that.  But  from  the  rankly  materialistic, 
get-there-no-matter-how-you-get,  ignorantly  empirical, 
intellectually  raw  and  spiritually  vapid  stuff.  Good 
Printer,    deliver    us. 

LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  From  time  to  time  efforts  are  made 
to  impeach  the  essentially  religious  charac- 
ter of  Abraham  Lincoln's  life.  He  has  even 
been  charged  with  infidelity. 

2.  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  in  a  book  review, 
effectually  disposes  of  these  slanders  with 
two  quotations.  The  first  is  from  Lincoln's 
second  inaugural,  and  follows: 

Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do  we 
pray — that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God 
wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  up  by  the  bondsman's  250 
years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until   every  drop   of  blood   drawn 


HUMAN-INTEREST  EDITORIALS 


147 


with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another 
drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said 
3000  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be 
said,  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are 
true  and  righteous  altogether." 

3.  Lincoln  was  not  a  churchman.  That 
is,  he  was  not  a  member  of  any  church;  but 
he  frequently  attended  church  services,  in- 
cluding midweek  prayer  meetings.  He 
once  said,  and  this  is  Dr.  Abbott's  second 
quotation: 

When  any  church  will  inscribe  over 
its  altar  as  its  sole  qualification  for 
membership  the  Savior's  condensed 
statement  of  the  substance  of  both  the 
law  and  Gospel,  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself— that 
church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and 
soul. 

4.  There  was  the  declaration  of  a  man, 
truly  religious  at  heart,  who  would  not  bind 
himself  to  an  acceptation  of  man-made  in- 
terpretations of  God's  will. 

The  human-interest  in  this  comes  mainly  from 
the  religious  element.  From  some  point-of-view, 
every  one  is  interested  in  the  question  of  religion. 
Most  inquirers  would  be  doubly  interested  to  get 
the  view  of  a  man  like  Mr.  Lincoln  upon  the  prob- 
lems of  man's  faith. 

MEN  WHO  CANT  BE  HEROES 

Worcester  Telegram 

1.  The  Army  held  to  it  during  the  war 
that  you  couldn't  make  a  hero  out  of  a 
quartermaster.  In  peace  the  same  restric- 
tion goes  for  plumbers — despite  the  hardi- 
hood of  that  tribe  in  raising  prices — for 
waiters,  tea-tasters,  soda-water  drinkers, 
librarians  and  a  lot  of  other  people,  includ- 
ing, of  course,  clerks.  Clerks  come  in  nat- 
urally. It  is  difficult  to  imagine  in  heroic 
role  a  male  who  spends  his  days  politely 
informing  the  trade  that  "it's  a  pleasant 
day,  isn't  it?"  and  expanding  delightedly 
over  the  merits  of  taffeta,  tulle  and  some- 
thing neat  and  dressy  in  shirts. 

2.  Down  in  a  Hartford  department  store 
Tuesday  a  clerk  putting  away  his  goods — 
maybe  it  was  the  taffeta  or  the  tulle  or  the 
neat  and  dressy  shirts — saw  the  wall  be- 
tween the  shelves  begin  to  open.  They 
were  excavating  next  door.  The  clerk  knew 
what  was  happening;  also  what  was  going 
to  happen. 

3.  Nevertheless  he  neither  hallooed  alarm 
and  thus  started  a  panic  nor  hurried  out  to 
save  his  own  hide  and  see  what  followed. 
Very  quickly,  but  very  quietly  and  politely, 
he  asked  the  people  on  the  floor  to  leave 
with  dispatch.  He  got  them  out.  Then  he 
ousted  the  people  on  the  floors  below.    Last 


of  all  he  got  out  himself.     Then  the  wall 
crashed  down. 

4.  The  news  dispatches  relate  that  when 
people  looked  for  this  clerk  to  tell  him 
what  they  thought  of  him  he  remarked  that 
he  had  merely  performed  as  would  anyone 
having  ordinary  intelligence. 

5.  Again  nevertheless: 

6.  HE  man. 

Most  of  us  would  like  to  be  heroes.  Most  of  ua 
never  will  be.  But  we  like  to  tell  ourselves  that 
we  could  be  if  we  had  the  chance,  or  that  we  AKE. 
though  we  are  such  inobvious  heroes  that  the  world 
doesn't  find  it  out.  Which  facts  are  what  give  inci- 
dents like  the  one  in  this  editorial,  their  human- 
interest. 

GOLD  STARS  IN  THE  PARADE 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  Omahans  yesterday  got  a  better  no- 
tion of  what  the  war  meant  in  one  way, 
when  the  girls  carrying  the  gold  stars  slowly 
marched  along  the  route  of  the  parade. 
Those  who  personally  knew  a  soldier  who 
died  were  aware  of  the  fact,  but  few  if 
any  realized  how  many  made  the  supreme 
sacrifice.  Not  all  of  them  went  over  the 
top  in  a  charge;  some  died  in  camp  or  in 
hospital  without  having  heard  a  shot  fired, 
but  each  gave  his  life  for  Freedom.  Whether 
or  not  he  was  inspired  by  a  realization  of 
the  sacred  cause  he  represented,  or  whether 
he  went  out  with  only  a  vague  notion  of 
why  he  was  called,  each  of  these  boys 
stepped  forth  to  do  something  for  another. 
For  another's  life  he  laid  down  his  own. 
"And  greater  love  than  this  hath  no  man." 
Words  are  empty  things  at  any  time,  but  of 
these  Gold  Stars  may  we  not  say,  as  did 
Lincoln  at  the  Battlefield  of  Gettysburg: 
"The  world  will  little  heed  nor  long  remem- 
ber what  we  say  here;  it  can  never  forget 
what  they  did  here."  The  Gold  Star  boy 
has  won  his  fight,  is  now  crowned  with  the 
laurels  of  deathless  victory.  And,  as  in 
Lincoln's  time,  it  is  for  us,  the  living,  to 
carry  on,  to  the  end  that  these  dead  shall 
not  have  died  in  vain. 

A  true  and  understanding  touch  of  feeling.  To 
such  an  interpretation,  both  heart  and  head  can 
respond. 

A  NEWSBOY  HERO 

Providence  Journal 

1.  Every  man  of  the  Yankee  Division 
will  read  with  pleasure  of  the  posthumous 
award  of  the  Distinguished  Service  Cross 
to  Private  First  Class  Albert  E.  Scott  of 
Company  H,  One  Hundred  and  First  In- 
fantry. Many  New  Englanders  are  already 
familiar  with  the  story  of  the  exploit  of 
this  Brookline  newsboy  whose  strict  devo- 
tion to  duty  cost  him  his  life. 

2.  Scott  was  sixteen  years  old — the 
youngest  man  in  his  regiment,  if  not  in  the 


148 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Yankee  Division.  In  France  he  became  an 
expert  in  the  use  of  the  Chauchat  auto- 
matic rifle.  His  aim  was  uncanny;  the 
French  officers  who  trained  him  marvelled 
at  his  skill.  On  the  day  of  his  death,  July 
21,  1918,  he  was  posted  with  his  gun  beside 
a  tree  that  stood  opposite  the  opening  of  a 
path  in  Trugny  Woods,  beyond  Chateau 
Thierry. 

3.  "See  that  path,  Scott,"  said  his  com- 
manding officer.  "That's  your  target.  Don't 
let  a  German  cross  it." 

4.  "Yes,  sir,"  was  the  gunner's  reply  as 
he  flattened  out  near  his  gun.  He  killed 
thirty  Germans  before  he  was  picked  off 
by  a  sniper.  And  not  an  enemy  crossed 
the  path. 

5.  His  work  in  Trugny  Woods  was  as 
perilous  as  it  was  plain.  But  he  did  it. 
What  a  heartening  change  of  conditions 
would  come  about  in  the  United  States  if 
every  American  would  from  this  time  forth 
go  at  his  particular  task  with  the  zest,  the 
quiet  air,  the  devotion  to  duty  that  animated 
Private  First  Class  Albert  E.  Scott! 

A  plain  tale,  plainly  told,  of  plain  constancy  and 
duty,  has  never  failed  to  interest  men  since  the 
first  account  of   the  first  devoted  deed. 

THE  HEART'S  DESIRE 

The  Delineator. 

1.  As  we  understand  it,  your  vocation 
is  the  job  by  which  you  earn  your  living. 
Your  avocation  is  the  work  in  life  you  like 
best  to  do.  Very  rarely  does  this  happen  to 
be  your  bread-and-butter  job. 

2.  "What,"  was  asked  at  a  distinguished 
dinner-party,  "do  you  like  best  to  do?" 

3.  A  famous  portrait-painter  ate  a  nut 
thoughtfully.  "I  dislike  painting  pictures," 
he  said.  "What  I've  always  wanted  to  do 
is  to  sing  negro  dialect.  And  I'm  punk 
at  it." 

4.  The  woman  concert-singer  laughed. 
"And  I'd  rather  earn  my  living  by  raising 
pigs  than  at  anything  else.  Really,  I've 
raised  some  wonders!" 

5.  The  member  of  the  cabinet  chuckled. 
"Well,  my  avocation  is  simple,  but  not  quite 
so  low-brow  as  yours.  If  I  can  ever  get  out 
of  politics,  I'm  going  to  own  and  run  the 
speediest  airplane  in  the  world." 

6.  "I,"  said  the  great  surgeon,  "can 
make  the  cleverest  pottery  you  ever  saw. 
When  I  retire,  I'll  show  Wedgwood  a  clean 
pair  of  heels." 

7.  "As  for  me,"  exclaimed  the  suffragist 
with  an  international  reputation,  "anything 
looks  good  to  me  that  has  nothing  remotely 
connected  with  women  about  it.  I've  always 
disliked  women.  They  bore  me  to  extinc- 
tion. If  it  weren't  for  my  silly  family,  I'd 
go  into  the  movies  and  play  a  man's  i>art 


as  a  swimming-expert.  Some  of  you  should 
see  me  swim.  Don't  look  astonished!  If 
you'd  seen  the  side  of  women  that  I've  seen 
for  twenty  years  you'd  feel  as  I  do.  I'm 
with  Kin  Hubbard.  'Women  is  like  ele- 
phants. I  like  to  look  at  'em  but  I'd  hate  to 
own  one.'" 

8.  "Well,"  said  the  lawyer,  "I  like  my 
own  job.  I  wouldn't  swap  it  for  any  other, 
except  to  fish,  and  to  make  trout-flies.  Yes, 
I  would  like  to  end  my  days  making  flies." 

9.  It's  a  queer  world,  entirely. 

"It's  a  queer  world,  entirely."  So  it  is.  That's 
what  makes  it,  and  all  its  human  aspects,  so  in- 
teresting to  us. 

"SCOTTY" 

Boston    Post 

1.  Little  "Scotty,"  Brooklin's  heroic 
newsboy,  has  been  awarded  a  Distinguished 
Service  Cross.  There  is  a  vacant  chair  at 
the  family  table,  but  there  is  now  a  na- 
tional tribute  to  explain  it  and  mitigate  the 
sorrow  and  heart  breakings  that  the  big 
war  brought  to  this  humble  Massachusetts 
family. 

2.  The  official  story  of  this  brave  boy 
tells  so  historically  his  record  that  there  is 
nothing  to  add.  Here  is  the  place  that  his 
country  has  officially  given  him:  "Private 
Albert  E.  Scott  (deceased),  Company  H, 
101st  Infantry,  for  extraordinary  heroism 
in  action  in  Trugny  woods,  northwest  of 
Chateau-Thierry,  France,  July  21st,  1918. 
During  the  Aisne-Marne  offensive,  Private 
Scott,  an  automatic  rifleman,  voluntarily 
posted  himself  on  an  exposed  flank  to  cover 
a  means  of  approach  of  an  enemy  attacking 
party.  Absolutely  alone  he  opened  fire  on 
the  enemy,  killing  and  wounding  many  and 
fully  stopping  the  flank  attack  before  he 
himself  was  killed  by  a  sniper's  bullet.  By 
his  heroic  act  he  saved  the  company  a  great 
many  casualties  and  assured  the  main- 
tenance of  the  perilous  position." 

3.  A  record  like  that  can  never  be 
forgotten. 

That  this  record  cannot  and  will  not  be  forcrotten, 
is  doubtful.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  future 
records  of  the  sort  will  be  just  as  interesting  to 
those  who  read  them.  So  were  the  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  previous  records  like  it  that 
have  passed  into  oblivion  in  the  ages  through  which 
men  have  tried  to  whale  righteousness  and  love  into 
the  other  fellow. 

WHEN  THE  HUMAN  MACHINE  STOPS 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  There  is  no  more  delicately  adjusted 
mechanism  on  earth  than  the  machinery  of 
a  man.  From  his  scalp  to  his  heels  nature 
has  built  him  in  perfect  adaptation  to  the 
parts  he  is  to  play  in  creation.  The  proc- 
esses of  evolution  have  eliminated  all  mis- 
takes. Every  little  thing  in  his  make-up 
has  its  utility  in  his  life,  every  little  move- 


HUMAN-INTEREST  EDITORIALS 


149 


ment  he  makes  has  a  meaning  all  its  own. 
His  whole  structure — bones,  muscles,  nerves 
— and  the  vital  organs  which  provide  for 
their  maintenance — is  wonderful;  while  his 
brain  and  its  activities,  with  the  system  by 
which  it  keeps  in  instant  touch  with  every 
part  of  the  creature,  is  marvelous  beyond 
words.  Even  his  tonsils  and  vermiform 
appendix,  popularly  regarded  as  mere  holi- 
day-makers for  surgeons,  have  their  uses. 

2.  The  machinery  of  a  man,  like  inani- 
mate mechanical  contrivances,  wears  out  in 
time.  Much  of  it  is  replaced  day  by  day 
by  natural  processes.  When  the  teeth  wear 
out  they  may  be  replaced  by  an  outside 
substitute  of  remarkable  efficiency  in  both 
chewing  and  articulation.  Old  eyes  may  be 
given  normal  vision  with  glasses.  A  man 
may  continue  to  exist — a  mere  mechanical 
automaton — ^when  his  brain  has  ceased  to 
function.  But  disaster  is  near  when  the 
lungs,  the  heart,  or  the  stomach  falters. 

3.  Intelligent  and  successful  men,  when 
their  business  shows  symptoms  of  going 
wrong,  never  wait  until  it  collapses  to 
apply  remedies.  They  are  constantly  on  the 
watch  to  keep  it  in  perfect  prosperity — alert 
to  every  symptom  of  trouble  in  their  busi- 
ness organizations.  If  they  were  equally 
concerned  about  their  own  bodies  and  the 
physical  organizations  they  contain,  we 
would  have  fewer  instances  of  bodily  failure 
between  the  ages  of  fifty  and  sixty,  because 
of  acute  diseases  originating  in  lungs,  heart 
or  stomach.  The  lungs  always  give  painful 
warnings,  but  not  always  the  heart  and 
stomach. 

4.  Perhaps  the  stomach  is  the  most  pa- 
tient of  the  vital  organs  under  abuse  which 
surely  develops  fatal  disease.  And  when  it 
does  protest  we  usually  treat  its  symptoms 
for  temporary  relief  and  give  the  cause  of 
its  symptoms  slight  attention,  if  any.  We 
eat  and  eat  and  eat,  gratifying  gluttonous 
appetites,  while  our  overloaded  stomachs, 
seeking  relief,  turn  over  burdens  they  can- 
not carry  to  the  liver,  the  kidneys,  or  the 
intestines,  there  to  begin  the  secret  and 
insidious  diseases  that  give  little  or  no  warn- 
ing until  an  otherwise  trifling  infection 
comes  along  that  gives  them  their  oppor- 
tunity to  poison  and  destroy  the  whole  or- 
ganization. Then  a  man  dies  in  the  prime 
of  life,  when  he  should  be  at  the  apex  of 
useful  achievement,  and  a  community 
mourns  his  untimely  taking  off  and  prates  of 
the  mysterious  dispensations  of  Providence. 

5.  But  the  doctor  knows  the  man  died, 
after  warnings,  as  the  result  of  habits  of 
eating  or  drinking  just  as  sure  to  kill  as 
the  deliberate  and  continuous  taking  of  in- 
finitesimal  doses   of  poison  three  times  a 


day.  It  may  be  remarked  in  closing  that 
there  is  useful  literature  on  breathing,  on 
heart  poisons,  and  on  diet,  available  to  every 
man  who  would  give  to  himself  the  same 
solicitous  care  he  gives  his  business. 

You  may  have  met  someone  who  wasn't  interested 
in  his  own  health  and  length  of  life — ^but  you  can't 
recall  who  it  was.  That  explains  why  writings  on 
health-preservation  have  human-interest. 

THE  SUICIDE  OF  MRS.  CAYNE 

Pittsburg  Press 

1.  It  all  just  pretty  nearly  makes  it 
impossible  to  believe  that  God  cares  any- 
thing about  mankind,  let  alone  notes  the 
sparrow's  fall — so  remarked  a  young  man 
a  couple  of  years  ago  in  a  group  discussing 
the  war,  when  another  man  replied:  "My 
faith  in  God  has  not  been  any  more  severely 
tried  by  the  war  than  by  some  of  the  most 
ordinary  and  universal  experiences  of  life — 
I  mean  poverty,  vice  and  crime  (which  break 
more  hearts  than  war),  and  finally  the  in- 
evitable bereavement  by  death." 

2.  And  here  is  an  example  of  the  sort  of 
thing  that  this  experienced  observer  meant, 
in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Cayne  of  Chicago.  She 
was  the  mother  of  one  child,  a  little  boy, 
who  was  taken  to  the  hospital  a  few  days 
ago,  suffering  from  pneumonia.  The  faith- 
ful mother,  making  daily  or  twice  daily  her 
anxious  visits,  is  met  on  one  of  them  by 
the  attendants,  who  tell  her  gently  that  the 
patient  cannot  live.  She  sobbingly  kneels 
beside  his  bed,  with  her  arms  around  him, 
and  pleads  with  the  ebbing  life  to  return, 
breathing  a  prayer  one  moment  and  remind- 
ing the  little  sufferer  of  some  favorite  story 
or  song  in  the  next. 

3.  AH  at  once  she  realizes  that  the  child 
eyes  no  longer  see  her;  that  the  fond  ears 
no  longer  hear  her  familiar  voice.  She  sud- 
denly rises,  making  her  way  out  of  the 
room,  and  before  anybody  can  grasp  her 
purpose  a  sound  of  crashing  glass  is  heard, 
and  a  moment  later  the  attendants  pick  up 
her  lifeless  body  from  the  courtyard,  four 
stories  below. 

4.  The  God  who  takes  note  even  of  the 
sparrow's  fall  certainly  does  not  do  things 
as  men  would  do  them,  and  on  the  whole  it 
is  very  lucky — even  for  men  themselves — 
that  He  doesn't.  The  far-flung  and  majes- 
tic universe  which  He  governs  should  warn 
us  that  whereas  we  see  things  darkly  and 
only  in  infinitesimally  small  details  He  sees 
them  clearly  as  a  whole.  Would  the 
anguished  suicide  of  Mrs.  Cayne  seem  so 
ghastly  to  us  if  we  could  see  her,  as  per- 
haps the  Supreme  One  sees  her,  today  en- 
folding her  child  in  one  of  those  brighter 
and  happier  realms  in  which  infinite  space 
and  infinite  consciousness  must  surely 
abound  ? 


150 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


5.  Meanwhile,  we  all  ask  ourselves  the 
old  question — ^what  in  the  whole  creation, 
visible  and  invisible,  can  equal  a  mother's 
love? 

The  human-interest  of  mother-love  and  of  the 
mystery  of  life  and  death.  (To  what  extent  death, 
disaster,  and  suffering  shall  be  noticed  in  the  press, 
or  whether  they  shall  be  noticed  at  all,  is  a  ques- 
tion. Subjects  of  pathos  and  sentiment  not  infre- 
quently raise  also  questions  as  to  restraint,  exag- 
geration, delioacy,  taste,  excessive  sentimentality, 
over-emphasis,  false  emotionality,  etc.,  in  the  treat- 
ment. The  worst  day  of  "yellow"  journalism  per- 
haps are  behind  us ;  yet  there  is  still  enough  of 
the  mawkish,  mushy,  treaclish,  insincere,  crude,  or 
perverted  sort  of  sentimental  drippings.  To  make  us 
kin,  the  touch  of  nature  may  be  simple,  but  it  must 
be   true,    in    tone   and   feeling.) 

LOVING  BY  LETTER 

Omaha  Bee 

1.  There  is  a  market,  it  seems,  for  ten- 
der epistles  that  express  the  divine  emotion 
which,  like  the  sap  in  the  trees,  rises  in  the 
spring.  People  buy  publications  which  di- 
rect them  in  the  art  of  giving  absent  treat- 
ment in  love  to  those  they  adore.  The  book 
sellers  admit  it. 

2.  Can  it  be  that  there  has  been  a 
change  in  the  tactics  of  courtship  during  the 
past  30  years  ?  In  our  youth  the  presence  of 
the  charmer  was  the  thing  most  assiduously 
sought.  We  wanted  nearness,  propinquity, 
contiguity — to  be  frank,  actual  contact,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  being  permited  to 
hold  a  soft  white  hand.  However  (just  one 
moment  for  a  sigh  in  memory  of  divers  and 
sundry  hands),  there  are  people  who  love  to 
express  themselves  on  perfumed  paper  to 
those  with  whom  they  are  enamoured.  Alas! 
that  such  delicate  missives  should  ever  be 
opened  to  excite  ribald  laughter  in  unfeel- 
ing courts.  But  that's  another  story;  let 
us  pass  on. 

3.  We  separated  from  a  quarter  yester- 
day at  a  book  stand  for  a  treatise  on  "How 
to  Write  Love  Letters."  Not  that  we  need 
assistance  in  that  sort  of  cardiac  perform- 
ance, but  that  our  readers  may  glimpse  one 
phase  of  belles-lettres  not  in  general  circu- 
lation. Here  is  a  paragraph  from  a  model 
proposal : 

Ever  since  I  have  had  the  felicity  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  you,  the  re- 
memberance  of  your  charms  and  accom- 
plishments has  been  continually  present 
to  my  mind,  and  though  I  dread  the 
painful  thought  of  my  suit  being  re- 
jected, I  can  no  longer  conceal  the 
passion  which  has  preyed  on  my  spirits 
these  few  months  past. 

4.  Isn't  that  perfectly  beautiful?  And 
the  favorable  response  is  no  less  so.  It 
follows : 


I  need  say  no  more  than  that  your 
proposals,  if  made  in  proper  form  to  my 
parents,  will  find  a  warm  and  not  un- 
interested advocate  in  one  to  whom  the 
acceptance  of  them  will  be  happiness — 
their  rejection  a  misfortune. 

5.  Just  one  more  quotation,  this  from  a 
model  letter  to  a  lady  from  her  intended 
husband: 

If  there  is  anything  that  can  console 
me  for  my  unavoidable  absence  from 
your  side,  it  is  the  pleasure  of  anticipat- 
ing in  imagination  the  blissful  time 
when  I  shall  bask  in  the  sunshine  of 
your  smile,  and  revel  in  the  placid  de- 
lights of  a  home  made  happy  by  the 
genial  presence  of  a  lovely  and  loving 
companion. 

6.  One  can  but  wonder  how  long  an 
ordinary  man  could  maintain  himself  on  so 
high  a  plane  of  expression — after  the  honey- 
moon. There  is  another  form  letter  in  the 
book  we  would  like  to  quote,  but  perhaps 
'twill  be  better  to  omit  it.  It  is  from  "a 
widower  professing  attachment  to  a  widow," 
but  suggestions  to  widowers,  or  to  widows 
either,  along  matters  "appertainin'  ro  an' 
touchin'  on"  courtship  are  absurdly  super- 
fluous. 

7.  We  are  disappointed  in  but  one  thing 
in  our  review  of  this  little  book.  It  con- 
tams  no  forms  suitable  for  leap  year  pro- 
posals. They  would  be  really  worth  while 
just  now. 

Next  to  being  in  love  we  enjoy  making  fun  of 
the  fellow  who  is  in  love — all  the  more  if  he  doesn't 
know  (most  of  'em  don't)  hov/  not  to  make  a  fool 
of  himself.  Then,  of  course,  there  is  the  added 
absurdity  of  the  hifalutin  style  of  the  Ready  Letter- 
Writer,  with  its  vocabulary  and  diction  ridiculously 
remote  from  that  of  the  poor  "simp,"  who  would 
depend  on  such  a  manual.  Human-interest?  V/e 
should  say   sol 

SPRING  IN  THE  ARBOHETUM 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  Perhaps  no  shrub  is  a  more  welcome 
sight  than  the  forsythia,  which  brings  its 
golden  shower  so  early.  Hungry  for  color 
after  the  long  fast  of  winter,  a  plant  of 
very  much  less  merit  would  no  doubt  ap- 
peal strongly  to  our  longing  eyes,  and  the 
forsythia  by  no  means  stints  its  feast,  but 
pours  it  out  lavishly  before  us,  unfolding 
the  bright  treasure  of  its  bloom  through 
several  weeks  and  fairly  rivalling  the  sun 
for  splendor  in  the  dull  days  of  which  we 
have  had  so  many  of  late,  putting  old  Sol 
to  shame,  in  fact.  Few  plants  have  brought 
to  our  gardens  a  larger  or  more  valuable 
gift  of  beauty  than  this  genus  of  Oriental 
shrubs,  or  one  more  generally  satisfactory 
for  common  acceptance;  its  freedom  from 
insect   pests   and    diseases,   the   ease   with 


HUMAN-INTEREST  EDITORIALS 


151 


which  it  accommodates  itself  to  almost  any 
soil,  and,  year  after  year,  delights  our 
sight  with  the  generous  abundance  of  its 
bloom  and  its  reasonable  hardiness  in  our 
climate  are  a  rare  combination  of  excellen- 
cies. If  an  occasional  winter  somewhat 
blights  its  flower  buds,  the  show  of  bloom 
may  be  more  or  less  curtailed  for  the  time, 
but  the  plants  are  not  destroyed  nor  do 
they  fail  to  make  a  good  display  of  pleas- 
ant green  foliage  through  the  summer,  and 
are  almost  certain  to  make  good  on  the 
flowers  the  following  season. 

2.  Forsythias,  with  one  exception,  are 
Asiatic — and  Chinese,  I  believe — the  excep- 
tion being  F.  Europsea,  a  species  found  not 
many  years  since  in  Albania  and  which  had 
rather  less  valuable  flowering  qualities  than 
the  others.  It  is  said,  however,  to  have 
proved  itself  somewhat  less  liable  to  the 
occasional  winter  blighting  of  flower  buds 
referred  to  above  and  may  in  time  con- 
tribute this  valuable  trait  to  the  new  forms 
which  the  future  will  produce. 


3.  Certain  hybrids  of  the  early  prevailing 
species  have  appeared  from  time  to  time, 
to  which  the  general  name  of  intermedia 
has  been  given,  and,  as  is  often  the  case, 
these  hybrids,  showing  slight  variations  in 
habit  and  color  of  flowers,  have  surpassed 
their  parents  in  some  respects.  One  of  them 
bearing  primrose  yellow  bloom,  and  called 
F.  intermedia,  variety  primulina,  is  a  case 
in  point.  No  doubt  this  process  of  develop- 
ment, both  spontaneous  and  of  artificial 
origin,  will  ultimately  furnish  our  gardens 
with  plants  of  much  improved  qualities; 
meanwhile  we  are  very  thankful  for  the 
fine  outburst  of  golden  splendor  which  they 
now  bring  to  us  every  spring,  and  make 
annual  pilgrimages  to  see  them  in  the  Ar- 
boretum. 

4.  The  great  bank,  various  species  and 
varieties  making  up  the  display  here,  is  on 
the  lower  slope  of  Bussey  Hill,  just  below 
the  lilacs  and  opposite  the  more  westerly 
of  the  little  ponds. 


5.  Yellow  seems  the  favorite  but  not  the 
sole  color  of  spring  flowers  and  we  find 
many  others  of  this  cheerful  hue;  nearer 
to  the  pond  stands  a  fine  specimen  of  a 
European  dogwood  (cornus  mas.)  covered 
with  bloom,  its  flowers  minute  but  multi- 
tudinous. This  is  a  wide  spreading  rotund 
mound,  the  bark  being  warm  in  color  and 
the  whole  effect  cheery  and  dignified,  yet 
this  shrub  is  somewhat  precocious  by  nature, 
very  sensitive  to  periods  of  springlike  mild- 
ness even  in  winter,  an  amiability  which 
stmnetimes   heatis  it  ftfr   seeming  disWtfer. 


The  writer  well  remembers  his  surprise  some 
years  ago  at  seeing  a  large  specimen  in  the 
Public  Garden,  near  Boylston  street,  show- 
ing a  considerable  quantity  of  opening 
flowers  after  a  rather  prolonged  period  of 
February  mildness.  Returning  cold  quickly 
checked  this  error  of  judgment,  and  the 
shrub  finished  its  festival  later  at  the  ap- 
propriate time  and  appeared  little  the  worse 
for  the  adventure.  Further  up  and  nearly 
opposite  the  end  of  the  lilacs  may  be  seen 
the  golden  spray  of  the  spice  bush  (Ben- 
zoin) in  full  flower  and  beyond  it  the 
fainter  glow  of  the  low,  rather  sprawling 
dircas,  or  leatherwoods,  not,  as  I  write,  yet 
fully  out.  These  little  shrubs  are  native  to 
our  damp  woods  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf 
and  once  had  an  economic  value  which  was 
very  well  recognized  by  the  red  brethren  of 
the  woods — and  some  of  the  early  white  as 
well — for  they  furnished  the  Indians  and 
others  with  cordage.  Its  leather-like  bark 
"has  so  much  strength  that  a  man  cannot 
pull  apart  so  much  as  covers  a  branch 
one-half  or  one-third  of  an  inch  in  diam- 
eter," a  useful  plant  in  primitive  days 
for  thongs  and  basket  making. 

6.  The  white  flowers  of  Andromeda  are 
very  prompt  to  open  in  April,  though  they 
are  of  course  fully  formed  when  the  winter 
sets  in  and  have  little  to  do  but  to  throw 
off  their  blankets  and  jump  into  the  spring 
sunshine.  In  a  climate  so  unfavorable  to 
most  broad-leaved  evergreens  this  very 
hardy  plant  is  a  welcome  addition  to  the 
short  list  available.  One  may  find  it  here 
not  only  in  the  Shrub  Collection,  but  along 
the  right  side  of  Hemlock  Road,  among  the 
black-fruited  native  hollies  (ilexglabra). 


7.  The  Arboretum  cherries  when  in  flower 
are  one  of  the  chief  sensations  of  the  floral 
year,  and  should  not  be  missed.  Prunus 
tomentosa,  the  earliest  here,  when  fully 
grown  is  a  broad,  vigorous  and  hardy  shrub 
with  pinkish  flower-buds  which  open  into 
good-sized  white  flowers;  it  is  opening  now; 
its  near  neighbor,  P.  triloba,  is  a  few  days 
later,  but  its  flowers  are  the  purest  pink 
and  very  beautiful.  Both  of  these  little 
cherries  are  very  floriferous,  very  hardy,  and 
most  desirable  additions  to  the  flower  garden 
or  border,  though  they  seem  to  be  but  little 
known  to  the  general  public.  They  are  na- 
tives of  Northwestern  China.  The  larger 
tree  cherries  of  Japan,  P.  Sargentii,  P. 
pendula  and  P.  sabhirtella,  are  near  by  (all 
are  along  the  right  of  the  road  just  inside 
the  Forest  Hills  entrance),  and  will  soon  be 
covered  by  clouds  of  beautiful  bloom,  the 
last-named  evien  nbw  a  mass  of  didl  pink 
buds,  scfme  of  which  ^te  beginnm'g  to  Open. 


152 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


8.  Already  there  is  loveliness  every- 
where in  this  great  garden,  and  though  the 
writer  has  not  yet  been  able  to  explore  it 
very  fully  he  suspects  that  Azalea  path, 
Hickory  path,  the  great  north  meadow  with 
its  feathery  willows,  Peters  Hill  and  other 
parts  are  full  of  things  which,  familiar  as 
they  may  be,  always  so  successfully  surprise 
us  with  every  returning  spring.  He  did  see 
the  larches  today — hackmatacks  he  prefers 
to  call  them  as  he  did  in  his  youth — they 
were  taking  on  that  tender  veil,  in  color 
very  near  to  what  the  Chinese  potters  call 
apple-green,  a  lovely  diaphanous  cloud 
which  heaven  seems  to  drop  down  over  their 
fine  symmetrical  forms  at  every  spring 
awakening.  The  riotous  brook  raced 
through  the  meadow  like  a  band  of  school 
boys  just  let  off  from  their  books;  the  shad- 
bush  buds  were  fat,  some  looked  near  to 
bursting;  the  striped  maple,  fair  little  tree 
of  the  northern  woods,  was  at  that  bewitch- 
ing moment  when  the  latent  leaf  buds,  feel- 
ing the  stir  of  the  sap,  seem  to  glow  with 
a  new  pinkness  along  with  the  deep  color  of 
the  new  twigs  and  somehow  seem  to  sug- 
gest an  infant's  tiny  fingers.  How  strange- 
ly we  respond  to  all  this — as  though  we  too 
were  a  part  of  it,  as  of  course  we  are. 

E.  S.  F. 
"To  him  who  in  the  love  of  nature  holds  com- 
munion with  her  visible  forms,  she  speaks  a  various 
language."  Admiration  of  or  emotional  response  to 
nature  is  a  common  human  characteristic.  This 
article  appeals  to  that  instinctive  sympathy.  In 
form,  it  is  an  essay  of  the  causerie  sort^  written 
for  those  who  have  the  instinctive  appreciation  of 
trees  and  flowers.  Since  it  restricts  itself  to  nature 
as  observable  in  the  Arboretum,  it  is  also  a  "home- 
subject"  editorial. 

THE  COME-BACK 

The  Salt  Seller 

1.  A  cheery  smile,  a  hearty  greeting  and 
an  optimistic  viewpoint  on  things  in  general 
and  business  in  particular,  will  do  more 
toward  landing  orders  than  almost  anything 
else  you  can  do.  Why?  Because  when 
you're  in  that  mood  you're  at  your  best. 
It's  human  nature  to  admire  and  respond  to 
the  opposite  in  all  things — in  moods  and  in 
business,  as  well  as  in  sweethearts. 

2.  And  so  if  you're  cheerful  and  happy 
when  you  meet  Old  Man  Myers  and  try  to 
smooth  out  the  kinks  for  him  and  chase 
away  the  bugaboos,  nine  chances  out  of  ten 
hell  warm  up  and  you'll  get  his  interest  and 
his  business. 

3.  But,  if  you  let  him  get  on  your  nerves, 
put  you  in  the  dumps  and  chase  you  out  of 
his  store  in  a  huff,  you're  lost — ^unless^ — 

4.  You've  got  a  system  for  chasing  away 
Old  Man  Gloom  and  coming-back  with  a 
wallop  in  each  hand  and  a  real  smile. 


5.  What  if  Myers  does  throw  you  out; 
what  if  he  did  get  out  of  bed  wrong-end-to; 
he  isn't  the  only  man  in  town  who  can  use 
your  line. 

6.  Granted  it  isn't  the  easiest  thing  in 
the  world  to  "come-back"  after  running  up 
against  such  sour-grapes  and  icicles!  But 
right  there  is  where  one  salesman  proves 
himself  better  than  the  rest.  If  he  can  al- 
ways "come-back" — if  he  never  loses  hold 
of  himself  for  more  than  a  short  time — ^then 
he  will  be  up  and  going  again  full  tilt  in  no 
time — and  will  land  the  business. 

7.  That's  the  idea  on  this  "come-back" 
proposition.  Now  for  the  Plan.  Here's  the 
way  one  man  did  it! 

8.  He  had  read  a  poem  at  one  time  when 
he  was  in  the  dumps  and  needed  to  "come- 
back." This  poem  acted  just  like  a  tonic. 
It  was  the  very  thing  he  needed  to  bring 
him  out  of  the  rut  of  discouragement.  And 
so,  ever  afterward,  when  he  got  the  blues 
and  needed  to  "come-back,"  he  thought  of 
this  poem: 

Take  a  lesson  from  the  rubber  ball; 
It  makes  no   difference  where  you  let 

it  fall. 
It's  always  up  and  bouncing  'round. 
You  simply  can't  keep  it  on  the  ground. 
If  you  hit  with  a  wallop,  it  rebounds 

with  a  smack, 
And  the  harder  you  hit  it  the  harder  it 

comes  back. 

9.  Now  maybe  you're  not  interested  in 
poetry.  All  right,  then,  just  think  of  the 
poor  boys  who've  made  good  under  harder 
handicaps  than  you  have;  just  think  of  men 
who've  made  good  after  being  counted  fail- 
ures; just  think  of  the  times  you've  made 
good  when  you  had  almost  given  up. 

10.  Why,  man  alive!  The  "come-back" 
either  in  business  or  in  other  walks  of  life, 
is  always  the  winner.  But  he  is  also  the 
man  who  has  planned  better  and  worked 
harder. 

11.  Make  your  plan — then  work  your 
plan!  But  be  sure  to  provide  for  the  times 
when  you  need  to  "come-back." 

"Inspirational"  interest  (for  class  readers).  The 
compiler,  having  at  one  time  or  another  dipped  Into 
Homer,  Dante,  Shakspere,  Milton,  Browning,  and 
others  more  recent,  is  entitled  to  his  unexpressed 
opinion  about  the  accuracy  of  the  term  "poem"  as 
here  applied.  Ck)nceming  the  editorial  itself,  how- 
ever, his  experience  gives  him  no  reason  to  think 
that  it  would  fail  to  appeal  to  a  numerous  body  of 
readers. 

Chapter  X.    Exercises 

1.  From  current  newspapers,  clip  and 
paste,  for  submission,  5  examples  of  human- 
interest  editorial.  In  the  unoccupied  part 
of  the  sheet,  state  the  element  of  human- 
interest  found  in  the  editorial. 


HUMAN.  INTEREST  EDITORIALS 


153 


2.  From  other  sources  collect  5  other  ex- 
amples, and  treat  them  as  in  No.  1. 

3.  Prepare  a  list,  not  fewer  than  5,  of 
suggestions  for  editorials  in  which  nature 
shall  in  some  way  supply  the  element  of 
human-interest.  In  each  suggestion,  state 
what  its  source  of  appeal  will  be. 

4.  Write  one  of  the  human-interest  edi- 
torials suggested  in  No.  3. 

5.  Another  as  in  No.  4. 

6.  As  in  No.  3,  prepare  suggestions  for 
editorials  in  which  the  human-interest  shall 
lie  in  the  appeal  of  tenderness  or  sym- 
pathy. (Fight  shy  of  the  soft  and 
mawkish.) 

7.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  6. 

8.  Another  as  in  No.  7. 

9.  As  in  No.  3,  prepare  suggestions  for 
human-interest  editorials  the  appeal  of 
which  shall  lie  in  our  aversion  to  injustice, 
cruelty,  or  the  like. 

10.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  9. 

11.  Another  as  in  No.  10. 

12.  As  in  No.  3,  prepare  suggestions  for 
human-interest  editorials  depending  for 
their  effect  on  the  element  of  incongruity, 
grotesqueness,  and  the  like. 

13.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  12. 

14.  Another  as  in  No.  13. 

15.  As  in  No.  3,  prepare  suggestions  f6r 
human-interest     editorials     depending    for 


their  effect  upon  the  element  of  curiosity, 
singularity,  or  strangeness. 

16.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  15. 

17.  Another  as  in  No.  16. 

18.  Write  a  human-interest  editorial  in 
the  matter-of-fact  mood. 

19.  Another  as  in  18. 

20.  Write  a  human-interest  editorial  in 
the  mood  of  reverence. 

21.  Write  a  human-interest  editorial  in 
the  mood  of  awe  or  wonder. 

22.  Another,  in  the  mood  of  ridicule. 

23.  Another,  in  the  mood  of  admiration. 

24.  Another,  in  the  mood  of  esthetic  or 
artistic  enjoyment. 

25.  Another,  in  the  mood  of  satire  or 
sarcasm. 

26.  Clip  and  paste  5  news-stories  offer- 
ing hints  for  human-interest  editorials,  and 
on  the  respective  sheets  state  the  idea  for 
the  editorial. 

27.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  26. 

28.  Another  as  in  27. 

29.  Write  a  news-editorial  that  shall  be 
one  of  human-interest. 

30.  Under  the  heading.  When  Editors 
Grow  Human,  write  a  human-interest  edito- 
rial descriptive  of  the  human-interest  edi- 
torial. 

31.  Write  an  essay-editorial  dealing  with 
human-interest  in  editorials. 


CHAPTER    XI 


THE  HOME-SUBJECT  EDITORIAL 


The  home-community  spirit. — It  is 

possible  to  judge  with  a  good  deal  of 
accuracy  the  spirit  of  a  community, 
town  or  city  by  the  interest  that  its 
residents  take  in  its  affairs.  Where 
a  large  proportion  of  the  people  mani- 
fest a  lively  concern  in  the  various 
aspects  of  the  community  life,  its 
problems,  and  its  activities,  a  spirit 
of  comity,  co-operation,  and  advance 
usually  exists,  strong  enough  to 
create  wholesome  conditions  in  busi- 
ness, local  government,  intellectual 
matters,  and  morals.  Where  no  such 
concern  is  taken,  the  community  is 
backward  if  not  decadent. 

Former  neglect  of  home-news. — 
Obvious  as  the  truth  of  this  asser- 
tion is,  it  has  often  gone  unrecog- 
nized, even  by  the  local  papers,  al- 
though they  should  be  the  first  to 
perceive  it  and  to  propagate  the  pro- 
gressive get-together  spirit.  The 
smaller  or  more  rural  the  town  or 
community,  the  more  likely  has  the 
local  paper  been  to  overlook  the  op- 
portunity thus  afforded  it  for  service. 
But  that  condition  is  now  changing 
very  rapidly;  indeed,  it  began  to 
change  perceptibly,  though  slowly, 
not  many  years  after  the  war  be- 
tween the  states,  as  the  small  papers 
gradually  followed  the  larger  papers 
in  giving  more  attention  to  the  pur- 
veying of  news. 

Growth  of  interest  in  home-news. 
— As  might  have  been  foreseen,  how- 
ever, small  papers  could  not  compete 
with  the  large  papers  in  the  presenta- 
tion of  world,  national,  or  even  state 
news.  Hence  the  small  paper  was 
forced  to  emphasize  news  of  its  own 
vicinity.  To  many,  the  ^result  was 
^iirlp^in:^.    Thfe    ^msB    pafffe'r   tWt 


increased  its  proportion  of  well- 
treated  local  news  promptly  grew  in 
popularity. 

The  appetite  of  the  local  public  for 
local  news  waxed  with  what  it  fed 
on,  and  far-sighted  small-community 
publishers  began  to  aspire  to  the  pro- 
duction of  papers  that  should  be  "all 
homeprint" — devoted  mainly  to  mat- 
ters local  within  their  circulation- 
radius,  or  intimately  affecting  the  af- 
fairs or  welfare  of  the  people  within 
that  territory.  Fully  realized,  this 
aspiration  tended  to  exclude  even  the 
"canned  news"  and  other  reading- 
matter  supplied  in  the  "patent  in- 
sides'*. 

The  evolution,  of  course,  is  far 
from  complete  and  may  never  be- 
come complete;  but  the  tendency  to 
devote  the  small  local  papers  as  much 
as  possible  to  home  news  grows 
steadily.  Some  publishers  affirm  that, 
in  communities  of  fewer  than  20,000, 
the  daily  paper  receiving  a  telegraph 
or  telephone  service  from  the  news 
associations  (thus  putting  itself  into 
competition  with  the  larger  dailies 
that  inevitably  circulate  in  the  same 
territory),  loses  rather  than  gains 
circulation  thereby.  In  other  words, 
they  believe  that  in  the  community 
even  of  20,000,  the  local  paper  had 
best  concentrate  upon  local  affairs. 

The  assertion  may  not  be  war- 
ranted by  the  facts,  but  it  indicates 
the  importance  now  laid  upon  news 
of  the  local  field.  By  far  the  larger 
number  of  small  papers,  daily  or 
weekly,  that  emphasize  local  news, 
are  found  to  prosper,  assuming,  of 
course,  that  their  business-manage- 
i^flnt   is   as   stjund   as   their   news- 


THE  HOME-SUBJECT  EDITORIAL 


155 


Growth  of  the  community-interest 
editorial. — Development  of  the  func- 
tion of  the  small  paper  as  a  dissemi- 
nator of  home  news  led  naturally, 
though  slowly,  to  an  increasing  dis- 
cussion of  community  matters  in  its 
editorials.  This  tendency  to  devote 
more  of  the  editorial  page  to  consid- 
eration of  matters  of  direct  interest 
in  the  home  territory  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  gradual  recogni- 
tion of  the  value  of  the  newspaper  as 
a  stimulus  to  local  spirit.  An  honest, 
public-spirited,  open-minded,  progres- 
sive newspaper  can  do  more  than  any 
other  single  agency  to  provoke 
thought,  create  community  pride,  and 
bring  about  intelligent,  well-reasoned 
community  opinion  and  action.  The- 
oretically, this  has  long  been  pro- 
claimed; publishers  and  editors  are 
now  finding  that  the  theory  repays 
application  in  practice. 

Home-interest  editorials  in  metro- 
politan papers. — The  stress  here  laid 
upon  the  importance  of  home-subject 
editorials  in  the  small  paper  does  not 
imply  that  such  editorials  are  not  also 
important  in  larger  journals.  The 
city  and  metropolitan  press,  however, 
earlier  recognized  the  opportunity 
offered  by  community  subjects  for 
interesting  and  influencing  the  public ; 
and  it  usually  gives  adequate  atten- 
tion on  the  editorial  page  to  the 
larger  and  more  impressive  aspects 
of  local  affairs. 

Some  large  papers  go  further  than 
this,  and  endeavor  more  or  less  con- 
sistently to  interpret  significant  local 
movements  and  activities,  even 
though  they  concern  only  a  limited 
part  of  the  city  or  of  the  populace, 
and  lack  the  impressiveness  of  sub- 
jects that  more  obviously  affect  the 
city  as  a  whole.  But  how  far  the 
metropolitan  paper  can  thus  go  in 
making  itself  the  interpreter  of  com- 
munity spirit  within  the  separate 
boroughs,  districts,  wards,  and  sim- 

12 


ilar  subdivisions  of  its  city,  is  un- 
certain. 

How  much  such  subjects  shall  be 
stressed  editorially  must  therefore 
be  determined  a  good  deal  from  the 
viewpoint  of  general  appeal  and  cir- 
culation. The  small  paper  has  an  in- 
tensive appeal;  but  the  large  paper 
has  an  extensive  appeal,  and  its  prac- 
tice, therefore,  leans  decidedly  toward 
treatment  of  only  the  larger,  more 
significant  and  more  vital  affairs  of 
its  own  community.  The  more  spe- 
cifically localized  and  internal  sub- 
jects it  leaves  to  those  "Home  News" 
weeklies  and  semi-weeklies  which 
confine  themselves  to  locally  inter- 
esting aspects  of  the  city's  life. 

What  community  subjects  are 
available. — Any  local  subject  about 
which  the  people  of  a  community  are 
thinking  and  talking,  or  about  which 
they  can  be  led  to  think  and  talk  in- 
telligently, is  available  for  editorial 
treatment,  if  handled  with  good  judg- 
ment. Occasionally  even  tittle-tattle 
and  scandal  can  be  beneficially 
touched  upon,  provided  that  the 
editor  have  the  courage,  the  tact,  and 
the  skill  to  deal  with  the  matter 
wholesomely,  correctively,  and  con- 
structively ;  otherwise,  of  course,  they 
should  be  resolutely  avoided.  Aside 
from  this,  any  theme  that  touches  the 
life,  welfare,  and  enjoyments  of  the 
community,  or  of  its  individual  resi- 
dents, is  worth  treating,  especially  if 
it  can  be  presented  stimulatively  or 
constructively. 

Business  subjects — Hence,  busi- 
ness subjects  call  for  editorial  con- 
sideration. The  poverty-stricken  com- 
munity is  doomed  to  further  deterio- 
ration unless  it  can  attain  or  regain 
a  moderate  degree  of  financial  pros- 
perity, reasonably  distributed.  Local 
trade,  industry,  finance,  and  enter- 
prise, the  conditions  affecting  them, 
their  relation  to  the  community  and 
of  the  community  to  them,  prices, 
service,  advertising,  proposals  for  the 


156 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


improvement  of  trade,  transporta- 
tion, communication,  and  other  con- 
ditions affecting  business  welfare — 
subjects  such  as  these  offer  numerous 
opportunities  for  editorial  discussion 
that  will  inform,  instruct,  or  stimu- 
late the  community  thought.  The 
prime  purpose  of  such  editorials  will 
be,  to  keep  the  public  mind  alert  con- 
cerning the  importance  of  the  com- 
munity's business,  and  to  produce 
mutual  understanding,  and  therefore 
to  develop  a  sense  of  common  inter- 
ests, between  business  and  the  pubHc. 

Community  welfare. — ^The  welfare 
of  any  community,  however,  depends 
not  merely  upon  its  commercial  and 
industrial  prospering,  but  even  more 
upon  the  purpose  with  which  it  pros- 
pers and  the  use  that  it  makes  of  its 
prosperity.  "A  better  place  to  live 
in"  is  the  animating  motto  of  all 
right-spirited  communities.  Hence 
they  are  interested,  progressively  and 
earnestly,  in  the  practical  application 
at  home  of  such  ideals  as  can  effec- 
tively contribute  to  making  the  com- 
munity more  desirable  as  a  place  in 
which  to  live. 

Among  such  matters  are  village  or 
city  improvement ;  Americanization 
of  foreign  residents;  abolition  of 
slums  (which  exist  in  small  as  well 
as  in  large  communities,  and  in  a 
sense  even  in  backwoods  districts) ; 
education,  and  the  betterment  of  the 
schools;  sanitation  and  the  commu- 
nity health;  community  lectures, 
plays,  "sings,"  and  other  means  of 
promoting  community  understanding 
and  culture;  local  interest  in  music, 
art,  and  literature ;  religious  interests 
of  the  community ;  moral  healthiness ; 
and  so  on.  By  a  sensible,  tactful, 
sincere  editor,  all  such  subjects  can 
be  so  presented  as  to  stimulate 
thought,  awaken  interest,  promote 
co-operation,  and  so  encourage  public- 
spirited  activity. 

The  farm-community  editorial. — 
So   many   American   weekly   papers 


owe  a  large  part,  often  the  major 
part,  of  their  circulation  to  farm  sub- 
scribers, that  the  wisdom  of  empha- 
sizing country  news  and  country 
topics,  including  agriculture,  is  ob- 
vious. These  are  among  the  most 
important  elements  of  the  community 
welfare,  and  consequently  are  of  in- 
terest and  concern,  not  only  in  the 
country  surrounding  the  town,  but 
also  to  the  townspeople,  since  the 
town  prospers  or  fails  to  prosper  in 
proportion  as  the  farming  district 
about  it  thrives  or  stagnates. 

Problems  of  community  self-gov- 
ernment.— Questions  of  local  self- 
government,  such  as  taxation,  public 
improvements,  local  ordinances  and 
regulations,  and  public  expenditures, 
appertain  to  community  welfare ;  but 
owing  to  the  specialized  nature  of 
their  problems  and  to  the  immediate 
effect  they  have  upon  the  community, 
they  call  for  the  emphasis  of  sepa- 
rate mention. 

Manner  and  mood  of  the  home-sub- 1 
ject  editorial. — Broadly  speaking,  v/e 
can  say  that  the  home-subject  edi- 
torial does  not  need  to  differ  in 
method,  style,  or  tone  from  other  edi- 
torials. It  can  be  built  up  by  the 
same  processes,  and  expressed  in  the 
same  manner.  Of  such  editorials  in 
papers  circulating  in  large  cities,  this 
is  unqualifiedly  true. 

But  in  the  small  town,  the  remote 
impersonality  that  the  large  paper 
can  and  does  maintain  may  give  place 
somewhat  to  a  tone  of  acquaintance- 
ship and  neighborliness.  Conse- 
quently, the  editorial  article,  though 
preserving  its  dignity  and  its  atti- 
tude of  authority,  may  have  a  more 
homely  tone.  This  does  not  imply 
that  the  editor  "writes  down"  to  his 
fellow  townsmen  and  countrymen. 
By  no  means.  He  would  not  deserve 
to  last  long,  and  probably  would  not 
last  long,  as  an  editor,  if  he  felt  this 
condescending  spirit. 


THE  HOME-SUBJECT  EDITORIAL 


157 


But  it  does  mean  that  he  instinc- 
tively senses  himself  as  one  among 
his  own  people,  and  while  addressing 
them  with  thorough  respect  for  their 
intelligence,  yet  employs  the  easy  and 
spontaneous  directness  of  expression 
natural  to  such  association. 

Sweeping  generalization,  however, 
is  not  possible.  Not  only  the  editor's 
personality,  but  also  the  carefully 
studied  character  and  attitude  of  his 
people  collectively,  will  determine  the 
manner  and  the  effectiveness  of  his 
approach.  The  breezy  hail-fellow- 
ness  that  won  appreciation  and  ap- 
proval in  a  buoyant  Wyoming  or  Ari- 
zona town  might  repel,  if  not  offend, 
in  a  staid  Massachusetts  village  or  an 
old  Southern  community  of  still-sur- 
viving aristocratic  traditions,  social 
and  intellectual.  There  are  degrees 
even  in  informality  and  unconvention- 
ality,  and  each  v/riter  must  discover 
for  himself  what  is  best. 

Controversial  editorials  on  home 
subjects. — A  word  of  caution  may  be 
advisable  concerning  controversial 
editorials  in  the  home  paper,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  cautionary  comment 
made  in  Chapter  VII. 

Occasions  arise  when  the  home 
paper  must  espouse,  defend,  or  at- 
tack. But  often  the  editor  can  avoid 
direct  controversy  by  employing  the 
editorial  of  interpretation,  accom- 
plishing his  purpose  quietly  and  un- 
demonstratively  by  means  of  explan- 
ation—of "education"— rather  than 
by  means  of  argument.  This,  when 
possible,  is  desirable;  for  in  sniall 
communities,  differences  of  opinion 
more  easily  become  personal,  and  so 
develop  into  latent  enmities  or  open 
quarrels. 

When  direct  argument  is  employed 
concerning  matters  on  which  commu- 
nity opinion  is  divided,  it  should  be, 
first  of  all,  fair,  and  next  to  that,  tol- 
erant and  good-natured.  Loosed  by 
the  large  paper,  the  sarcastic  and 
bitter  editorial  may  be  an  arrow  shot 


into  the  air;  loosed  from  the  bow- 
string of  the  small  paper,  it  flies 
straight  to  the  mark,  and  lodges  deep, 
and  the  wound  festers. 

Convinced  of  his  honesty,  his  fair- 
ness, and  his  usual  good  judgment, 
the  editor's  neighbors  will  not  lay  up 
against  him  his  support  even  of  an 
unpopular  issue;  but  a  few  sharp, 
lashing,  intolerant  paragraphs,  even 
if  penned  in  a  moment  of  righteous 
indignation,  may  go  far  toward  un- 
dermining his  position.  Almost  in- 
variably, in  the  small  community,  the 
reputation  of  being  a  "good  one"  in 
the  use  of  edged  language  and  cut- 
ting argument  is  purchased  at  the 
price  of  lessened  friendliness  and  loss 
of  influence.  It  doesn't  pay.  Far 
better  to  urge  the  point  with  modera- 
tion and  good-nature. 

Avoiding  rancor  on  community 
issues. — "How  should  I  criticise  a 
road-overseer  for  neglecting  his 
duties?"  said  Don  C.  Seitz,  of  the 
New  York  World.  *T  wouldn't.  I'd 
print  a  single  sentence,  as  if  it  were 
merely  a  news-item : 

"  'A  mudhole  twenty  feet  long  re- 
mains in  front  of  Mullen's  block  since 
the  recent  rains.' 

"The  next  week  I  might  note:  *In 
one  of  the  busy  hours  yesterday  28 
wagons  and  autos  drove  through  the 
20-foot  mudhole  in  front  of  the  Mul- 
len block.' 

"If  the  joshing  comment  that  such 
notes  would  bring  the  overseer  from 
the  townspeople  didn't  stir  him,  I 
would  continue  them : 

"  The  mudhole  left  in  front  of  the 
Mullen  block  by  the  rain  three  weeks 
ago  is  gradually  disappearing.  It 
has  shrunk  from  20  to  15  feet  in 
length.' 

"  ^Measurement  shows  that  the 
ruts  in  the  Mullen  block  mudhole  are 
14  inches  deep.' 

"That's  all.  Sooner  or  later,  public 
opinion  will  do  the  actual  knocking, 
and  the  street  will  be  repaired." 


158 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Mr.  Seitz's  illustration  indicates 
the  spirit  of  sweet  but  firm  reason- 
ableness that  should  shape  the  policy 
of  the  local  editorial  even  when  its 
purpose  is  that  of  criticism — not  that 
of  rancor,  not  even  of  outright  at- 
tack, but  sensible,  good-natured, 
neighborly  considerateness. 

Representative  editorials. — Some  of 
the  home  subjects  likely  to  appear  in 
the  editorial  columns,  and  some  of 
the  ways  in  which  they  can  be 
treated,  are  suggested  by  the  illustra- 
tions that  follow. 

AS  OTHERS  SEE  US 

Times-Citizen   (Roseville.   111.) 

1.  A  stranger  judges  this  town  mainly 
by  its  appearance. 

2.  If  it  is  clean,  sanitary  and  inviting,  he 
•carries  the  good  word  afar.     But  if  it  is 

dingy,  and  ill  kept,  he  carries  the  bad  record 
to  even  greater  distances. 

3.  We  should  have  a  reputation  second  to 
none — superior  to  many — but  we  will  have 
only  that  which  we  carve  out  by  our  own 
efforts. 

4.  Let's  all  pitch  in  and  make  this  the 
cleanest  and  the  brightest  and  the  most 
progressive  year  in  our  history. 

5.  Spring  is  the  time  to  begin. 

An   appeal  to  home  pride. 

"MUFFLERS" 

Boston  Post 

1.  A  pedestrian  on  Washington  or  Tre- 
mont  streets  during  the  rush  hours  would 
never  get  the  impression  that  Massachu- 
setts has  a  law  providing  that  automobiles 
shall  be  equipped  with  "mufflers"  to  "pre- 
vent unnecessary  noise." 

2.  Use  of  the  "cut-outs"  in  the  open  dis- 
tricts is  habitual  with  motorists,  but  there 
is  a  growing  tendency  to  use  them  indiscrim- 
inately, even  at  crowded  intersections.  The 
result  is  not  only  a  distressing  rumble  and 
roar,  but  a  superfluous  discharge  of  smoke 
and  gases.  If  the  law  intends  to  alleviate 
noise  and  save  pedestrians  from  unneces- 
sary nausea  it  should  be  enforced. 

Not  a  word  is  said  here  about  the  police.  Neverthe- 
less, the  brief  comment  is  a  suggestive  "tip"  to 
the  police  department. 

BOOKS  FOR  COUNTRY  CHILDREN 

Detroit  Free    Press 

1.  At  the  April  meeting  of  the  Wayne 
County  Library  Round  Table  the  subject  of 
the  launching  of  a  new  kind  of  library  serv- 
ice within  the  county  was  under  discussion, 
the  purpose  being  to  provide  more  nearly 


equal  advantages  for  children  in  rural  and 
city  schools.  A  county  library  would  seem 
the  natural  outgrowth  or  adjunct  of  a  county 
educational  system,  and  other  counties  have 
found  ways  of  seeing  that  the  books  are 
circulated.  A  county  library  in  Maryland 
sends  a  motor  carload  of  books  into  the  sev- 
eral townships  at  regular  intervals,  and  the 
service  is  highly  esteemed  by  the  people. 

2.  Certainly  where  a  want  is  felt  there 
are  ways  of  supplying  it,  and  a  distribution 
book-service  can  be  made  a  great  instrument 
for  good  in  country  schools.  School  readers 
get  stale  from  much  droning  repetition,  yet 
are  seldom  changed,  so  that  any  inclination 
toward  reading  which  the  child  possesses  is 
soon  lost  in  monotony.  By  all  means  circu- 
late books.    They  stir  the  wisdom  of  ages. 

Which  is  more  vital — an  editorial  jumping  on  a 
county  commissioner  because  he  is  or  is  not  a  good 
democrat  or  a  good  republican,  or  one  encouraging 
the    increase   of   books    among    the    county's    citizens? 

OLD  CLOTHES 

Massachusetts    State    Colleeian 

1.  The  official  adoption  of  an  old  clothes 
campaign  by  the  students  will  make  little 
difference  in  the  general  appearance  of  the 
men.  Although  not  in  the  sweatshirt  class, 
neither  are  the  men  of  M.  A.  C.  accustomed 
to  appearing  in  formal  attire  at  the  evening 
meal.  It  is  apparent  to  the  casual  observer 
that  a  sensible  adaptation  of  the  old-clothes 
movement  has  been  in  force  on  this  campus 
for  some  time  past.  Serviceability  has  been 
placed  ahead  of  appearance.  Sartorial  dis- 
play has  been  relegated  to  the  background 
in  favor  of  comfort  and  durability. 

2.  Nevertheless,  the  official  sanctioning 
of  the  old-clothes  movement,  rather  than 
the  promulgation  of  an  overalls  club,  is  a 
step  in  the  right  direction.  Overalls  would 
be  merely  a  new  expense,  especially  so,  con- 
sidering the  "crocking"  qualities  of  the 
fabrics  used  in  their  manufacture.  Old 
clothes  are  comfortable,  inexpensive,  and 
more  or  less  durable.  More  power  to  the 
old-clothes  campaign! 

See  the  comment  on  What  Do  You  Know. 

WOULD  SAVE  THE  OLD  HOUSES 

Charleston    News    and    Courier 

1.  The  newly  organized  Society  for  the 
Preservation  of  the  Old  Dwelling  Houses  of 
Charleston  has  been  formed  not  a  moment 
too  soon.  Indeed  it  has  come  into  being  in 
the  very  nick  of  time.  A  few  weeks  ago  a 
New  York  newspaper  man  of  wide  expe- 
rience, a  man  of  culture  and  cosmopolitan 
tastes  who  had  travelled  all  over  the  world, 
spent  a  day  in  Charleston  and  was  thrown 
almost  into  a  panic  by  the  evidence  which 
he  saw  of  danger  to  the  old  houses  here. 
He  saw  that  the  city  was  growing  and  was 


THE  HOME-SUBJECT  EDITORIAL 


159 


sure  to  grow  more  and  more  rapidly;  and  he 
feared  that  in  the  changes  which  its  rapid 
development  would  bring  about  many  of  the 
old  houses  would  be  sacrificed.  This,  he  de- 
clared, would  not  only  be  a  terrible  mistake 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Charleston's  own 
interest,  because  it  is  to  its  old  houses  that 
this  city  owes  much  of  its  charm,  but  it 
would  also  be  a  calamity  to  the  country  be- 
cause it  would  alter  disastrously  the  charac- 
ter of  one  of  America's  most  distinctive 
cities. 

2.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Society  for  the 
Preservation  of  the  Old  Dwelling  Houses  of 
Charleston  to  prevent  this  calamity,  and  in 
this  undertaking  the  organization  ought  to 
have  the  support  of  all  intelligent  citizens. 
In  setting  the  movement  on  foot  Miss  Frost, 
who  has  already  done  so  much  to  preserve 
and  restore  what  was  best  in  Charleston's 
architecture  in  the  past,  has  performed  a 
service  to  the  community  the  value  of  which 
will  be  recognized  in  increasing  measure  as 
the  years  pass. 

The  judgment  of  an  outsider  sometimes  influences 
the  public  more  promptly  than  the  arguments  of 
their  fellow  townsmen.  This  editorial,  in  approv- 
ing the  purpose  of  the  new  society,  lets  a  report 
of  the  outsider's  view  present  the  argument,  and 
merely  appends  to  that  an  indication  of  its 
agreement. 

OMAHA'S  TUESDAY  MUSICAL  CLUB 

Omaha    Beo 

1.  One  agency  for  the  cultivation  and 
dissemination  of  artistic  knowledge  to  which 
Omaha  owes  considerable  of  its  cultural 
advancement  is  the  Tuesday  Musical  club. 
The  natural  outgrowth  of  a  smaller  and 
more  exclusive  organization,  originally  lim- 
ited in  membership  to  a  comparatively  few 
earnest  students  of  music,  it  has  come  to  be 
a  most  important  factor  in  the  city's  social 
life.  At  a  time  when  the  business  of  bring- 
ing here  the  great  musicians  of  the  world, 
that  they  might  charm  and  enlighten  those 
who  otherwise  could  not  hear  them,  was  fall- 
ing into  decay,  this  organization  shook  off 
the  limits  of  its  original  form,  took  over  the 
greater  work,  and  has  accordingly  pros- 
pered. It  is  in  no  sense  a  money-making 
institution;  its  members  have  a  distinct  ad- 
vantage in  being  preferred  for  sittings  at 
any  concert  or  recital  under  the  club's  aus- 
pices; but  whatever  of  gain  is  noted  in  the 
club's  exchequer  is  used  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  art  to  which  it  is  devoted.  The 
season  which  closed  last  night  has  been  per- 
haps the  most  brilliant  of  its  history,  be- 
cause of  the  energy  and  good  management 
of  the  ladies  who  directed  the  club's  activi- 
ties. Omaha  has  had  much  of  direct  benefit 
as  a  result  of  this  organization,  and  it  is  en- 
couraging to  know  it  is  already  laying  plans 


for  even  greater  things  in  the  future.  Its 
service  to  the  community  is  greater  than 
even  its  members  realize. 

Where  lies  the  line  between  "boost"  and  "puff"? 
— between  deserved  sincere  commendation  and  cheap 
notice  or  brummagem  laudation  ?  It  is  hard  to  say. 
For  this  reason,  the  young  editor  to  whose  taste 
self -advertising  and  plastered-on  praise  are  abhor- 
rent, will  sometimes  withhold  deserved  approval  lest 
it  seem  a  puff.  Undeserved  notice  and  unmerited 
disregard  are  niistakes,  each  in  its  own  way ;  but  if 
one  must  err,  perhaps  he  had  better  not  err  on  the 
side    of    discouraging    coldness    toward    desert. 

MAYOR'S  BUILDING  PLANS 

Boston    Post 

1.  By  calling  into  conference  bankers  and 
industrial  employers  to  devise  a  method  of 
furnishing  money  to  enable  the  construction 
of  dwellings,  Mayor  Peters  is  doing  the 
practical  thing  to  meet  the  inadequate  hous- 
ing conditions  now  existing  in  Boston. 
There  is  the  greatest  need  of  action  during 
the  present  building  season,  for  the  condi- 
tions, now  very  bad  indeed,  will  be  ever  so 
much  worse  in  the  fall.  There  is  an  abso- 
lute famine  in  suitable  habitations  for  the 
people  who  desire  to  live  within  the  city's 
limits. 

2.  Industrial  employers  are  more  con- 
cerned than  they  may  think,  for  the  near- 
ness of  employees  to  their  work  is  of  prime 
importance  in  the  promotion  of  efficiency  and 
the  securing  of  a  complement  of  workers. 
The  banks,  by  placing  in  construction-loans 
money  largely  deposited  by  Bostonians,  are 
in  "good  business";  for  the  demand  for 
apartments  and  small  homes,  renting  at 
from  $30  to  $40  a  month,  is  so  pressing  that 
the  investments  may  be  placed  among  the 
gilt-edge  variety.  Then,  too,  in  building 
their  city  they  are  building  themselves. 

3.  Dwellings  are  so  much  needed  that  the 
mayor  is  doing  just  what  might  be  expected 
of  a  vigilant  official  strictly  on  his  job. 
There  should  be  the  heartiest  co-operation 
in  putting  his  plans  across.  There  is  em- 
ployment for  the  allied  trades,  profit  for 
the  investors,  and,  most  of  all,  homes  for 
families. 

Here  again  the  argument  is  not  so  much  urged 
as  suggested  and  made  attractive — another  evi- 
dence of  the  working-theory  which  recognizes  public 
opinion   as   being   easier  to   lead   than    to  drive. 

WHAT  DO  YOU  KNOW? 

Massachusetts    State    Collegian 

1.  What  do  you  know  about  M.  A.  C? 
What  is  the  relation  between  the  extension 
service,  the  experiment  station,  and  the  col- 
lege? Could  an  engineering  department  be 
established  at  this  college  without  the  per- 
mission of  the  state  legislature?  Why  is 
military  training  compulsory?  What  is  the 
Hatch  Act?  Who  supports  the  college? 
What  departments  receive  federal  aid  ? 


160 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


2.  An  examination  on  the  history  and 
organization  of  the  college  administration 
would  find  the  majority  of  men  on  this 
campus  rated  very  low.  The  undergraduate 
body  has  no  apparent  interest  in  these  facts. 
Yet,  is  it  not  worth  the  while  of  any  man 
to  know  how  and  why  his  college  came  to 
be  what  it  is  today?  Its  story  is  one  of 
the  important  parts  in  the  history  of  Massa- 
chusetts. To  possess  a  complete  knowledge 
of,  and  to  be  able  to  talk  intelligently  on 
the  subject  of  what  your  state  has  done 
toward  the  development  of  agriculture  is 
something  which  could  be  expected  of  a  man 
attending  M.  A.  C.    Can  you  ? 

3.  The  devotion  of  a  morning  chapel  to 
a  brief  explanation  of  the  college  history 
and  organization  would  bring  enlightenment 
to  many. 

Steady  improvement  of  college  journalism  is  found 
not  only  in  better  reporting,  writing,  and  business 
management,  but  also  in  an  increasing  attention  to 
all  the  aspects  of  the  many-sided  college  life.  This 
neatly  turned  and  spontaneous  editorial  upon  a  sub- 
ject entirely  pertinent  to  campus  thouj^ht,  would  do 
credit  to  any  college  paper,  and  will  stand  com- 
parison with  many  a  newspaper  editorial.  The  same 
is    true  of    the   editorial — Old   Clothes. 

"PULL   TOGETHER— GET 
ACQUAINTED" 

Fair  bank    (Iowa)    View 

1.  "Pull  together."  "Get  acquainted  with 
your  neighbor — you  may  like  him."  "Let 
this  community  work  collectively  for  the 
things  it  needs."  "No  man  or  one  organ- 
ization is  large  enough  to  get  what  this  com- 
munity needs.  We  will  all  join  hands  and 
get  it."  Now,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farmer,  don't 
think  this  is  a  town  proposition.  It  is  not. 
It  is  a  town  and  country  proposition. 

2.  The  mutual  relation  of  the  farmer, 
banker,  merchant,  professional  men,  editor, 
pastor  and  our  private  citizens,  creates  the 
community.  This  relation  extends  as  far 
out  as  the  auto  or  team  brings  customers 
to  the  common  center.  Every  member  of 
this  community  should  be  vitally  interested 
in  the  welfare  of  every  other  member. 

3.  The  bank,  the  store,  the  office,  and  the 
market  of  the  smaller  towns  is  worthless 
without  that  great  number  of  silent  partners 
in  the  country,  who  come  as  far  as  the  auto 
brings  them  to  deposit  or  borrow  money,  to 
buy  goods,  to  get  expert  counsel  or  to  sell 
products.  On  the  other  hand,  the  farm  has 
no  value  if  the  towns  close  around  be  de- 
stroyed. The  basic  fact  is  that  we  are  all 
partnerfe  in  each  other's  business  and  affairs. 
Successful  partnership  is  based  upon  good 
will,  co-operation,  and  the  square  deal.  In 
addition  to  the  home  community,  we  have  a 
much  larger  community,  bound  together  by 
common  ties  known  as  the  county,  the  state, 
the  nation,  and  even  the  world.     Yet  the 


community  of  overshadowing  importance  is 
the  home  community.  Here  we  live  and 
have  our  being. 

4.  Team  work  won  the  war.  Team  work 
brings  success  to  the  great  department  store, 
mail  order  house  and  packing  plants.  Team 
work  between  us  fellows  in  town  and  the 
farmer  in  the  country  is  the  only  way  to 
better  the  community  and  get  things  worth 
while,  which  this  community  needs  badly. 

You  have  heard  of  the  "booster"  editorial.  Her« 
it  is. 

Trivial  details  as  well  as  large  principles  deter* 
mine  the  effectiveness  of  writings.  As  an  illustra* 
tion  of  this,  consider  the  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farmer" 
of  HI.  Farm  editors,  agricultural  agents,  and  others, 
have  discovered  that  not  a  few  farmers  dislike  to 
be  addressed  as  "Mr.  Farmer,"  "Neighbor,"  "Brp+her 
Farmer,"  and  so  on — much  as  othera  might  object 
to  being  addressed  constantly  as  "Mr.  Blacksmith," 
'"Mr.  Railroader,"  or  "Mr.  Coalmijier."  It  is  a 
natural  resentment  of  invidious  class  appeal  or 
(sometimes)  of  class  condescension.  Consequently 
in  some  editorial  offices  care  is  taken  to  avoid,  when 
possible,  this  manner  of  approach  or  address.  The 
"psychology"  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  this : 
Americans  do  not  like  to  have  class  dissimilarities 
emphasized  even  in  discussions  of  the  peculiar  prob- 
lems of  their  occupation;  they  prefer  to  have  their 
problems  and  claims  considered  from  the  viewpoint 
of  their  fundamental  citizenship,  not  their  accidental 
status. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  TREES 

Boston    Globe 

1.  The  Spring  drive  is  on  and  every  per- 
son in  the  State  having  a  proprietary  in- 
terest in  a  tree  should  apply  for  ammuni- 
tion and  get  into  the  fight. 

2.  The  State  Forestry  Department  has 
obtained  an  ample  supply  of  poisons  to  be 
used  against  the  creeping  things  which  de- 
stroy trees,  and  is  selling  at  wholesale  to 
cities  and  towns,  which  in  turn  will  supply 
the  requirements  of  tree  owners  at  cost. 

3.  With  the  tent  caterpillars  and  brown- 
tails  already  hatched  out  and  waiting  in 
their  nests  for  a  series  of  gorges  on  the 
first  leaves,  most  of  the  forests  and  or- 
chards in  New  England  are  in  danger.  The 
gypsy  moth  is  reported  on  the  way  to  re- 
inforce the  enemies  of  foliage. 

4.  Loaded  sprayers  alone  can  save  the 
day. 

5.  Trees  have  come  into  a  position  of 
larger  significance  than  ever  before  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  Every  one  of  them  has 
increased  in  value,  and  it  does  not  matter 
whether  a  tree  is  a  producer  of  wood  or  of 
fruit.  It  is  worth  protecting.  Lumber 
prices  have  soared  like  sugar.  Firewood 
has  kept  pace  with  the  advance  in  coal.  And 
New  England's  apples  cost  as  much,  if  not 
more,  than  oranges  imported  from  Florida 
or  California. 

6.  Trees  ruined  by  insect  pests  cannot 
be   replaced   for  a   generation,   but  almost 


THE  HOME-SUBJECT  EDITORIAL 


161 


every  tree  may  be  preserved  by  proper  an- 
nual care,  of  which  spraying  in  time  is  the 
first  item. 

7.  If  a  Spring  drive  does  not  go  well  in 
a  war,  a  later  effort  may  be  made  in  Sum- 
mer or  Autumn,  but  it  is  not  so  in  the  de- 
fensive campaign  to  protect  trees.  If  the 
insects  score  a  crushing  victory'  now,  all 
that  they  will  leave  will  be  inferior  fire- 
wood. 

8.  If  it  is  not  to  be  lost,  the  battle  of 
orchard  and  grove  must  be  fought  in  the 
next  few  weeks. 

9.  The  local  tree  warden  has  marching 
orders,  which  he  is  ready  to  pass  on.  He  is 
also  the  authority  on  ammunition.  Tree 
owners  must  do  the  rest. 

In  Massachiisetts  and  New  England,  the  impor- 
tance of  forest,  fruits  and  shade-tree  preservation 
makes  such  an  editorial  significant  in  every  village, 
"town,"  and  city.  That,  however,  is  true  in  many 
other  sections  where  insect  pests  threaten  our  trees ; 
and  the  publication  of  many  such  articles  as  home- 
subject    editorials    is    a    natural    consequence. 

The  smaliness  of  the  New  England  states,  singly 
and  collectively,  makes  many  problems  and  inter- 
ests almost  identical  in  the  various  communities 
throughout  this  territory.  It  also  results  in  the 
larger  papers'  paying  more  attention  than  is  usual  in 
many  places  to  numerous  questions  in  their  localized 
bearings.  The  same  tendency  is  found  in  other  sec- 
tions thickly  enough  settled  within  a  limited  ares 
to  have  developed  it.  Nevertheless,  it  is  probable 
that  in  no  other  section  do  the  larger  papers  pay 
more  attention  to  subjects  locally  interesting  outside 
the  zone  of  city  and  suburban  circulation.  Excellent 
transportation  and  communication  facilities  have 
contributed  greatly  to  this  result. 

THE  INDIANS 

Indianapolis   News 

1.  The  Indians  started  the  baseball  sea- 
son under  the  most  discouraging  circum- 
stances within  the  range  of  a  fan's  mem- 
ory, which,  however,  is  short.  The  weather 
forced  a  lot  of  loafing  when  the  team  needed 
practice  to  round  off  its  spring-training  sea- 
son. Weakness  in  the  box  and  a  general 
dearth  of  "pep"  started  the  team  toward  the 
cellar,  and  poor  playing,  combined  with  luck 
and  the  stalling  match  last  Sunday  to  finish 
the  job.  Thursday  the  team  trailed  the 
league  even  with  a  shakeup  to  stimulate 
better  baseball,  and  the  outlook  was  indeed 
blue. 

2.  Yesterday  the  5-0  victory  over  the 
Columbus  team,  ancient  rivals  of  the  In- 
dians, broke  the  monotony  of  successive  de- 
feats, something  the  most  loyal  fan  soon 
tires  of.  The  team  climbed  over  Kansas 
City  and  advanced  one  place  toward  the 
head  of  the  list.  Today  it  has  a  chance  to 
get  even  with  the  Mud  Hens  for  the  defeat 
suffered  at  their  hands  in  the  opening  game 
at  Washington  Park.  Taking  the  Columbus 
victory  into  consideration,  and  giving  full 
weight  to  the  fact  that  it  showed  that  the 


Indians  can  play  ball,  the  opportunity  at 
Toledo  is  a  good  deal  more  important  than 
many  a  series  later  in  the  season  will  be. 

3.  If  the  spirit  shown  by  the  fans  at 
the  opening  game  means  anything — and  ex- 
perience in  former  years  indicates  that  it  is 
a  fair  index  to  the  character  of  the  season — 
this  will  be  a  good  ball  season  in  Indianapo- 
lis. The  extraordinary  interest  in  the 
amateur  leagues  shows  that  the  game  is 
more  than  holding  its  own  as  the  great 
American  sport.  Interest  centers  on  the 
Indians,  however,  and  no  doubt  Manager 
Hendricks  and  his  tribe  are  determined  to 
win  a  place  for  themselves  while  on  the 
road  which  will  make  the  team's  return  to 
its  home  lot  something  of  a  public  event. 
This  calls  for  loyalty  and  a  fair  allowance 
for  the  team's  initial  drawbacks,  but  it  also 
calls  for  baseball  in  keeping  with  the  city's 
standing  among  the  other  towns  represented 
in  the  league. 

"Baseball  in  heaven."  It  would  make  one  begin 
to  feel  at  home  at  once,  and  in  half  an  hour  be 
hotly  arguing  the  prospects  of  the  team.  Home 
sports  and  athletics  will  get  more  attention  in  the 
news-pages,  but  they  have  their  claim  upon  the 
editorial  page  also. 

TAXPAYERS   APPROVE  TEACHERS* 
SALARY  RAISE 

Pittsburg  Press 

1.  The  public  which  foots  the  bill  is  un- 
feignedly  glad  of  the  increase  in  public 
school  teachers'  pay.  As  finally  fixed  and 
announced  by  the  Board  of  Public  Education 
yesterday,  the  revised  schedule  will  add  to 
the  total  earnings  of  the  body  of  teachers 
in  the  Pittsburg  schools  something  like 
$1,167,542  a  year. 

2.  It  is  not  what  the  teachers  demanded, 
but  comes  close  to  it  (being  a  fraction  more 
than  84  per  cent  of  the  $500  flat  increase 
that  the  teachers'  association  asked).  Fur- 
thermore, it  is  as  large  an  increase  as  the 
board  is  able  to  provide  with  the  money 
which  it  is  borrowing  for  the  purpose. 

3.  Not  the  least  pleasing  feature  of  the 
matter  is  that  the  increase  is  to  be  retroac- 
tive. In  other  words,  the  higher  salaries 
will  date  from  Jan.  5  last,  and  the  teachers 
will  receive  checks  for  the  back  pay  as 
speedily  as  the  payrolls  can  be  made  up. 
Such  of  their  number  as  have  been  obliged 
to  go  into  debt  will  be  assisted  materially  by 
this  back-pay  arrangement.  The  morale  of 
public  school  instruction  cannot  help  being 
improved  by  this  at  least  partial  measure  of 
justice  to  the  teachers.  In  the  end  we  shall 
all  of  us  be  gainers. 

4.  Pennsylvania  is  to  be  congratulated 
that  it  has  been  awakened  to  the  grave 
social  peril  of  a  disorganized  public  school 
system.    The  teacher  is  the  best  policeman 


162 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


in  the  world.  How  menacing  a  condition 
may  grow  out  of  a  denial  of  an  adequate 
teaching  wage  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that, 
as  one  review  of  the  situation  in  the  coun- 
try as  a  whole  points  out,  the  doors  of 
18,000  schools  in  the  United  States  are 
shut,  and  have  been  for  months,  with  no 
immediate  prospect  of  their  reopening. 

5.  In  41,000  other  schools  the  teaching  is 
described  as  being  "diluted."  That  is,  the 
teachers  in  those  schools  are  below  the  pre- 
viously existing  standard  of  competency. 

6.  While  it  is  true  that  these  demoralized 
schools  are  largely  confined  to  states  whose 
neglect  of  public  education  has  become 
proverbial,  it  is  still  unquestionable  that 
there  has  been  marked  school  deterioration 
even  in  such  great  states  as  New  York, 
Iowa,  Illinois,  and  Minnesota,  all  because  of 
their  refusal  to  grant  teachers  a  compensa- 
tion sufficient  to  deter  them  from  drifting 
into  better  paying  occupations. 

7.  There  is  a  limit  to  the  amount  of 
financial  self-sacrifice  that  the  public  can 
exact  from  its  teaching  servants.  In  this 
city  it  took  a  strong  manifestation  of  pop- 
ular sentiment  on  the  teachers'  behalf  to 
coerce  the  Board  of  Public  Education  into 
remedial  action.  The  practical  wisdom  of 
that  action  is  undoubted. 

In  every  community,  the  newspaper  has  its  op- 
porttmity  to  influence  opinion  upon  school  affairs,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  through  all  the  variations  of 
editorial  method.  Here  is  direct  support  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  home  board.  The  editorial  dexterously 
strengthens  its  position  by  citing  the  general  sit- 
uation and  shifting  attention  as  much  as  possible 
from  the  question  of  increased  local  taxation  to 
the  fact  that  Pittsburg,  falling  in  with  the  state, 
has  taken  steps  to  escape  the  deterioration  observable 
elsewhere  in  the  schools.  Incidentally,  the  board  is 
patted  on  the  back  for  doing  what  it  did  not  want 
to  do — support  of  public  officers  in  well-doing,  even 
though   the  well-doing    was   forced   upon   them. 

THE  MARYVILLES  OF  AMERICA 

Editor  and  Publisher 

1.  When  the  Republic  was  young, 
Gloucester,  Marblehead,  New  Bedford  and 
half  a  dozen  other  towns  of  the  New  Eng- 
land coast  were  known  in  the  port  cities 
on  all  seas.  They  were  known  because  those 
were  the  names  that  were  blazoned  on  the 
ships  that  went  forth  to  trade  with  the  peo- 
ples of  the  world.  "Of  Gloucester"  was  the 
first  form  of  community  advertising  and  was 
successful.  In  the  markets  of  the  world 
those  two  words  carried  a  trade  message. 
Ships'  cargoes  were  valued  according  to  the 
standing  of  other  products  that  had  been 
offered  under  the  community  name.  To  be 
known  then  as  a  Gloucester  man,  a  Salem 
man  or  a  New  Bedford  man,  was  a  pride.  It 
was  community  pride.  No  community  can 
be  successful  without  it. 


2.  Since  the  founding  of  the  Republic, 
civilisation  has  marched  inland  from  the 
seas.  Commerce  and  trade  are  no  longer 
confined  to  water  routes  alone  in  the  hunt 
for  the  best  markets  of  the  world.  Under 
the  newer  methods  the  name  of  town  has 
given  away  to  trade  names  and  company 
names,  but  markets  are  still  won  and  held 
by  the  pride  the  maker  shows  in  his  product 
through  advertising. 

3.  When  the  Republic  was  young  the 
buyers  in  the  market-places  of  the  world 
flocked  to  the  waterfront  when  a  ship  came 
in;  they  judged  the  products  to  be  offered 
them  by  past  experiences  with  the  offerings 
that  had  been  brought  them  by  ships  that 
sailed  from  the  same  home  port.  The  ap- 
peal of  the  advertising  of  that  day  was 
very  limited  and  was  not  even  known  by 
that  name.  In  this  day  it  would  not  do. 
The  greater  buying  power  of  the  world  has 
no  water-front  to  flock  to. 

4.  Instead  of  the  name  of  a  city  painted 
on  a  ship,  the  daily  newspaper  carries  mes- 
sages of  pride  in  product  and  promises  of 
its  worth  to  every  fireside.  Markets  are  no 
longer  confined  to  water-fronts — the  daily 
newspaper  has  made  them  nation-wide. 

5.  There  is  one  lesson  that  the  modern 
seeker  of  trade  has  to  learn  from  the  man 
"of  Gloucester,"  however.  It  is  community 
pride — pride  in  your  own  town,  your  own 
people  and  the  things  that  they  are  making 
for  the  markets  of  the  world. 

6.  Out  in  Maryville,  Mo.,  they  solved  this 
problem  by  advertising  Nodaway  County  to 
its  people  through  their  home  newspaper. 
H.  E.  Miles,  advertising  manager  of  the 
Maryville  Tribune,  told  all  about  it  this 
week  at  the  convention  of  the  Associated 
Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World.  Large  dis- 
play space  was  used  over  a  period  of  a  year. 
"Of  Maryville"  now  means  something  in 
Missouri. 

7.  There  are  hundreds  of  Maryvilles  in 
the  United  States  and  they  are  bidding  for 
a  place  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  To  suc- 
ceed they  must  first  sell  to  themselves  and 
there  is  no  better  place  to  start  than  in  the 
advertising  columns  of  their  own  news- 
papers. 

Here  is  a  home  subject,  once  removed  from 
"home."  This  editorial  is  addressed  to  all  the  com- 
munities in  America  through  their  local  papers. 
But  how  pertinent  the  subject  is  in  each  community, 
and  how  readily  it  would  lend  itself  to  repeated 
presentation   in  varied  aspects,   is  evident. 

A  POLICEMAN'S  DAYS  OFF 

Springfield  Union 

1.  While  in  these  days  of  mounting  prices 
and  of  high  taxes  occasioned  by  the  high 
cost  of  government — necessarily  high,  in 
most  instances — ^we  hesitate  to  recommend 


THE  HOME-SUBJECT  EDITORIAL 


163 


any  change  that  may  add  anything  to  the 
public's  burdens,  we  feel,  nevertheless,  that 
the  City  Council  would  be  justified  in  giving 
the  members  of  the  Police  Department  one 
day  off  in  eight.  This  is  now  the  practice 
in  most  Massachusetts  cities,  and  where  it 
does  not  obtain  it  is  likely  to  be  brought 
about  through  the  referendum  provisions  of 
a  bill  recently  passed  by  the  Legislature. 
Experience  has  proved  that  when  such  ques- 
tions are  put  to  popular  vote  the  proposal  is 
carried  by  a  substantial  majority.  By  act- 
ing favorably  in  this  matter  the  City  Coun- 
cil will  anticipate  by  only  a  few  months  a 
situation  it  will  almost  certainly  have  to 
face,  and  it  might  as  well  secure  whatever 
advantage  lies  in  taking  voluntary  action, 
thereby  tending  further  to  prove  that 
Springfield  means  to  treat  its  police  force 
squarely  and  humanely. 

2.  At  present  our  policemen  are  allowed 
twenty-four  days  off  a  year,  exclusive  of  the 
customary  vacation  period,  and  the  practice 
is  to  grant  one  day  off  in  every  fifteen. 
While  there  are  many  compensating  fea- 
tures of  a  policeman's  employment,  such  as 
dignity  of  position  as  the  upholder  of  law 
and  order,  certainty  of  tenure  pending  good 
conduct,  and  adequate  provision  for  old 
age,  these  are  not  such  uncommon  advan- 
tages that  he  should  necessarily  be  called 
upon  to  sacrifice  the  day  of  rest  that  others 
enjoy;  in  fact,  there  is  no  particular  reason 
except  custom  why  the  biblical  law  should 
not  apply  to  him.  A  day  off  in  every  eight 
closely  approximates  the  scriptural  idea  of 
what  is  necessary  for  the  restoration  of 
mind  and  body,  and  we  believe  public  senti- 
ment will  approve  this  departure  from  the 
fifteen-days  arrangement. 

3.  It  is  estimated  that  to  put  this  plan 
into  effect  will  entail  a  cost  of  about  $7000 
for  the  remainder  of  the  city's  fiscal  year, 
and  that  thereafter  the  cost  will  be  from 
$12,000  to  $14,000.  To  increase  the  police 
appropriation  by  this  amount  would  not 
prove  burdensome,  and  we  believe  it  is  due 
the  members  of  our  police  force  as  a  matter 
of  justice  and  evidence  of  good  will. 
Through  loyalty,  efficiency,  and  devotion  to 
duty  policemen  can  best  show  their  appre- 
ciation of  the  various  efforts  that  the  city 
is  making  to  improve  the  circumstances 
attending  their  service. 

Public  opinion  gets  itself  into  the  editorial ;  for 
the  newspapers  not  to  deal,  positively  or  negatively, 
with  what  the  country  is  thinking  about,  is  impossi- 
ble. This  editorial,  for  instance,  was  written  under 
the  silent  and  probably  unrecognized  influence  of 
nation-wide  sentiment.  First,  its  position  was  af- 
fected by  the  humanitarian  sentiment  that  for  many 
years  past  has  been  so  strong  among  us ;  funda- 
mentally, the  editor's  point-of-view  is  favorable  to 
moderate  hours  of  labor  and  to  regular  "time  off" 
for    the    man    on    the    job.     Second,    events    in    our 


country  in  the  years  just  preceding  the  time  of 
this  editorial,  had  made  us  recognize  anew  the  vital 
importance  of  a  loyal  constabulary  in  maintaining 
order,  public  and  private  safety,  and  the  lawful 
processes  of  public  opinion  and  government.  Every 
community  therefore  had  been  considering  the  wel- 
fare and  efficiency  of  its  police,  from  this  point  of 
view,  as  a  local  policy ;  and  the  trend  of  public 
thought  in  this  matter  likewise  found  expression  in 
scores   of    editorials. 

SAVING  THE  WASTE  LANDS  IS  GOOD 
BUSINESS 

Boston  Transcript 

1.  A  world  which  has  many  new  billions 
of  debt  to  pay  must  find  some  way  of 
making  the  earth  pay  it.  We  live  on  the 
earth  and  by  it.  What  makes  man's  labor 
avail  to  meet  man's  necessities  is  the  fact 
that  his  work,  directly  or  indirectly,  is  spent 
upon  the  earth  as  its  object  or  vehicle.  If 
men  set  out  to  live  entirely  upon  one  an- 
other, instead  of  getting  their  living  out  of 
the  earth,  they  would  perish  as  a  man  would 
perish  who  sought  to  slake  his  thirst  with 
his  spittle.  The  war  debts,  the  increased 
cost  of  living,  the  higher  wages  that  labor 
will  never  be  content  to  relinquish — all  this 
must  be  got  out  of  the  earth  somehow. 
England,  France,  Germany  and  other  coun- 
tries are  learning  that  lesson  fully.  The 
traditional  person  who  makes  two  blades  of 
grass  grow  where  one  grew  before  must 
now  live  in  very  fact.  More  than  that, 
judging  by  the  sudden  threefold  expansion 
of  the  nation's  obligations  and  demands,  he 
must  make  three  blades  grow  where  one 
grew  before.  Three  grains  of  wheat  must 
spring  where  only  one  sprang.  What  does 
this  involve?  It  means  that  every  rood  of 
land,  as  in  the  past,  must  maintain  its  man. 
No  more  waste!  No  more  "unproductive" 
lands,  if  the  genius  of  man  can  make  them 
productive.  Right  here,  and  all  around  us, 
the  earth  must  be  made  to  yield  her  utmost 
in  food  and  other  materials. 

2.  This  fact,  patent  to  all  who  observe 
the  signs  of  the  times,  lends  high  importance 
to  the  article  by  Mr.  Allen  Chamberlain  in 
another  column  of  this  paper  on  the  gigan- 
tic project  for  gradually  reclaiming  the 
1,000,000  acres  of  waste  land  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  through  a  system  of  timber- 
ing which  will  cover  fifty  years  of  time. 
What  is  the  reason,  the  motive,  of  such  a 
plan  as  that  ?  It  is  the  fact,  already  noted, 
that  the  time  is  at  hand  when  the  world 
can  no  longer  afford  to  permit  a  single  one 
of  its  resources  to  remain  unused.  There  is 
no  economic  reason  why  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts should  go  on  importing,  for  ex- 
ample, 75  per  cent  of  the  food  its  people  eat, 
when  it  can  do  much  better  than  that. 
There  is  no  reason  why  it  should  go  on 
importing  80  per  cent  of  the  lumber  and 


164 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


wood  that  it  consumes,  when  it  could  not 
only  produce  the  100  per  cent,  but  have  a 
good  deal  to  sell.  We  are  already  embarked 
on  the  first  stages  of  this  great  enterprise, 
and  30,000  voters  have  petitioned  the  Legis- 
lature to  take  the  task  in  hand  in  earnest. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  this  generation  shall 
undertake  the  heavy  cost  of  such  a  reclama- 
tion as  is  described  in  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
article.  It  is  a  good  square  money-making 
proposition — in  the  long  run.  It  is  esti- 
mated by  competent  authorities  that  it 
means  a  profit  of  60  per  cent  on  the  invest- 
m.ent  in  fifty  years.  So  it  is  proper  that  our 
children,  who  will  reap  the  benefit,  should 
pay  the  biggest  part  of  the  cost.  Yet  every 
citizen  should  remember  that  the  abstract 
citizen  never  dies.  He  is  a  continuing  en- 
tity, from  one  generation  to  another.  The 
concrete  or  living  citizen,  acting  on  his  re- 
sponsibility as  a  parent  and  a  patriot,  can- 
not, or  at  least  should  not,  always  figure  on 
an  individual  return  to  his  own  pocket  of 
the  taxes  he  pays  to  the  State.  Just  as  at 
his  own  cost  he  plants  an  orchard  for  his 
children,  so  he  decrees  improvements  for  the 
rising  generation,  and  bears  some  proper 
share  of  their  expense.  We  are  moving  the 
cost  of  the  great  State  improvement  to  the 
shoulders  of  our  children  by  the  bond  sys- 
tem that  goes  with  it,  but  we  have  other- 
wise burdened  posterity  pretty  heavily  lately, 
and  there  is  at  least  no  moral  reason  why 
we  should  put  upon  it  the  entire  cost  of  this 
beneficent  scheme. 

This  editorial  upon  the  conservation  and  renewal 
of  ^  state  resources  is  ircluded  amnnj^  home-subject 
editorials  because  the  discussion  is  not  primarily 
national  in  its  viev,T)oint,  and  because  there  still 
remains  a  vestige  of  the  individual  identity  of  the 
states  that  is  preserved  by  independent,  self-injtiated 
and  self-determined  action  on  the  part  of  the  state 
as  a  distinct  geographical  and  governmental  unit 
within  the  nation.  Somewhat  of  a  stretching  of 
the  term  may  be  necessary  to  call  state  subjects 
"local"  subjects ;  but  in  distinction  from  national 
subjects,  the  state  subject  may — and  certainly  should 
be — thought  of  as  a  home  subject ;  a  nation  well 
governed  in  its  parts  will  have  far  fewer  problems 
to   worry  it   as  a  whole. 

Chapter  XI.     Exercises 

1.  Take  a  walk  or  a  ride  about  your 
neighborhood,  town  or  city,  and  from  your 
observations  make  a  list  of  usable  sugges- 
tions for  home-subject  editorials,  for  sub- 
mission for  class  discussion  if  called  for. 

2.  Attentively  go  through  3  issues  of  the 
home  paper,  examining  its  items  and  news 
for  hints  for  home-subject  editorials.    As  in 


No.  1,  prepare  a  list  of  ideas  so  derived. 
(Regard  the  college  paper  as  a  home  paper.) 

3.  Examine  a  number  of  issues  of  city 
papers  for  examples  of  editorials  dealing 
with  what  are  home-subjects  for  the  par- 
ticular paper. 

4.  Examine  back  numbers  of  your  home 
or  college  paper  for  examples  of  local- 
subject  editorials.  Briefly  report  your  find- 
ings. 

5.  Make  as  full  a  list  of  suggestions  as 
you  can  for  editorials  upon  business  subjects 
in  your  community. 

6.  As  in  5,  about  community-welfare  sub- 
jects. 

7.  As  in  5,  about  farm  and  country 
subjects. 

8.  As  in  5,  about  community-government 
subjects. 

9.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  5. 

10.  Another  as  in  No.  9. 

11.  A  third  as  in  No.  9. 

12.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  6. 

13.  Another  as  in  No.  12. 

14.  A  third  as  in  No.  12. 

15.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  7. 

16.  Another  as  in  No.  15. 

17.  Another  as  in  No.  15. 

18.  Write  one  of  the  editorials  suggested 
in  No.  8. 

19.  Another  as  in  No.  18. 

20.  A  third  as  in  No.  18. 

21.  Review  the  home-subject  editorials 
that  you  have  written,  testing  them  for  sig- 
nificance, variety  of  treatment,  appropriate- 
ness of  treatment  for  home  reading,  prob- 
able appeal  to  home  readers,  etc. 

22.  Rewrite  the  least  satisfactory  of  the 
editorials  reviewed  under  No.  21. 

23.  Rewrite  the  next-worst  editorial  as 
shown  by  your  review. 

24.  Write  a  controversial  editorial  upon 
some  matter  of  importance  in  your  com- 
munity (or  college). 

25.  Write  a  "booster"  home-subject  edi- 
torial, endeavoring  to  escape  the  boasting 
tone  and  over-statement. 

26.  Write  a  casual  essay-editorial  upon  a 
local  subject. 

27.  Write  an  essay-editorial  upon  a  local 
subject. 

28.  Write  an  editorial  of  interpretation 
upon  a  local  subject. 

29.  Write  a  survey-and-review  editorial 
upon  a  local  subject. 


CHAPTER    XII 


THE  "PARAGRAPH,"  SQUIB,  OR  SNIPING-SHOT 


Editorial  short -lengths.  —  Inspec- 
tion of  almost  any  newspaper  edi- 
torial-page will  disclose  the  presence 
of  at  least  a  few  very  short  para- 
graphs, complete  in  themselves,  and 
independent  of  the  other  articles  and 
paragraphs  typographically.  These 
are  known  (in  the  cant  of  the  office) 
by  various  terms,  such  as  "para- 
graph," "squib,"  and  "sniping-shot" 
or  "sniper."  In  some  papers  they 
lead  the  editorial  columns,  the  longer 
and  more  substantial  editorials  fol- 
lowing them.  In  other  papers,  the 
longer  editorials  come  first,  and  the 
"paragraph-stuff"  comes  at  the  tail. 
In  yet  others,  the  "shorts"  are  dis- 
tributed through  the  column,  between 
the  longer  editorials.  None  of  them 
have  headlines.  The  headline,  by 
emphasizing  them,  would  give  dis- 
proportionate importance  to  their 
content  and  make  the  editorial  col- 
umns impress  the  eye  as  being  unre- 
lieved by  lighter,  cursory  comment. 

Many  of  these  "paragraphs"  con- 
sist of  a  single  sentence  only.  One 
name  for  them  in  the  composing- 
room  is  "three-liner,"  since  they  so 
frequently  run  to  only  three  lines  in 
type — a  handy  length  when  "plugs" 
are  needed  to  fill  holes  in  the  column 
in  making  up.  But  they  may  contain 
two,  three,  or  four  sentences.  Some 
papers,  indeed,  use  short-lengths  of 
100  or  200  words;  and  a  few  print 
what  virtually  are  full-length  edi- 
torials without  the  emphasizing  head- 
line. In  this  chapter,  however,  we 
have  in  mind  the  paragraph  of  a  few 
lines  or  sentences  only. 

Newspaper  editorial  short-lengths 
are  separable  into  two  classes:     the 


matter-of-fact   short  and  the  light- 
vein  short. 

The  matter-of-fact  "short."— The 
matter-of-fact  short  is  directly  and 
literally  instructive;  it  is  written  to 
mention  some  current  matter  of  fact, 
and  to  pass  brief,  yet  serious,  com- 
ment thereupon.  Ability  to  pack 
fact  and  significant  comment  into  few 
words,  is  what  it  calls  for.  Only  its 
brevity  leads  to  its  mention  here, 
with  the  following  examples : 

If  reports  are  correct,  there  is  plenty  of 
sugar  for  export,  but  little  or  none  for  sale 
at  the  corner  grocery.  But,  of  course,  if  we 
have  to  do  without  sugar  so  that  Europe  can 
be  supplied,  then  we  just  have  to  do  without 
it,  that's  all. 


Prince  Ruppretch  of  Bavaria  may  be  tried 
for  his  share  in  outrages  committed  in 
France  and  Belgium  during  the  war.  It 
would  be  an  odd  sight  to  see  anyone  hanged 
from  the  branches  of  the  thousand-year-old 
family  tree  of  Wittelsbach,  but  the  greater 
the  culprit  the  greater  the  wrong. 


Tablets  from  ancient  Babylon,  which  be- 
long to  Stanford  University,  show  distinctly 
the  prints  of  the  fingers  that  moulded  them 
more  than  four  thousand  years  ago.  Few 
"footprints  on  the  sands  of  time"  have  en- 
dured as  long,  and  even  little  Johnnie's 
finger  marks  on  the  pantry  door  can  hardly 
last  longer. 


There  is  an  old  saying,  "Don't  look  for  a 
leak  in  the  gas  pipe  with  a  lighted  match; 
you  might  find  it."  Most  people  regard  the 
saying  as  a  joke,  but  there  is  still  need 
enough  to  take  it  seriously.  Only  a  few 
weeks  ago  exploding  gas  and  the  fire  that 
followed  killed  four  people  in  a  Western 
town.  When  you  notice  the  odor  of  gas  the 
only  safe  light  is  an  electric  torch. 


Since  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  signed,  33,000,000  people  have  come 
from  foreign  lands  to  this  country.  More 
than  6,000,000  of  them  came  from  Germany; 


166 


EDITORIALS  AND    EDITORIAL-WRITING 


more  than  4,000,000  from  Ireland;  a  little 
less  than  4,000,000  from  the  rest  of  the 
United  Kingdom;  and  not  quite  2,000,000 
from  the  Scandinavian  countries.  Between 
1776  and  1890  approximately  one  alien  in 
every  three  who  came  to  America  was  a 
German;  but  since  1890  approximately  only 
one  in  seventeen  has  been  a  German. 


It  seems  to  be  established  that  a  broker, 
thinking  he  was  dealing  by  telephone  with 
a  speculator,  offered  Food  Commissioner 
Williams  10,000,000  pounds  of  sugar  at  a 
high  price,  but  strange  as  it  may  appear,  as 
soon  as  the  commissioner  revealed  his  iden- 
tity the  man  who  made  the  proposition,  and 
all  his  banker  and  broker  associates,  forgot 
the  name  and  address  of  the  owner  of  the 
hoard.  Possibly  loss  of  memory  so  unusual 
might  be  treated  successfully  at  a  clinic 
presided  over  by  the  United  States  Grand 
Jury. 


The  verdict  in  the  trial  of  the  leaders  of 
the  recent  general  strike  at  Winnipeg  is 
likely  to  have  an  important  effect  on  the 
future  of  organized  labor  in  Canada.  In 
substance  the  verdict  classifies  as  sedition 
all  general  strikes  and  sympathetic  strikes, 
direct  action,  "one  big  union,"  seeking  to 
control  industry,  advocating  a  change  in  the 
form  of  government,  or  doing  anything  to 
endanger  the  "comfort"  of  the  public.  The 
leaders  of  the  strike  were  sentenced  to  two 
years  in  the  penitentiary. 


The  Senate  was  considering  a  deficiency 
bill.  A  little  item  of  $32,000  attracted  the 
attention  of  Senator  McKellar,  who  asked 
the  Senator  in  charge  of  the  bill  what  the 
money  was  wanted  for.  Senator  Warren  re- 
plied: "It  is  for  the  purpose  of  clearing  up 
the  expense  accounts  and  effects  of  what  re- 
mains of  the  Creel  bureau  of  so-called  in- 
formation." The  sum  may,  happily,  close 
up  the  expense  accounts  of  the  Creel  bureau, 
but  not  the  "effects  and  what  remains." 
They,  if  Senator  Watson  is  correctly  in- 
formed, are  drawing  sustenance  from  and 
enjoying  activities  after  their  kind  in  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission. 

The  light-vein  "short."— The  sec- 
ond class,  the  light-vein  short,  is  less 
direct  in  its  instructional  method.  It 
takes  a  lighter  view  of  its  subject, 
and  brings  humor  or  wit  to  bear  in 
dealing  with  its  current  topic.  This 
class  is  the  one  usually  meant  when 
"paragraphing,"  or  "squibbing,"  is 
spoken  of.    These  "snipers"  are  hard 


to  do  well,  and  the  writer  who  has  the 
knack  of  turning  them  out  may  es- 
tablish himself  as  a  valuable  member 
of  the  writing-staff. 

Adages,  maxims,  and  proverbs  as 
"shorts." — Some  periodicals  that  do 
not  confine  themselves  strictly  to 
timely  matters  in  their  editorial  col- 
umns, print  "paragraphs"  of  a  more 
remote  or  abstract  purpose.  The 
Youth's  Companion,  for  example,  reg- 
ularly prints  didactic,  gnomic,  or 
"wisdom"  squibs,  sometimes  in  rime. 
Such  are  those  here  quoted : 

Poverty  like  a  grindstone  sharpens  wits, 
but  energy  must  turn  the  handle. 
In  Easy  Learning  Germs  of  Failure  lurk; 
He  gains  the  Key  to  All  who  Learns  to  Work. 

Time,  the  inexorable  critic,  leaves  nothing 
except  the  intrinsically  great  and  the  essen- 
tially good. 

A  land  sale  always  attracts  a  lot  of  peo- 
ple who  cannot  pay  their  rent. 

Down  the  Stream  he  poled  the  Raft; 

All  the  little  Fishes  laughed. 

Silence  is  golden.  At  least  the  man  who 
says  nothing  cannot  be  misquoted. 

Newspapers  sometimes  carry  such 
epigrams  and  maxims  in  their  "fea- 
ture" or  "interest"  departments,  as 
matter  for  Hterary  or  general-interest 
reading.  But  in  newspapers,  these 
are  "feature-stuff",  distinct  from  edi- 
torial writing. 

Timeliness  essential  to  the  squib. 
— In  the  newspaper  editorial-column, 
however,  the  squib  and  sniper  inva- 
riably are  timely.  Their  interest  lies 
in  the  very  fact  that  they  spring 
from  something  in  which  the  public 
is  interested  at  just  the  moment  of 
their  appearance.  What  that  matter 
is  may  not  even  need  to  be  mentioned, 
but  merely  implied.  Their  "point" 
may  be  perfectly  evident  without  be- 
ing indicated ;  as  when,  on  the  morn- 
ing after  an  election,  a  paper  greets 
its  successful  candidate  with  an  all- 
sufficient  one-liner: 

Good  morning.  Mayor  Peters. 
The  squib  in  specialized  form. — If, 
or  when,  there  is  nothing  more  to  the 


THE  "PARAGRAPH"  OR  SQUIB 


167 


squib  than  humor  merely,  no  particu- 
lar form  or  method  can  be  suggested 
for  it.  It  must  manifestly  concern 
something  timely,  and  it  must  pro- 
duce a  smile;  beyond  this,  little  can 
be  prescribed.  But  when  it  is  written 
to  "make  a  point**  by  way  of  com- 
ment, it  can  and  usually  does  base 
itself  upon  the  epigram,  or  upon  some 
modification  of  this  or  of  related 
forms  of  sententious  expression,  as 
perhaps  the  apothegm,  the  proverb, 
the  pun,  and  the  wittily-turned  jest. 

In  practice,  however,  it  is  the  effect 
of  the  squib,  and  not  its  classification, 
that  is  important.  Hence  we  shall 
not  attempt  further  to  discriminate 
the  types  of  squib  from  one  another, 
but  shall  deal  rather  with  the  effec- 
tive means  of  presenting  it — espe- 
cially since  all  the  types  combine  and 
merge  with  the  greatest  freedom. 

1.  Sometimes  the  point  of  the 
"paragraph,"  "squib,"  or  "sniper" 
lies  in  a  pun  or  a  twisted  meaning: 

These  are  the  days  when  the  coal-buying 
citizen  wishes  that  his  dealer  would  mark  it 
down  on  the  slate. 

The  striking  actors  have  quit  work  by  re- 
fusing to  play. 

The  Austrian  complaint  is,  that  the  small 
territory  left  her  will  not  support  Vienna 
in  the  style  in  which  she  was  raised. 

Congress  is  opposed  to  both  daylight  and 
moonshine. 

Despatches  speak  of  cold-storage  eggs  be- 
ing libeled — as  if  that  were  possible. 

An  Illinois  farmer  sold  the  hide  of  a  calf 
for  $6,  then  went  to  town  and  bought  a  pair 
of  shoes  for  $8.  Now  he  knows  what  a 
skin  game  is. 

Football  ought  to  go  great  this  fall.  It 
has  the  kick. 

The  Japanese  artistic  temperament  seems 
to  be  manifesting  itself  in  the  collection  of 
rare  pieces  of  China. 

Pat-riotism  is  again  raging  in  Ireland. 

Europe  faces  a  coal-famine,  but  the  na- 
tives show  a  charming  disposition  to  make 
it  hot  for  one  another. 

The  Bolsheviki  use  Karl  Marx  for  theory, 
German  marks  for  practice  and  easy  marks 
for  victims. 

In  France  the  war-tanks  are  being  used 
to  tow  canal-barges.  Apparently  all  the 
tanks  are  being  driven  to  water-ways. 


The  Canadian  snap-shot  fiends  are  pester- 
ing the  heir  to  the  British  throne.  They're 
all  eager  to  get  the  prints  of  Wales. 

The  Reds  have  cinched  the  pennant,  and 
Chicago  has  given  birth  to  a  Red  party. 
Evidently  Samuel  Gompers'  remark  that  the 
Reds  are  about  to  vanish  referred  to  noses. 

2.  Frequently  the  effect  is  cre- 
ated by  means  of  surprise,  the  squib 
making  an  unexpected  comparison  or 
application,  or  revealing  an  un- 
thought-of  similarity  or  relation. 

D'Annunzio  has  forsaken  the  lyric  for  the 
jazz. 

Austria  protests  that  she  has  a  right  to 
dispose  of  herself.    She  has  already  done  it. 

Identification  of  the  Bolsheviki  in  Phila- 
delphia will  be  impossible  now.  The  bar- 
bers are  on  strike. 

God  made  the  world  in  seven  days.  But 
he  didn't  have  a  Senate  to  deal  with. 

Lansing  is  reported  to  have  said  that  the 
American  people  would  reject  the  Treaty  if 
they  understood  it.  Then  they  will  never 
reject  it. 

Prohibition  is  bringing  a  lot  of  sunshine 
into  many  homes.    Also  moonshine. 

English  judges  object  to  trying  the  kaiser 
"by  a  law  they  do  not  know."  Will  some 
one  be  good  enough  to  lend  them  a  copy  of 
the  Ten  Commandments? 

3.  The  sniper  of  incongruity  or 
burlesque  exaggeration  closely  re- 
sembles that  of  surprise. 

Herbert  Hoover  has  proved  that  the  bis- 
cuit is  mightier  than  the  cannon-ball. 

In  Russia,  rubles  are  selling  by  dry 
measure. 

Mr.  Wilson's  objections  to  a  trial  of  the 
kaiser  are  not  economically  sound.  Just 
think  how  much  of  the  war-bill  we  could  pay 
from  the  box-office  and  moving-picture  re- 
ceipts. 

Some  of  the  beautiful  soft  drinks  now 
current  show  that  the  dye  industry  must 
have  departed  from  Germany  for  good. 

With  tickets  at  $7,  at  last  grand  opera  has 
been  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  work- 
ing-classes. 

4.  Contrast  and  antithesis  may 
give  the  thought  a  speed  and  force 
comparable  to  that  of  the  sharp- 
shooter's bullet. 

D'Annunzio  has  the  heart  of  a  patriot.  It 
is  unfortunate  that  nature  denied  him  a  head 
to  co-operate  with  it. 

Our  guess  is,  that  Europe's  heart  won't 
break  as  long  as  its  stomach  is  full.     [Allu- 


168 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


sion  to  the  assertion  that  rejection  of  the 
league  of  nations  by  America  would  break 
the  heart  of  Europe,  and  to  America's  aid 
in  provisioning  Europe.] 

Must  we  wrong  the  rights  of  the  United 
States  to  right  the  wrongs  of  Europe? 

In  an  Oklahoma  town,  a  thousand  men 
signed  an  agreement  to  wear  their  old 
clothes  three  months  longer  on  account  of 
the  high  cost  of  living.  A  thousand  men 
in  Lynn  are  doing  the  same  thing  without 
signing. 

Are  the  window-cleaners  wise  in  striking 
for  a  weekly  wage  of  thirty-six  dollars  ?  If 
they  are  not  careful,  college  presidents  will 
be  trying  to  take  their  jobs  away. 

These  expeditions  into  Mexico  are  meant 
to  be  punitive,  not  puny. 

You  have  to  hand  it  to  the  kaiser  for  one 
thing;  he  hasn't  suggested  a  plan  for  the 
control  of  our  railroads. 

If  the  profiteers  don't  get  -our  goat,  we 
might  eat  that. 

As  an  insinuating  method  of  recording 
that  she's  been  at  war,  we  infer,  China  has 
declared  peace  on  Germany. 

5.  Another  useful  method  with 
the  squib  is  that  of  the  subtle  impli- 
cation, or  sly  dig. 

Has  every  one  struck  who  wished? 

In  these  troubled  times,  there  is  consola- 
tion in  the  fact  that  Mr.  Wilson  understands 
every  phrase  of  the  situation. 

"You  and  I  must  be  able  to  shake  hands 
with  the  capitalist  or  the  day  laborer,"  says 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Roosevelt.  All  right. 
Colonel;  as  long  as  you  don't  include  the 
landlord. 

Dr.  Karl  Muck  will  land  in  Denmark,  thus 
confirming  what  Hamlet  said  about  that 
kingdom. 

We  are  with  the  ministers  if  they  strike 
for  better-paid  sermons,  unless  they  ask 
time-and-a-half  for  overtime. 

It's  all  very  well  to  tell  a  fellow  to  order 
his  coal  now,  but  the  cellars  of  the  Republic 
are  taxed  to  their  uttermost  already.  [Al- 
lusion to  private  stocks  of  liquor.] 

6.  Yet  another  means  by  which 
the  paragraph  attains  its  purpose  in 
the  apt  analogy. 

The  railroad  men  seem  to  have  overlooked 
the  fact  that  it  isn't  the  strikes,  but  the 
runs,  that  win  the  game. 

What  "Society  owes"  you  is  the  interest 
on  the  capital  you  invest  in  it. 

China  is  so  thick-headed  that  she  cannot 
understand  why  the  policeman  who  recov- 
ered the  stolen  goods  is  to  get  it  all. 

Boiled  down,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Presi- 
dent wants  the  United  States  to  marry  the 


whole  world,  and  Senator  Lodge  insists  that 
we  merely  be  a  sister  to  it. 

7.  Examples  of  paragraphs  that 
are  aphoristic,  satirical  or  ironical, 
and  epigrammatic,  will  be  found  in 
the  preceding  lists,  but  to  identify 
these  sorts  clearly,  a  few  additional 
illustrations  are  given  here. 

A  strike  a  day  keeps  fair  prices  away. 
(Aphoristic.) 

The  police  never  strike  twice  in  the  same 
place.     (Aphoristic.) 

After  carefully  watching  the  effect  of  re- 
form legislation,  we  have  about  concluded 
that  the  world  will  not  become  so  good  in 
our  day  that  it  will  cease  to  be  interesting. 
(Satirical.) 

The  job  of  conquering  Russia  might  be 
turned  over  to  Roumania.     (Ironical  satire.) 

One  way,  of  course,  to  reduce  the  high 
cost  of  living  is  for  everybody  to  quit  v/ork 
and  stand  round  and  talk  about  it.  (Ironical 
satire.) 

Life  is  very  simple  for  the  average  man. 
All  he  has  to  do  is  to  earn  enough  money  to 
support  his  family,  pay  the  wage-demands 
of  organized  labor,  and  profits  to  the  em- 
ploying corporations.     (Ironical  satire.) 

It  is  evident  that  people  will  never  be 
satisfied  in  this  country  until  everybody  has 
more  than  everybody  else.    (Epigrammatic.) 

There  is  now  neither  peace  nor  war,  says 
the  President.  But  we  have  war-time  pro- 
hibition.    (Epigrammatic.) 

The  best  time  to  settle  a  strike  is  before  it 
strikes.     (Epigrammatic.) 

The  reason  Europe  respects  American 
ideals  is,  that  they  include  square  meals 
with  square  deals.     (Epigrammatic.) 

Chapter  XII.     Exercises 

Write  paragraphs,  squibs,  and  sniper- 
shots,  in  sets  of  10  each,  as  follows: 

1.  Based  on  adages,  maxims,  and 
proverbs. 

2.  Depending  upon  a  pun  or  a  twisted 
meaning. 

3.  Another  set  as  in  No.  2. 

4.  Depending  upon  surprise. 

5.  Another  set  as  in  No.  4. 

6.  Depending  upon  incongruity  or  bur- 
lesque exaggeration. 

7.  Another  set  as  in  No.  6. 

8.  Depending  upon  contrast  or  antithesis. 

9.  Another  set  as  in  No.  8. 

10.  Depending  upon  subtle  implication  or 
sly  dig. 

11.  Another  set  as  in  No.  10. 

12.  Depending  upon  apt  analogy. 

13.  Another  set  as  in  No.  12. 


THE  "PARAGRAPH"  OR  SQUIB  169 

14.  Epigrammatic  in  form.  19.     A  survey  or  review  editorial. 

15.  Another  set  as  in  No.  14.  20.     An  editorial  of  interpretation. 

16.  In  the  form  of  the  rimed  couplet.  21.     A  controversial  editorial. 

17.  In  the  form   of  the  rimed  quatrain  22.     A  home-subject  editorial. 

(not  fewer  than  7).  23.     Put  in  two  or  three  stanzas  of  good 

Write    editorials    in   the    form    of   rimed  verse  the  expression  of  a  serious  editorial 

prose   (in  the  manner  of  Walt  Mason)   as  opinion, 

follows:  24.     As   in   23,   using   the   form   of   free 

18.  A  news  editorial.  verse. 


CHAPTER    XIII 


THE  WRITER  OF  EDITORIALS 


Editorial  type  of  mind. — Though  its  in- 
dividual variations  are  endless,  the  editorial 
mind  nevertheless  has  distinctive  funda- 
mental characteristics.  What  these  are  we 
shall  soon  consider. 

Stern  demands  of  editorial-writing. — The 
work  of  the  editorial-writer  demands  a  stern 
and  enduring  attitude  of  spirit  and  of  will. 
This  can  result  only  from  a  deep  conviction 
of  the  reality  and  earnestness  of  life,  a 
catholic  appreciation  of  its  manifold  as- 
pects, a  thoroughly  reasoned  philosophy  of 
its  principles,  and  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
its  interests  as  manifested  in  its  actual  daily 
concerns. 

The  sub-foundation  on  which  the  success 
and  usefulness  of  the  editorial-writer  are 
reared  is  the  same  as  that  in  any  other  call- 
ing: a  sense  of  duty  and  responsibility.  But 
the  actual  building  requires  abiding  pur- 
pose, long  and  resolute  preparation,  and 
continuing  hard  labor.  For  achievement  in 
an  editorial  career,  a  mere  desire  to  air  one's 
personal  views,  or  a  vague  longing  to  "do 
the  v/orld  good,"  is  worth  about  as  much  as 
a  one-lung  engine  would  be  for  propelling  a 
five-ton  truck  up  Mt.  Whitney.  Spiritually 
and  intellectually,  the  character  of  the  edi- 
torial-writer must  be  of  the  firmest,  best, 
and  most  substantial  stuff;  his  effort  must 
be  the  product  of  high-power  ability;  and 
since  to  the  full  development  of  ability 
good-health  is  indispensable,  he  ought 
withal  be  the  possessor  of  physical  health 
and  vigor. 

Philosophical  mind. — The  editorial  mind  is 
philosophical.  Whether  he  does  his  reflect- 
ing while  on  the  golf-links,  in  the  office,  or 
in  the  study,  the  editor  will  be  given  to 
reflection — to  thinking  things  out,  putting 
them  in  logical  order,  pondering  them  in 
their  many  aspects  and  relations,  and  com- 
ing to  conclusions  about  them. 

Scientific  attitude.— The  philosophical 
bent  implies  the  scientific  attitude;  for  to 
reach  sound  conclusions,  one  must  first  seek, 
and  often  verify,  the  basic  facts.  For  the 
editorial-writer,  these  basic  facts  may  lie 
anywhere — in  universal  human  nature — in 
the  history  of  a  people,  a  state,  or  an  idea 
— in  an  industrial  process— in  a  table  of 
bare  statistics.  Yet,  like  the  scientist,  he 
must  be  sure  of  them.  Interpretation  calls 
for  understanding;  understanding  calls  for 


facts;  and  only  the  scientific  attitude  of  mine 
in  seeking  and  examining  data  can  provide 
the  necessary  fact-foundations. 

Interpretive  instinct. — In  addition  to  the 
philosophical  bent  and  the  scientific  atti- 
tude toward  data,  the  editorial-writer  has 
the  interpretive  instinct.  Like  the  "born" 
teacher,  he  is  impelled  to  make  others  un- 
derstand; not  for  the  sake  of  venting  his 
personal  opinions,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
thought  itself.  1 

The  true  interpretive  impulse — the  in- 
stinct to  communicate  and  promote  under- 
standing— is  diametrically  the  opposite  of 
the  vain  and  empty  impulse  to  fire  off  opin- 
ion, and  but  distantly  related  to  the  vaguely 
sentimental  wish  to  "do  good."  To  his 
scientific  instinct  for  facts  and  his  philo- 
sophical instinct  to  reason  out  and  under- 
stand, the  editorial-writer  adds  the  instinct 
to  popularize  knowledge  and  promote  com- 
prehension— the  instinct,  that  is,  of  the  in- 
terpreter, the  teacher. 

Leanings  of  the  litterateur. — To  these 
three  characteristics  of  the  editorial  mind 
should  be  added  a  fourth:  the  qualifications 
of  the  litterateur.  The  editori%l-writer  may 
not  of  necessity  be  a  scholar;  but  he  must 
be  a  man  of  reading  tastes  and  of  extensive 
reading,  and  not  infrequently  he  is  indis- 
putably a  scholar  of  sorts  in  some  special 
subject.  He  is  not  of  necessity  a  man  of 
literature;  yet  he  is  fortunate  if  he  have 
imaginative  power,  and  he  can  scarcely  do 
v/ithout  three  of  the  fundamental  literary 
gifts — the  sense  of  structure,  the  sense  of 
fitness  in  tone  and  style,  and  the  knack  of 
words.  Without  these  qualifications  of  the 
litterateur,  the  editorial-writer  may,  not- 
withstanding his  thinking  mind,  his  respect 
for  data,  and  his  instinct  for  interpreta- 
tion, grind  but  a  dry  and  husky  flour  from 
even  the  best  of  grain.  Indeed,  it  is  a 
question  whether  this  fourth  is  not  the  only 
qualification  that  he  needs,  since  in  the  lit- 
terateur are  inherent  the  philosophical  mind, 
the  scientific  attitude  toward  fact,  and  the 
impulse  to  make  clear.  The  journalist  is 
merely  a  litterateur  directing  his  abilities  to 
a  special  end. 

The  flux  of  practicality. — But  as  metals 
require  a  flux  to  make  them  fuse,  so  these 
qualifications  of  the  editorial-writer  require 
the  admixture  of  an  additional  constituent 


THE  WRITER  OF  EDITORIALS 


171 


to  produce  proper  fusion.  This  ingredient 
is  practicality.  The  editorial-writer  needs 
to  be  a  man  of  the  world,  to  walk  with 
his  feet  on  the  earth,  to  know  and  appreciate 
the  realities  of  this  imperfect  world.  Para- 
celsus, where'er  he  gazed,  beheld  a  star.  So 
should  the  editorial-writer.  But  in  fixing  his 
gaze  on  the  stars,  he  had  better  not  fix  it  so 
raptly  that  he  cannot  look  down  to  see 
whither  he  is  going  and  what  obstructions 
lie  in  his  path.  His  idealism  must  be  work- 
able. It  must  meet  the  utilitarian  test  of 
attainable  results. 

In  a  word,  he  needs  to  know  men  and 
things,  not  remotely  and  theoretically,  but 
practically — as  they  are,  and  cannot  help 
but  be,  in  life  as  we  have  to  live  it  every 
day.  He  needs  a  temperament  practical 
enough  so  that  he  could  boss  a  street-gang, 
manage  a  factory,  or  organize  a  corporation 
— so  practical,  indeed,  that  from  his  edi- 
torial chair  he  can  talk  sound  sense  with  the 
gang-boss,  the  manufacturer,  and  the  finan- 
cier, on  their  own  business.  The  problems 
of  the  world  are  too  important  and  too  in- 
|tricate  to  be  treated  by  men  who  know 
them  but  remotely  and  abstractly.  It  is  the 
gift  of  knowing  things  not  only  well,  but 
practically,  that  equips  the  editorial-writer 
to  employ  his  other  qualifications  usefully. 

Educational  needs  of  the  editorial-writer — 
"The  man  at  the  information-desk  needs  to 
know  everything  and  then  some,  but  he 
hasn't  anything  on  the  editor  in  that."  The 
remark  is  descriptive  if  not  constructive. 
The  editorial-writer  cannot  know  everything, 
but  he  needs  to  come  as  near  it  as  is 
humanly  possible.  Perhaps  no  one  has  more 
need  for  extensive  learning. 

How  shall  the  young  man  or  woman  who 
aspires  to  the  editorial  typewriter  go  about 
to  get  the  education  that  is  best  for  his  pur- 
pose, or  hers  ?  No  answer  to  the  question  is 
possible  that  will  not  be  open  to  dispute,  or 
that  will  apply  to  every  case.  But  sound 
guiding  suggestions  can  be  given;  for  we 
can  see  what  kind  of  abilities  the  editorial- 
writer  needs  most  to  exercise,  and  what 
kind  of  problems  and  subjects  he  will  deal 
with  in  employing  them. 

The  two  chief  educating  influences. — The 
editorial-writer  will  get  the  most  effective 
"education"  for  his  work  from  two  distinct 
sources.  The  first  is  systematic  study  and 
contributory  reading — formal  education. 
The  second  is  actual  contact  with  the 
world — experience  in  the  university  of  prac- 
tical life.  The  more  one  gets  of  each  kind 
of  education,  the  better. 

The  cultural  aim. — Indisputably  the  edito- 
rial-writer needs  culture  of  mind;  and  this 
should  be  what  he  especially  aims  at  in  his 

13 


formative  years.  The  end  of  cultural  study 
is  character-building  and  spiritual  equip- 
ment. This  involves  two  things:  (1)  disci- 
pline of  the  mind  and  development  of  the 
intellectual  powers;  (2)  inculcation  of  ideals 
and  creation  of  sound  spiritual  standards. 

Disciplinary  studies. — Certain  subjects  are 
especially  effective  in  developing  the  intel- 
lectual powers  and,  along  with  them,  certain 
fundamental  moral  qualities.  These  sub- 
jects are:      ^u}\^S^\\^! 

The  languages,  particularly  the  ancient 
languages. 

Logic  (a  subject  now  often  discarded  as 
a  formal  discipline  in  the  colleges). 

Mathematics  (up  to  a  certain  point). 

Basic  science  (best  represented  by  chem- 
istry and  physics  if  mathematics  be  re- 
garded separately). 

Psychology. 

Rightly  taught  and  rightly  studied,  these 
subjects,  especially  the  first  three,  are  the 
best  means  that  the  world  has  yet  dis- 
covered for  developing  intellectual  power. 
All  the  attacks  upon  them  are  traceable  to 
two  head  reasons:  they  call  for  more  appli- 
cation and  hard  brain-work  than  some  stu- 
dents are  willing  or  qualified  to  give,  and 
they  call  for  more  time  than  some  students 
can  spare  who  must  or  desire  to  enter  a 
gainful  occupation  early  in  life.  But  for 
those  who  can  make  the  time  and  who  have 
the  character  and  ability  necessary  to  take 
them,  they  are  the  best  means  of  intellectual 
discipline  that  we  have. 

Subjects  that  develop  ideals.— The  dis- 
ciplinary studies  have  in  addition  no  small 
influence  in  equipping  the  student  with  spir- 
itual ideals  and  standards,  and  in  developing 
certain  of  the  moral  qualities  that  enter  into 
character  and  into  successful  living.  This 
culture  is  much  extended  by  the  "liberal" 
study  of  two  other  subjects;  namely,  litera- 
ture and  philosophy. 

In  literature  one  gets  concrete  presenta- 
tions of  ideals — the  spiritual  motives,  good 
and  bad,  that  influence  human  conduct.  In 
literature,  likewise,  he  makes  acquaintance 
with  the  spirit,  the  principles,  and  the  mani- 
festations of  art,  thus  acquiring  and  develop- 
ing the  standards  of  a  high  and  true  taste. 
Philosophy  gives  him  ideals  in  the  abstract 
instead  of  the  concrete;  for  it  systemizes 
and  interprets  the  conceptions  of  life  and 
science  through  which  mankind  has  grad- 
ually advanced  to  its  present  status,  and 
which  it  must  take  into  account  in  its  efforts 
for  further  development. 

Pursuit  of  general  education. — Besides 
the  studies  pursued  for  directly  cultural  re- 
sults, there  is  a  group  desirable  as  a  part 
of  "general  education."     Though  contribut- 


172 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


ing  to  culture,  these  subjects  are  to  be 
pursued  rather  for  their  effect  in  extending 
one's  information  and  one's  appreciative  un- 
derstanding of  things.  They  are  frequently 
described  as  "broadening."  To  produce  the 
best  results,  the  cultural  subjects  must 
usually  be  studied  in  youth  and  early  ma- 
turity; but  the  subjects  of  general  education 
can  be  beneficially  continiued  or  beneficially 
taken  up  at  almost  any  age. 

Indeed,  that  enviable  class  of  persons  who 
have  earned  the  designation  of  being  "well 
read" — of  having  a  thorough,  extensive,  and 
varied  general  education  drawn  from  books 
— represents  the  stayers,  not  the  stoppers, 
in  study.  They  have  acquired  and  never 
given  up  the  book  habit;  and  many  a  man 
among  them  whose  youth  afforded  him  no 
education  beyond  that  of  the  grammar  or 
the  high  school,  has  by  this  persistence  made 
himself  a  person  of  much  better  general 
education  than  the  college  graduate  who  let 
his  studies  drop  on  leaving  college. 

For  what  is  the  use  of  winding  up  the 
clock,  then  stopping  it  ?  And  if  it  winds  the 
clock,  what  difference  about  the  key  we  use  ? 
A  hundred  years  ago,  Lincoln  had  to  de- 
pend upon  chance  borrowings  for  the 
books  through  which  he  gave  himself 
his  intellectual  and  spiritual  culture, 
and  from  which  he  drew  the  larger 
part  of  his  general  education.  Fifty  years 
ago,  though  books  were  slowly  becoming  ac- 
cessible to  those  who  could  afford  to  buy, 
there  was  still  no  ready  means  by  which 
either  youth  or  maturity  could  obtain  direc- 
tion to  their  contents  or  guidance  in  their 
use  except  by  attending  schools.  But  today 
libraries,  great  and  small,  traveling 
libraries,  extension  courses,  and  correspond- 
ence courses,  bring  the  means  not  only  of 
general  education  but  of  fundamental  cul- 
ture within  reach  of  nearly  everyone.  Given 
a  thirst  for  learning  such  as  Lincoln  had, 
or  such  as  the  parents  even  of  the  present 
generation  often  had,  there  is  small  reason 
why  the  earnest  youth  of  today  should  not 
achieve  both  culture  and  general  informa- 
tion. It  is  a  matter  of  three  things:  desire, 
determination,  and  persistence. 

No  insurmountable  obstacle,  therefore, 
confronts  the  young  man  or  woman  who 
would  educate  himself  or  herself  thoroughly 
for  editorial-writing,  unless  it  exist  in  the 
student's  limitations  of  character  or  in- 
tellect. 

Studies  for  general  education. — The  sub- 
jects most  contributory  to  general  education 
— to  the  acquirement  and  appreciative  un- 
derstanding of  a  varied  body  of  general  in- 
formation— can  be  assigned  loosely  to  two 
large  classes.    Call  the  first  class  historical. 


the  second,  scientific.  These  designations  b 
no  means  imply  that  the  subjects  are  a! 
ways  to  be  studied  either  as  history  or  a 
science.  As  one  studies  the  subjects  her 
grouped  as  history,  he  begins  to  accumulat 
material  for  a  historical  comprehension  c 
man,  of  life,  and  of  society.  He  learns  wha 
man  and  men  have  beei;,  have  thought,  an 
have  done,  in  the  past;  and  because  he  know 
what  their  history  has  been,  he  is  bette 
able  to  understand  them  as  they  are.  Hi 
knowledge  of  what-has-been  gives  him 
background  for  what-is;  and  this  baicls 
ground  is  the  history  of  the  world  in  man 
aspects — the  background  of  historical  ur 
derstanding.  And  as  he  studies  the  scier 
tific  group,  he  accumulates  a  store  of  scier 
tific  fact,  and  achieves  a  comprehension  c 
scientific  aims  and  principles  and  of  thei 
application  in  contemporary  science.  Agai 
he  has  provided  himself  a  background — th 
background  of  scientific  understanding.  I 
this  sense,  the  two  groups  are  legitimatel 
called  the  historical  and  the  scientific. 

The  historical  group. — First  in  the  hij 
torical  group  comes  history,  commonly  s 
called — the  narrative  and  descriptive  outlin 
of  the  world's  past  as  represented  by  gres 
events  and  the  periods  that  they  determine 
But  an  infinite  number  of  influences  ha\ 
determined  these  events — economic  and  ir 
dustrial  conditions,  political  aspiration; 
personal  qualities  and  ambitions,  religiou 
conceptions,  racial  ideals  and  characterij 
tics,  social  standards,  art,  morals,  the  ac 
vance  of  science.  Accordingly,  one  is  le 
at  once  into  study  of  "history"  in  man 
aspects.  It  includes  whatever  up  to  on 
own  day  has  had  a  bearing  upon  economic 
and  industry;  laws  and  political  institutions 
social  customs;  science;  literature,  ar 
music;  ideas;  individual  peoples,  states,  an 
nations;  their  social,  political,  and  commei 
cial  relations  with  one  another;  the  persor 
who  played  a  part  in  their  affairs;  and  so  oi 

All  these  divisions  have  varied,  not  1 
say  innumerable,  sub-divisions,  intertwinin 
branches,  and  mutual  relations.  To  mast€ 
this  body  of  historical  information  entii 
would  be  impossible;  but  fortunately  in  eac 
department  of  it  there  are  works  of  ou 
standing  thoroughness  that  help  to  redu< 
it  to  system  and  to  supply  a  foundation; 
scheme  upon  which  one  can  build  accordin 
to  his  choice  and  need. 

In  college  study  or  study  outside  of  co 
lege  in  preparation  for  journalism,  or 
should  aim  at  procuring  a  thorough,  sin 
plified  foundation  in  the  historical  grou] 
even  a  year  or  two  of  well-directed  industi 
will  begin  to  provide  a  serviceable  basis- j 
the  more  so  because  at  so  many  places  thej  j 
subjects  touch  or  coincide.  i 


k 


THE  WRITER  OF  EDITORIALS 


173 


le  scientific  group. — In  the  scientific 
group,  one  finds  again  a  multiplicity  of  sub- 
divisions; but  in  degree  as  a  basic  science 
runs  into  strictly  technical  specializations, 
knowledge  of  it  in  these  specializations  be- 
comes less  indispensable  as  a  part  of  gen- 
eral education.  Of  the  leading  and  charac- 
teristic developments  of  chemistry  and 
physics,  one  should  keep  informed;  and  if 
his  foundation  in  these  subjects  has  been 
adequate,  he  can  follow  the  course  of  im- 
portant new  applications  intelligently  and  ap- 
preciate the  significance  of  new  hypotheses. 

But  he  ought  to  be  well  grounded  also  in 
two  divisions  of  another  leading  science — 
biology.  No  man  is  well  informed  who  does 
not  know  the  fundamentals  of  biologic 
science  in  zoology  and  in  botany,  and  who 
has  not  kept  abreast  of  the  principal  con- 
temporary developments  of  these  subjects. 

Geology  we  need  not  violently  insist  upon; 
but  geography  should  receive  much  more 
attention  than  most  of  us  give  it.  Accurate 
knowledge  of  the  earth's  topographical  and 
political  divisions  and  subdivisions,  of  cli- 
mates, populations,  religions,  customs,  in- 
stitutions, resources,  products,  and  trans- 
portational  facilities,  certainly  is  important 
to  the  editorial-writer  and  clearly  desirable 
as  part  of  a  general  education. 

Subjects  directly  preparatory  to  journal- 
ism.— Half  way  between  those  subjects  that 
pertain  primarily  to  general  education  and 
those  which  belong  to  professional  training, 
lies  another  group — one  consisting  of  sub- 
jects in  which  much  of  the  study  is  directed 
upon  the  principles  for  their  practical,  or 
utilitarian,  applications,  rather  than  for 
their  historical  and  philosophical  aspects. 
Here  we  have  the  subjects  recognizedly  use- 
ful as  a  preparation  for  law,  banking,  manu- 
facturing, transportation,  and  for  the  vari- 
ous departments  of  business.  Among  them 
are  all  those  familiarly  known  under  the 
names  of  economics,  finance,  transportation, 
sociology  or  the  social  "sciences,"  and  gov- 
ernment. Here  too  would  come  the  spe- 
cialized study  of  the  world's  commerce,  in- 
dustry, and  transportation;  that  is,  of 
commercial  and  industrial  geography.  In 
taking  up  these  subjects,  as  in  taking  up 
those  appertaining  to  general  education,  the 
student's  aim  at  first  should  be,  to  seek 
courses  that  provide  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples, leaving  for  further  study  at  a  later 
time  their  more  detailed  and  special  appli- 
cations. 

Specialized  professional  training. — Slowly 
but  surely  the  sense  of  the  dignity  of  jour- 
nalism as  a  profession  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  of  journalism;  and  the 
growing  realization   that  every  branch   of 


knowledge  should  be  accessible  to  all  the 
members  of  the  democracy  is  now  leading  to 
the  establishment  of  extension  and  corre- 
spondence study  of  the  subject. 

The  programs  of  study  vary  in  plan  and 
organization,  but  not  in  ultimate  principle 
and  aim.  As  a  foundation,  they  call  for  as 
large  an  amount  of  cultural  and  general 
education  as  is  possible.  This  assumed,  the 
professional  courses  aim: 

1.  To  produce  an  understanding  of  the 
significance  and  nature  of  news,  and  to 
practice  the  student  in  effective  methods  of 
telling  it.  This  ranges  from  simple  report- 
ing and  newswriting  up  to  the  preparation 
of  feature  and  special  articles.  Apprecia- 
tion of  news-values  is  indispensable  to  every 
journalistic  writer. 

2.  To  train  in  the  preparation  of  copy 
for  the  printer  (revising,  rewriting,  correct- 
ing proof,  and  writing  headlines).  This  im- 
plies elementary  acquaintance  (or  more) 
with  the  mechanical  processes  of  printing. 

3.  To  train  the  student  in  editorial  dis- 
cussion and  interpretation,  and  to  acquaint 
him  with  sources  of  information. 

4.  To  provide  perspective  by  means  of 
the  history  of  journalism. 

5.  To  provide  instruction  in  the  ideals 
and  ethics  of  the  profession  (theory  of  the 
function  and  practice  of  journalism). 

6.  To  provide  instruction  in  the  theory 
of  publishing  and  management. 

In  addition,  specialized  courses  in  supple- 
mentary subjects  are  frequently  given. 

Intensive  training  in  writing. — That  the 
journalist  should  be  an  expert  writer,  is  ob- 
vious. Theoretically,  every  one  knows  the 
importance  of  skill  in  writing;  but  many  try 
to  write  who  are  still  rankly  inexpert  in,  or 
even  ignorant  of,  the  compositional  prin- 
ciples. This  lack  of  preparatory  training 
shows  itself  in  numerous  ways,  of  which 
one  of  the  worst  is  careless  or  ignorant  mis- 
use of  terms. 

But  probably  this  inexpertness  is  nowhere 
so  manifest  as  in  the  management  of  the 
sentence.  "The  sentence  is  the  smallest 
complete  unit  of  thought";  yet  persons  who 
have  not  yet  learned  how  to  think  an  indi- 
vidual thought  clearly  and  express  it  pre- 
cisely and  effectively,  wonder  why  their 
earnest  written  efforts  to  solve  the  problems 
of  the  world,  are  rejected.  Every  would-be 
writer  who  means  business  should  wreak 
himself  upon  the  sentence  for  the  sentence's 
sake. 

No  thought  but  can  be  expressed  in  vari- 
ous forms  to  different  effects  by  means  of 
differing  constructions.  The  writer  who  is 
not  master  of  these  constructions  and  these 
forms,  who  cannot  discover  with  exactness 


174 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


what  the  thought  is  that  he  needs  in  that 
one  sentence  to  express,  and  then  create  a 
sentence  that  fits  the  purpose  of  the  thought, 
may  be  a  writer  in  posse,  but  certainly  is  not 
a  writer  in  esse.  He  may  be  capable  of 
developing  into  a  writer,  but  he  certainly 
has  not  attained  to  writership.  The  appren- 
tice in  writing  can  do  no  better  than  to 
devote  a  half-hour  daily  for  a  year  to 
practice  concentrated  upon  constructing  and 
then  reconstructing  over  and  over,  single 
sentences.  Seldom  will  he  get  this  discipline 
in  the  schools;  but  he  can  give  it  to  himself 
with  results  that  may  be  even  better,  since 
they  will  come  from  his  own  effort,  and 
represent  the  growth  and  fruitage  of  his 
own  understanding,  not  the  mere  assimila- 
tion of  another's  instruction. 

Precise  knowledge  of  words,  and  ability 
to  put  them  together  in  the  accurate  expres- 
sion of  the  thought  to  its  intended  purpose 
— these  come  first.  Then  follows  skill  in  the 
constructing  of  the  paragraph — varied,  as 
the  sentence  is,  according  to  its  content  and 
its  purpose.  Finally  comes  the  constructing 
of  longer  writings,  each  planned  and  built 
according  to  its  individual  purpose — in  the 
main  a  matter  of  skilfully  applying,  adapt- 
ing, and  extending  the  principles  of  the 
paragraph  to  larger  or  more  complex 
themes. 

As  for  style,  manner,  tone,  these  depend 
upon  the  person.  He  who  can  see,  think,  or 
feel  one  particular  thing  at  a  time,  ac- 
curately and  truly,  and  express  that  one 
thing  appropriately  and  effectively  in  a 
single  sentence,  has  the  ability  to  write,  be- 
cause with  experience  he  can  see,  think, 
feel,  and  express  many  things  in  combina- 
tion. 

For  after  all,  writing  depends  upon  ob- 
servation, understanding,  and  imagination — 
upon  personality — upon  native  gift.  Men 
can  be  trained  to  write,  but  the  best  writers 
are  the  writers  who  are  born  as  well  as 
made. 

Direct  experience. — One  sometimes  hears 
that  the  only  journalistic  training  worth 
having  is  that  which  comes  from  actual  ex- 
perience "on  the  job."  Omit  "only"  and  the 
assertion  becomes  indisputable.  Every  hour 
of  the  newspaper  day  something  turns  up 
that  can  be  handled  the  better  for  practical 
experience.  But  so  is  it  in  the  ministry, 
the  law,  medicine,  engineering,  the  chemical 
industries.  Nevertheless,  a  congregation 
does  not  prefer  its  minister  because  he  has 
managed  to  get  ordained  without  attending 
the  theological  school;  nor  a  patient  regard 
his  physician  any  the  more  favorably  for 
having  picked  up  his  medicine  without  at- 
tending the  medical  college;  nor  a  house- 


holder ask  a  carpenter  to  plan  his  house  in 
preference  to  an  architect.  Quite  the  con- 
trary. 

We  know  that  men  have  reached  high 
standing  in  journalism  by  the  scramble-up 
route.  But  we  know  too  that,  notwithstand- 
ing their  chances  to  climb  by  the  same  hap- 
hazard route,  journalism  has  its  full  propor- 
tion of  half-way  and  inferior  men.  Some 
men  who  have  studied  journalism  theoreti- 
cally have  been  notably  successful  in  its 
practice;  others  have  failed  badly.  But  here 
again  the  success  or  the  failure  may  have 
been  the  result  chiefly  of  personal  ability  or 
the  lack  of  it.  At  least,  the  probabilities 
and  the  evidence  are  strongly  in  favor  of 
professional  study. 

But  professional  study  does  not  relieve  the 
student  of  the  need  of  practical  experience. 
At  the  very  beginning  he  will  make  an 
egregious  mistake  in  assuming  that  it  does. 
His  introduction  to  journalistic  theory  and 
his  preliminary  training  may,  and  appar- 
ently do,  give  him  a  decided  advantage  in 
the  long  run,  but  mainly  in  the  long  run. 
Before  he  can  begin  to  regard  himself  as 
a  competent  journalist,  he  too  must  go 
through  the  apprenticeship  of  thorough 
"shop"  experience.  His  preliminary  study 
ought  to  enable  him  to  complete  that  ap- 
prenticeship in  shorter  time,  but  complete  it 
he  must  if  he  is  to  have  an  all-round  train- 
ing; and  the  fuller  the  experience,  the  more 
probable  his  advance. 

In  any  branch  of  journalism,  one  will  be 
the  better  for  six  months'  daily  association, 
eight  hours  a  day,  with  type  and  its  possi- 
bilities and  limitations,  got  in  the  compos- 
ing-room. Nor  will  he  be  the  worse  for 
knowing  how  to  make  a  "mat"  and  cast  a 
stereotype  plate,  or  for  being  on  speaking 
terms  with  the  presses  in  the  basement; 
and  if  he  is  so  fortunate  as  to  begin  on  a 
small  paper,  he  certainly  should  know  how 
to  make  love  to  and  quarrel  with  the  cylin- 
der-press. He  should  know  what  can  and 
what  cannot  be  done  by  the  art-room  by 
way  of  illustration  and  engraving.  And 
sooner  or  later,  he  should  familiarize  him- 
self with  the  problems  of  circulation  and  of 
advertising. 

In  reporting,  eighteen  months  or  two 
years  may  be  little  enough  time  to  make  the 
inexperienced  man  a  dependable  and  com- 
petent fact-getter.  If  he  is  not  merely  a 
"leg-man,"  but  is  permitted  to  write  out  as 
well  as  to  get  his  stories,  the  same  period 
should  make  him  a  fairly  competent  news- 
writer.  But  one's  experience  would  be  still 
better  rounded  out  if  he  had  also  done  re- 
write, sat  at  the  copy-desk,  and  handled 
telegraph. 


THE  WRITER  OF  EDITORIALS 


175 


Evidently,  to  know  journalism  in  theory 
is  not  enough;  applying  the  theory  in  prac- 
tice is  all  that  can  complete  the  journalistic 
training  or  confirm  the  student's  fitness  for 
the  work.  The  fact  that  men  who  know 
nothing  of  type  and  printing  begin  as  re- 
porters, and  succeed,  is  immaterial;  we  are 
speaking  of  what  is  desirable,  not  of  what 
may  be  accepted.  Every  composing-room 
knows  that  the  reporter  and  the  editor  who 
understand  "the  mechanical  end"  of  the  bus- 
iness, save  their  paper  time  and  money,  are 
moreover  likely  to  prepare  their  copy  more 
effectively,  and  therefore  are  better  all- 
round  workmen  and  more  desirable  em- 
ployees. 

The  "school  of  hard  knocks."— We  said 
that  one  of  the  chief  parts  of  the  editorial- 
writer's  education  is  the  part  that  he  gets 
from  actual  and  intimate  contact  with  the 
world — from  "the  school  of  hard  knocks." 
Let  us  emphasize  the  assertion.  Only  from 
intimate  familiarity  with  men  and  things  as 
they  are  will  come  that  practicality  of  atti- 
tude and  ideal  which  saves  his  thinking  from 
being  remote  and  ineffectual.  At  intervals 
he  must  betake  himself  to  the  desert  or 
the  mountain-top  for  communion  with  him- 
self; but  he  must  also,  like  Odysseus,  have 
known  "cities  of  men" — ^the  crowded  places 
of  endeavor,  rivalry,  and  strife.  He  must 
himself  have  shared  in  these,  have  dealt  with 
men  and  been  dealt  with  by  them,  have 
mingled,  fought,  triumphed,  and  been  de- 
feated. He  must  know  what's  what  as  men 
play  the  game.  If  experience  like  this  has 
not  come  his  way,  he  should  go  out  to  seek 
it.  The  more  various  the  places  and  people 
he  has  seen,  the  things  he  has  done,  the 
jobs  he  has  held,  the  ups-and-downs  he  has 
gone  through,  the  better — the  better,  that  is, 
so  long  as  they  have  been  a  means  of 
growth.  If  they  have  robbed  him  of  his 
ideals  and  his  faith,  he  had  better  quit  the 
editorial-room  and  turn  profiteer  or  ward 
boss. 

Getting  a  job. — Were  there  any  sure  way 
of  getting  a  job,  qualified  men  would  not 
be  out  of  work  when  there  is  work  to  do. 
The  most  likely  way  of  getting  oneself  into 
an  editorial-writing  position  is,  to  work  into 
it  from  some  other  position  on  the  paper. 
Here  the  newsroom  affords  the  best  though 
not  the  only  opportunity.  The  news  staff 
have  an  advantage  in  being  acquainted 
with  news-values,  and  often  in  having  a 
chance  to  know  the  news  of  the  day  soon 
after  it  reaches  the  office;  so  that  they  can 
write  about  it  while  it  is  "hot."  In  addition, 
getting  the  attention  of  the  editorial-room 
to  their  contributions  may  prove  easier  for 
them  than  for  the  outside  volunteer,  espe- 


cially as  the  insider  is  likely  to  know  the 
paper's  policy  and  standards  better.  If  the 
editorials  volunteered  are  good,  they  are 
likely  to  win  their  writer  a  trial  when  an 
editorial-writing  job  is  to  be  filled. 

Another  possibility  is,  to  ask  permission 
to  submit  editorials.  If  the  editor-in-chief, 
chief  editorial  writer,  or  whoever  has  charge 
of  the  editorial-writing  in  that  office,  is  will- 
ing to  consider  volunteer  editorials  from  the 
outside,  good  work  may  lead  to  occasional 
assignments  or  to  regular  employment.  But 
many  offices  would  hesitate  to  encourage  this 
volunteer  contributing — certainly  without  a 
reason  to  believe  that  the  contributor  is 
well  qualified,  or  some  prospect  of  needing 
his  services. 

Occasionally — ^not  often — continued  sub- 
mission of  editorials  without  previous  con- 
sultation may  attract  favorable  attention 
and  open  the  way  for  regular  contributing 
or  for  employment. 

In  all  such  approaches,  the  work  submitted 
must  be  unmistakably  good.  Further,  it 
must  indicate  that  the  writer  knows  some- 
what of  the  paper's  policy  and  standards 
and  can  adapt  himself  to  them  if  called  upon 
to  write  for  it. 

Papers  differ  widely  in  the  organization 
of  their  editorial-writing  service.  A  metro- 
politan daily  may  have  a  corps  of  writers 
numerous  enough  to  require  a  rotation  pro- 
viding each  man  his  one-day-off-in-seven. 
At  the  other  extreme,  a  small-town  daily 
may  have  no  separate  corps  of  writers,  but 
depend  entirely  upon  a  daily  stint  of  edi- 
torial copy  required  from  the  men  in  the 
newsroom  in  addition  to  their  other  duties. 

To  supplement  its  corps  of  office-writers, 
the  metropolitan  paper  may  have  editorial- 
contributors  outside,  to  deal  with  some  par- 
ticular class  of  subject,  or  possibly  to  supply 
a  regular  amount  of  copy  on  whatever  sub- 
jects the  editorial  director  calls  for.  The 
editor  of  the  large  paper  is  likely  also  to 
have  a  list  of  specialists  in  various  subjects 
on  whom  he  can  call,  in  case  of  need,  for 
editorial  discussions  requiring  more  tech- 
nical or  expert  knowledge  than  the  non- 
specialist  can  be  trusted  to  possess.  Law- 
yers, clergymen,  and  college  professors  are 
likely  to  constitute  the  larger  number  of 
these  outer  satellites  of  journalism.  Med- 
ical topics  may  be  covered  by  a  physician, 
engineering  topics  by  an  engineer,  aviation 
by  a  specialist  in  aeronautics,  and  so  on. 

All  this  increases  the  chance  of  employ- 
ment, provided  that  one  is  qualified  and  that 
he  can,  by  means  of  his  work  or  otherwise, 
bring  himself  to  notice.  If  a  man  is  well 
known,  the  job  may  occasionally  seek  him 
out;  but  most  of  us  have  to  plan  and  con- 


176 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


duct  a  campaign  when  we  seek  such  em- 
ployment, and  in  every  such  campaign  the 
objective  is  two  fold:  first,  to  gain  the  at- 
tention of  the  man  who  does  the  hiring,  and 
second,  to  convince  him  of  our  ability  to  "de- 
liver the  goods."  The  man  who  is  not  quali- 
fied need  not  expect  to  gain  attention;  and 


when  all  is  said,  the  best  evidence  of  qual- 
ification is  successful  experience.* 

♦In  Writing  for  the  Magazines  (Tlie  Writer's  Li- 
brary, Home  Correspondence  School).  Dr.  J.  Bers 
Esenwein  enumerates  with  reservations  a  number 
of  possible  ways  of  gettinfi:  a  job  on  a  magaxine  edi- 
torial staff.  Obviously,  some  of  these  possibilities 
would  be  less  in  the  case  of  editorial-writing 
positions. 


Part  II 

Specimens  for  Analysis 
and  Criticism 


British  Editorial  Articles 


CHAPTER    I 


EDITORIALS  ILLUSTRATING  STYLE  AND  MANNER 


Abundant  material  for  further 
study  of  the  editorial  style  and  man- 
ner will  be  found  in  the  pages  that 


follow,  and  to  these  the  student  is 
referred.  To  develop  style,  much  in- 
itiative practice  is  recommended. 


CHAPTER    H 


EDITORIALS  EMPLOYING  A  PEG 


The  editorials  here  following  vary 
greatly  in  character,  kind,  purpose, 
and  method,  but  are  alike  in  the  fact 


that  each  of  them  in  some  way  uti- 
lizes a  newspeg  in  its  development. 
See  Part  I,  Chapter  II. 


WANTS  4  PER  CENT  KICK 

Richmond    Times-Dispatch 

Governor  Coolidge  of  Massachusetts  has 
vetoed  the  2.75  per  cent  beer  bill  passed  by 
the  Legislature  of  that  State.  He  said  he 
opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  "legis- 
lative deception."  Deception  is  correct.  Any 
beer  containing  less  than  4  per  cent  of 
"kick"  is  a  fraud  as  a  thirst- quencher. 

SQUINTING  AT  FATHER-IN-LAW 

Chicago   Evening   Post 

"I  doubt  most  seriously,"  declares  _Mr. 
McAdoo,  "that  I  possess  the  qualifications 
required  to  meet  the  exacting  requirements 
of  the  present  situation." 

Mr.  McAdoo  refers  to  a  suggestion  that 
he  is  the  fit  man  to  be  elected  President. 
His  modesty  does  him  credit;  but  it  does 
more — it  indicates  that  the  son-in-law  is  not 
yet  sure  his  father-in-law  has  abandoned  all 
thought  of  a  third  term.  Taken  in  connec- 
tion with  other  signs  and  omens,  it  is  an 
interesting  confirmation  of  the  theory,  now 
gaining  ground,  that  Woodrow  Wilson  is 
hearing  the  call  of  destiny  and  considering 
gravely  what  answer  he  should  make. 

A  LANDIS  DECISION 

Philadelphia  Record 

Judge  Kenesaw  Mountain  Landis,  of  Chi- 
cago, has  a  faculty  for  handing  down  highly 
original  decisions.  He  has  just  added  one 
more  to  his  score.  Homer  B.  Whitehead, 
head  of  the  mailing  department  of  the  Fed- 


eral Reserve  Bank,  drawing  a  salary  of  less 
than  $30  a  week,  had  pleaded  guilty  to 
padding  the  bank's  payrolls.  In  sentencing 
him  to  siix  months  in  the  House  of  Correc- 
tion, the  judge  said:  "The  same  Govern- 
ment that  is  paying  this  man  starvation 
wages  is  asking  me  to  send  him  to  the  peni- 
tentiary for  years,  but  instead  of  years  I 
will  make  it  months,  and  instead  of  i)eni- 
tentiary  it  will  be  jail."  The  Government 
is  thus  made  the  guilty  party.  But  let 
those  business  men  who  may  be  inclined  to 
rejoice  over  this  arraignment  of  the  Govern- 
ment pause  for  a  moment  and  meditate  the 
possible  application  of  the  judgment  to  their 
own  cases. 

CHASING  THE  AMBULANCE  CHASERS 

Charleston  News  and  Courier 
The  Spartanburg  Bar  Association,  which 
has  just  adopted  a  new  constitution  and 
by-laws,  vigorously  condemns  ambulance 
chasing,  the  soliciting  of  business  by  law- 
yers either  directly  or  indirectly,  the  drum- 
ming up  of  business  in  person  or  otherwise 
at  the  county  jail  and  the  practice  of  rela- 
tives of  members  of  the  bar  habitually  going 
bail  or  becoming  surety  for  defendants  or 
parties  before  the  court. 

These  practices  are  denounced  as  against 
public  policy  and  the  Bar  association  de- 
clares that  any  member  of  the  bar  who  does 
these  things  "shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  un- 
professional conduct  and  shall  be  denied  the 
privilege  of  membership  in  this  association 


180 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL- WRITING 


in  addition  to  any  other  penalty  that  may 
be  inflicted  upon  him." 

We  do  not  know  that  Spartanburg  is 
worse  afflicted  than  other  communities  with 
lawyers  of  low  standards  who  need  to  be 
jacked  up  as  is  proposed  by  the  Spartan- 
burg Bar  Association. 

SPARE  THE  MAYFLOWER 

New  York  Herald 

The  Plymouth  tercentenary  seems  to  have 
stimulated  the  gathering  of  trailing  arbu- 
tus this  spring  through  confusion  of  its 
popular  name  in  New  England  with  that  of 
the  ship  which  brought  the  Pilgrims  over. 
For  its  protection,  therefore,  it  is  timely  to 
remind  Mayflower  descendants  and  their 
friends  that  the  blossom  of  the  English 
hawthorn  was  the  original  mayflower  for 
which  the  ship  was  named. 

The  trailing  arbutus  is  of  good  American 
stock.  The  English  hawthorn  is  found  here 
only  sparingly.  The  English  Puritans  cut 
down  maypoles  and  banned  festivals  in 
honor  of  Crataegus  oxyacantha.  Their 
American  relations  should  not  imitate  them 
to  the  extent  of  joyously  uprooting  Epigaea 
repens.  Trailing  arbutus  is  as  tempera- 
mental as  its  blossom  is  lovely  and  will  not 
put  up  with  rough  treatment. 

NOT  EXACTLY  THE  IDEA 

Boston  Post 

"The  men  who  oppose  a  military  man  for 
President  are  all  cads,"  said  General 
Leonard  Wood  to  a  Springfield  interviewer. 
"They  are  not  Americans,"  he  added. 

But  is  not  the  general  a  bit  away  from 
the  idea  underlying  many  good  men's  opposi- 
tion to  a  professional  soldier  for  President  ? 
The  feeling  is  not  against  the  practice  of 
arms  and  the  military  science;  most  people 
respect  and  honor  them.  The  real  senti- 
ment in  such  cases  is  that  the  military  life 
is  not  the  best  preparation  for  the  presi- 
dency, and  that  with  very  few  exceptions 
our  distinctively  soldier  Presidents  have  not 
been  of  the  first  rank. 

It  is  no  slur  upon  the  uniform  nor  upon 
our  nation's  defenders  to  prefer  a  civilian 
for  the  White  House. 

"CUNARDER"  KAISERIN  AUGUSTA 

Worcester  Telegram 
Five  years  of  war  and  a  change  in  the 

history  of  the  world  is  indicated  in  the  New 

York  despatch,  which  begins: 

Sir  Auckland  Geddes,  the  new  British 
Ambassador  to  the  United  States,  ar- 
rived yesterday  on  the  Cunarder  Kai- 
serin  Augusta  Victoria  from  Liverpool. 
For  the  Kaiserin  Augusta  was  built  by  the 

Norddeutcher  Lloyd  to  compete  when  vessels 


of  the  Kaiser  and  Kronprinz  class  wrested 
the  laurels  from  the  Cunarders — until  the 
Mauretania  came.  The  Kaiserin  was  never 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  flyers,  but  attracted 
by  the  luxurious  accommodation  for  pas- 
sengers. She  was  one  of  the  fleet  of  mer- 
chant vessels  which  prior  to  1914  was  slowly 
but  steadily  gaining  the  ascendency  for  Ger- 
many over  Great  Britain  in  ocean  trade. 

Now  her  yellow  funnels  are  painted  red, 
with  black  band,  sign  in  all  the  seven  seas 
of  the  greatest  steamship  company  in  the 
world,  and  on  the  steamer  named  for  the 
wife  of  the  former  Kaiser  arrives  the  .man 
who  arranged  the  details  of  the  merchant 
ships  at  the  conference  which  on  Nov.  21, 
1918,  brought  to  Seapa  Flow  the  greatest 
array  of  warships  ever  made  captive — ^with- 
out the  firing  of  a  shot. 

So  in  another  field  than  that  of  army  or 
navy  is  indicated  the  passing  of  Germany 
as  a  world  power. 

INTEREST  IN  FRENCH 

Providence  Journal 

The  newly  awakened  interest  in  the 
French  language  is  reflected  in  the  plans 
for  the  summer  French  School  at  Middle- 
bury  College.  So  great  has  been  the  de- 
mand for  registration  that  four  additional 
houses  have  been  secured,  making  eight 
places  of  residence  in  all;  and  bookings  will 
begin  on  the  first  day  of  May  for  the  season 
at  hand.  There  will  be,  among  other  fea- 
tures of  the  school,  la  house  for  teachers 
who  wish  to  remain  in  residence  during  the 
college  year  to  do  graduate  work  in  French. 

It  seems  strange  that  a  comparatively 
remote  college  up  in  Vermont  should  spe- 
cialize in  the  French  language,  yet  it  is  a 
laudable  and  useful  task  that  it  has  under- 
taken. Middlebury  may  become  more  noted 
for  this  work  than  any  other,  and  certainly 
the  pleasant  town  among  the  Green  Hills 
offers  many  attractions  for  summer  study 
of  any  sort. 

WHAT  TO  WEAR  FOR  SWIMMING 

Syracuse  Post-Standard 

The  Milwaukee  beach-manager  gives  his 
approval  to  the  one-piece  bathing  suit  for 
women.  His  defense  is  unusual.  It  isn't 
so  much  what  women  wear  that  counts,  as 
he  views  it,  but  the  mind  of  man.  "Our 
duty,"  he  says  with  a  confidence  that  is  due 
for  a  fall,  "is  to  train  the  minds  of  a  certain 
type  of  men  to  view  a  pretty  form  in  a  bath- 
ing suit  as  one  looks  at  a  painting,  or  a 
statue." 

We  don't  believe  that  the  beach-manager 
will  get  far  in  the  mental  education  of  "a 
certain  type  of  men."  We  can't  see  wherein 
the  management  of  a  bathing-beach  imposes 


EDITORIALS  EMPLOYING  A  PEG 


181 


upon  him  this  exacting  duty.  We  can  see  a 
more  valid  defense  of  his  permissive  regula- 
tion, which  does  not  look  so  far  for  support. 

The  one-piece  bathing  suit  is  not,  because 
it  comes  in  one  piece,  immodest.  The  pro- 
priety of  a  garment  for  water-wear  or 
beach-wear  is  not  measured  by  the  number 
of  pieces. 

The  one-piece  suit  is  the  only  sensible  gar- 
ment for  swimming.  The  woman  who  gets 
into  bathing  togs  with  no  intention  of  get- 
ting them  wet  should  be  satisfied  with  some- 
thing less  disclosing  and  more  ornate.  The 
woman  who  wants  to  swim  should  be  per- 
mitted to  wear  clothing  she  can  swim  in. 

POPULAR  INTEREST  IN  DISTANCES 

Sun  and  New  York  Herald 
The  dispute  now  on  among  members  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences  regarding 
the  diameter  of  the  Milky  Way  will  not  be 
of  practical  interest  to  travellers  of  the 
present  generation.  Whether  it  be  30,000 
light  years,  as  has  been  suspected,  or  300,- 
000  light  years,  as  Dr.  Shapley  suggests, 
may  be  a  matter  of  importance  in  A.  D. 
19200,  when  the  vacationist  of  the  earth 
plans  a  summer  trip  to  Antares  on  the 
Galactic  Superether  Line;  but  now  the  ques- 
tion is  academic  except  to  astronomers. 
They  take  these  distances  mighty  seriously 
and  we  can  picture  a  peacemaker  interrupt- 
ing an  overheated  discussion  with  an  in- 
quiry as  to  what  175  quadrillion  miles  is 
among  friends. 

These  distances  are  unreasonable.  For 
the  faltering  mind  of  the  layman  it  is  far 
enough  from  here  to  the  moon.  "All  the 
peanuts  eaten  at  the  circus  in  a  year  if 
placed  end  to  end  would  reach  there  and 
back."  That  means  something;  but  nobody 
can  imagine  a  row  of  peanuts  extending  to 
Aldebaran.  Not  but  what  the  people  are 
interested  in  distances.  It  is  so  far  from 
the  Bronx  to  Coney  Island  that  it  takes  light 
one  ten-thousandth  part  of  a  second  to  make 
the  run;  and  yet  the  Public  Service  Com- 
mission has  ordered  a  five-cent  fare  for  the 
trip.  Most  of  our  young  people  would  rather 
see  Coney  Island  than  the  nebular  wilder- 
ness. 

A  CHEAP  MOTOR  FUEL 

Washington  Star 
Announcement  from  Rome  that  a  chemist 
of  that  city  has  discovered  a  process  for 
producing  liquid  hydrogen,  one  gallon  of 
which  will  drive  an  automobile  250  miles,  is 
certainly  good  news  to  all  motorists  and  to 
business  men  who  use  gasoline.  The  an- 
nouncement is  not  complete,  however.  It 
refers    to    "cheaply    producing    the    liquid 


hydrogen,"  but  how  cheaply  ?    At  what  rate 
could  it  be  put  on  the  market? 

Gasoline  is  now  selling  roughly  at  30 
cents  a  gallon.  That  means  for  a  car  that 
can  get  fifteen  miles  out  of  a  gallon — and 
that  is  going  some — ^two  cents  a  mile  for 
fuel.  A  gallon  of  liquid  hydrogen  at  the 
same  rate  of  mileage  cost  and  capable  of 
yielding  250  miles  would  cost  $5,  so  that 
anything  less  than  $5  a  gallon  retail  for  this 
new  fuel  would  be  an  economy.  At  $2.50  a 
gallon  it  would  be  equivalent  to  15-cent 
gasoline.  At  a  dollar  a  gallon  it  would  be 
equivalent  to  six-cent  gasoline.  If  by 
"cheaply  producing"  it  is  meant  to  signify 
anything  around  a  dollar  a  gallon,  there- 
fore, the  fuel  problem  is  definitely  solved. 
And  motor  riding  will  become  again  a  joy 
rather  than  a  constant  strain  upon  the  con- 
science as  well  as  the  purse.  The  sole  ques- 
tion would  then  be  as  to  the  universality  of 
the  use  of  this  process.  Great  care  must 
be  exercised  to  keep  such  a  remarkable 
method  of  fuel  production  out  of  the  hands 
of  monopolists,  or  the  world  will  be  right 
back  where  it  is  now  in  respect  to  motive 
power. 

POLICEMEN  AS  TEACHERS 

Cleveland    Press 

"The  new  police  idea  is  to  present  law  as 
a  protector;  to  show  conclusively  that  fear, 
as  a  crime  deterrent,  is  seldom  if  ever  per- 
manent," runs  a  comment  on  the  construc- 
tive policy  which  Police  Commissioner 
Woods  has  introduced  into  the  New  York 
system. 

Thus,  one  by  one,  modern  theories  about 
crime  and  criminals  reach  the  experimental 
stage. 

The  literature  of  criminology  has  m- 
creased  enormously  in  the  past  twenty-five 
years,  and  the  better  housing,  feeding,  dis- 
ciplining, and  education  of  convicted  men 
has  received  a  limited  amount  of  intelligent 
attention. 

But  the  notion  that  a  city's  police  system 
can  be  used  for  anything  except  to  trap  and 
arrest  offenders  is  quite  foreign  to  the  pop- 
ular education  and  experience  of  the  people. 

For  this  reason.  Commissioner  Woods  is 
now  sending  officers  into  schools  and  other 
places  where  children  are  assembled,  to  ex- 
plain the  city  ordinances  to  them  and  to 
enlist  them  as  friends  and  supporters  of 
the  law. 

Genuine  pride  in  civic  welfare  is  wanted. 
This  must  be  based  on  knowledge  of  what 
is  "against  the  law."  Probably  the  best 
way  of  spreading  this  information  is  the 
New  York  plan  of  sending  out  a  few  police 
officers  to  do  a  little  teaching  once  in  a 
while. 


182 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


WHAT  BOYS  AND  GIRLS  READ 

Waterbury   Republican 

The  superintendent  of  schools  in  Decatur, 
111.,  gives  surprising  testimony  as  to  the 
reading  habits  of  high-school  boys  and  girls. 
His  report  deals  with  800  students.  The 
chief  point  of  interest  is  likely  to  be  found 
not  so  much  in  what  they  read  as  in  what 
they  don't  read. 

One-fourth  of  these  supposedly  wideawake 
and  intellectually  curious  young  persons 
confess  that  they  never  read  the  newspapers 
— and  this  at  a  time  when  the  papers  are 
filled  with  world-events  as  important  as  any 
narrated  in  their  textbooks.  Half  of  them 
read  no  books  except  those  their  teachers 
require  them  to  read  in  connection  with 
their  school  studies.  Among  those  who  do 
read  books  of  their  own  volition,  there  is  a 
distinct  lack  of  interest  in  authors  who  are 
universally  regarded  as  landmarks  of  lit- 
erature. Only  one  out  of  these  800  students 
reads  Shakspere  from  choice.  Only  one  reads 
Tennyson.  Only  two  read  Hawthorne.  Only 
two  read  Scott.  Only  four  read  Dickens. 
Only  two  read  Cooper  and  two  Hugo.  Only 
one  reads  Barrie  and  one  Kipling.  Not  one 
reads  George  Eliot  or  Stevenson. 

This  is  really  an  amazing  revelation  of 
the  indifference  of  the  present  generation  to 
good  literature.  Can  it  be  that  those  Deca- 
tur boys  and  girls  are  really  representative 
of  the  high-school  youth  of  the  country  ?  If 
so,  the  next  generation  seems  destined  to 
read  little,  and  that  mostly  trash.  For  if 
children  don't  develop  a  taste  for  good  read- 
ing in  the  high-school,  will  they  ever  de- 
velop it? 

HOUSES,  NEW  STYLE 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

The  type  of  expanded  apartments  de- 
scribed in  the  current  news  is  a  natural  de- 
velopment. When  New  Yorkers  began  to 
step  on  each  other's  toes  the  apartment  was 
invented  to  economize  room.  The  new  form, 
however,  proved  to  have  positive  attractions. 
It  centralized  heating  and  other  necessary 
service. 

The  shortage  of  servants  has  made  cen- 
tralization of  service  increasingly  desirable. 
Such  dwellers  in  separate  houses  as  are  not 
forced  to  consider  economy  in  cost  have  be- 
gun to  look  longingly  to  the  comfort  and 
freedom  from  detail  of  management  that 
are  characteristic  of  the  apartment.  Cre- 
ators of  the  latest  thing  in  living  quarters 
declare  that  tenants  will  be  relieved  of  "all 
the  annoyances  of  home  administration." 

On  the  other  hand  there  will  be  plenty  of 
room.  The  apartments  will  simply  be 
houses  within  houses.    It  sounds  luxurious. 


We  only  hope  that  the  people  whose  lives 
are  so  completely  relieved  of  friction  will 
find  some  happy  outlet  for  the  energy  thus 
saved.  A  big  house  with  nothing  to  do  in 
it  appears  to  call  for  a  search  after  other 
interests. 

A  MYSTERY  OF  THE  SEA 

Detroit  Free   Press 

The  Navy  Department  has  given  up  as 
lost  the  big  collier  Cyclops,  which  left  Bar- 
bados on  March  4,  1918,  with  293  persons 
on  board,  and  has  not  been  heard  of  since. 
There  is  nothing  to  tell  whether  she  foun- 
dered in  a  storm,  ran  on  rocks  or  was  sunk 
by  an  enemy.  None  of  her  boats  or  any 
part  of  her  woodwork  that  could  be  identi- 
fied has  been  picked  up,  not  even  a  bottle 
containing  a  message.  AH  that  we  know  is 
that  the  vessel  has  been  missing  for  two 
years  and  is  undoubtedly  lost. 

Such  mysteries  were  fairly  frequent  in 
the  days  of  the  wooden  sailing  vessels,  but 
even  steamships  of  steel  construction  have 
at  times  completely  vanished  between  port 
and  port.  A  noted  instance  was  the  loss  of 
the  Naronic,  which  left  the  United  States  om 
a  trip  to  England  and  was  never  heard  of 
again.  A  lifeboat,  much  battered  and  bear- 
ing some  letters  that  seemed  to  identify  her 
as  one  of  the  Naronic's  lifeboats,  was  re- 
ported by  a  passing  vessel,  but  the  boat 
might  have  easily  been  washed  overboard 
before  the  ship  met  with  disaster,  as  there 
was  no  evidence  that  it  was  occupied  when 
it  dropped  into  the  water. 

The  Cyclops  furnishes  a  mystery  even 
more  profound.  Not  only  was  she  in  much 
frequented  waters  and  almost  in  sight  of 
land  when  lost,  but  she  carried  a  wireless 
installation.  Had  she  been  torpedoed  by  a 
U-boat  she  could  surely  have  had  time 
enough  to  call  for  help  before  going  to  the 
bottom.  The  Germans  declared  that  none 
of  their  submarines  even  saw  the  Cyclops. 
The  boat  was  reported  to  be  staunchly  built 
and  able  to  live  through  a  much  worse 
storm  than  any  she  could  have  met  with 
after  leaving  port. 

What  became  of  the  craft  will  probably 
never  be  known. 

THE  MORALE  OF  THE  HARVEST  ARMY 

Boston  Globe 
Civic  and  church  organizations  through- 
out the  Middle  West  are  this  year  planning 
to  be  mothers  and  fathers  to  the  soldiers  of 
the  harvest  army.  These  organizations 
promise  that  now  the  harvest  field  laborer 
will  not  only  be  the  highest  paid,  but  also 
well  fed  and  housed.  Community  centers 
with  entertainments  are  part  of  the  pro- 
gram. 


EDITORIALS  EMPLOYING  A  PEG 


183 


The  problem  of  harvest  help  in  the  Mis- 
S  sissippi   Valley   has   always   been   vital   to 
i  millions  of  people,  and  this  year  it  is  par- 
»  ticularly  acute.    Each  year  in  early  Summer 
a  roving  band,  gathered  from  the  river  cities 
and  towns  and  the  Great  Lakes,  assembles 
on  a  line  in  Oklahoma  in  all  sorts  of  con- 
veyances and  works  north  with  the  ripen- 
ing crops. 

Wages  have  always  been  very  high,  be- 
cause this  item  was  unimportant  to  the 
farmer  who  needed  the  men  for  a  few  days 
only.  But  accommodations  have  been  no- 
toriously wretched,  the  men  sleeping  often- 
times in  the  open,  without  any  facilities, 
and  usually  the  prey  of  thugs. 

Men  who  have  been  through  the  harvest 
season  know  too  well  the  picture,  especially 
the  scourge  of  "burning  out,"  or  severe  sun- 
stroke. 

Unlivable  working  conditions — not  poor 
wages — made  the  harvesters  a  fertile  field 
for  radical  agitators. 

In  fixing  conditions  on  morale,  the  farmers 
have  at  last  tackled  the  problem  of  making 
the  vast  horde  of  rovers  a  contented  army. 
Never  was  there  greater  need  for  it  than 
now,  when  food  shortage  can  only  be  set 
right  by  a  good  harvest. 

OPERA  IN  LATIN  AMERICA 

New  York  Globe 

Some  twenty-one  years  ago,  as  the  eulo- 
gists of  Leonard  Wood  like  to  remind  us, 
Cuba  was  a  place  of  Stygian  darkness 
wherein  the  slaves  of  Spain  clanked  their 
fetters,  and  Havana,  reeking  with  pesti- 
lence, made  mariners  hold  their  noses  as 
they  passed  by  ten  miles  offshore.  There 
have  been  changes.  The  admired  and  ad- 
mirable Enrico,  with  others  of  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  Company,  is  about  to  make  a 
professional  visit  to  Havana,  where  his  pure 
tones,  listened  to  by  an  audience  which  has 
been  happy  to  pay  as  much  as  $35  a  seat, 
will  command  $10,000  a  night.  It  is  pos- 
sible, according  to  the  announcement  of 
Adolfo  Bracale,  impresario  of  the  National 
theatre  in  Havana,  that  the  tour  will  be 
continued  at  the  same  rate  to  Peru,  Porto 
Rico  and  Venezuela,  in  which  case  Signor 
Caruso  will  earn  $300,000  in  thirty  nights 
of  singing.  This  is  not  what  he  might  have 
made  on  the  stock  exchange  had  he  been 
differently,  but  equally  gifted,  but  is 
enough;  it  will  serve. 

Tenors  at  $10,000  a  night  demand  audi- 
ences ready  to  pay  as  much  as  the  Havana 
audience  will  pay,  which  is  six  times  as 
much  as  any  New  York  audience  has  yet 
been  willing  to  give  up.  And  audiences 
willing  to  pay  $35  a  seat  imply  a  concen- 
tration of  wealth  which  fairly  outshines  our 


own,  and  a  culture  that  may  not  be  as  deep 
as  our  own,  but  is  at  least  as  expensive. 
The  upper  layers  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and 
Latin  America  may  flourish  on  a  basis  of 
semi-slave  labor,  but  there  they  are,  silk 
hats,  canes,  limousines,  chauffeurs,  butlers, 
and  all.  And  in  the  appreciation  of  opera 
given  by  star  casts  Buenos  Ayres  at  least 
outshines  us.  These  are  facts  well  enough 
known,  but  not  fully  realized.  No  doubt 
most  Americans  yet  think  almost  everything 
south  of  Key  West  a  jungle. 

STANDARD  TIME  ON  THE  SEA 

Providence  Journal 

By  an  order  of  the  Navy  Department  the 
fleet  will  hereafter  keep  standard  time,  in- 
stead of  the  time  made  daily  by  the  noon 
observation  of  the  navigating  officers.  Thus 
the  convenient  system  introduced  by  Amer- 
ican railroads  thirty-seven  years  ago,  and 
now  in  use  in  nearly  all  countries,  will  be 
literally  in  world-round  operation.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  British,  French  and  Italian 
navies  have  adopted  it,  and  very  likely  the 
merchant  marine  will  gradually  follow  suit. 

According  to  the  internationally  accepted 
arrangement,  sea  and  land  are  marked  off 
in  zones  at  intervals  of  fifteen  degrees  of 
longitude — equivalent  to  one  hour  of  time — 
beginning  at  the  Greenwich  Observatory; 
and  within  each  zone  the  clocks  keep  the 
same  time,  differing  by  exactly  one  hour 
from  that  in  the  adjoining  zones.  But  this 
simple  standardization  has,  until  recently, 
been  applied  only  on  land.  There  is  no 
apparent  reason  why  it  should  not  be  about 
as  useful  on  the  sea — so  that,  regardless  of 
the  exact  position  a  ship  is  in  from  day  to 
day,  the  clock's  hands  need  be  moved  for- 
ward or  back  only  when  it  finds  it  ihas 
passed  out  of  one  of  the  time  zones  and  is 
in  another. 

In  crossing  the  Atlantic,  for  example,  a 
slow-moving  ship,  setting  its  clocks  every 
day  after  the  observation  of  the  sun  at  the 
meridian,  changes  them  many  times  by  frac- 
tions of  an  hour.  Using  standard  time  only 
four  changes  would  be  necessary,  each  of 
an  exact  hour. 

CAMPING  OUT  IN  BRITAIN 

Christian  Science  Monitor 
Two  circumstances,  not,  at  first  sight,  in 
any  way  connected,  are  tending  to  afford  a 
great  popularity  to  camping  out  as  an  ex- 
pedient for  the  holiday  maker  in  Great  Brit- 
ain. These  two  circumstances  are  the  hous- 
ing shortage  and  the  enormous  increase  in 
the  available  supply  of  motor  cars.  During 
a  great  part  of  the  war  the  motor  car,  as  a 
pleasure  vehicle,  was  practically  extinct  in 
Britain.    As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  embargo 


184 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


was  raised  and  the  manufacture  of  motor 
cars,  in  any  quantities,  became  once  again 
possible,  the  country  found  itself  called 
upon  to  readopt  this  great  world  develop- 
ment in  transport  at  a  point  some  three  or 
four  years  ahead  of  its  last  previous  expe- 
rience. All  the  possibilities  and  inventions 
of  those  three  or  four  years  were  suddenly 
tumbled  out  onto  the  public  market,  with 
the  result  that,  this  year,  there  appears  to 
be  small  likelihood  of  there  being  house 
and  hotel  accommodation  sufficient  in  rural 
England  to  meet  the  demands  of  those  who 
decide  to  take  a  motor  holiday. 

The  inevitable  solution,  however,  has  al- 
ready been  found  in  the  motor  caravan. 
Light,  inexpensive,  easily  put  together  and 
taken  apart,  supplied  with  every  kind  of 
comfort  and  convenience,  from  a  coal  fire  to 
a  glazed  window,  the  very  latest  thing  in  the 
way  of  caravans  can  be  attached  to  any 
motor  car,  and  towed  with  the  greatest  ease, 
even  with  the  aid  only  of  a  low-powered 
machine.  Then  the  Camping  Club  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  has  a  list,  which  it  sup- 
plies to  members,  of  some  500  official  sites 
where  a  fixed  charge  is  made.  Or  the  holi- 
day maker,  be  he  a  member  or  not,  may 
take  his  own  way  and  choose  his  own  site, 
following  the  open  road  wherever  and  when- 
ever fancy  leads  him. 

"After  meeting  the  initial  expense  of  the 
caravan  and  the  tents,"  declares  a  recent  ac- 
count of  the  matter,  "holidays  could  be 
enjoyed  amidst  the  choicest  scenery  at  the 
expense  of  petrol  and  car  depreciation 
only."    The  prospect  is  certainly  attractive. 

MISTAKEN  WISEACRES 

The  £tude 
When  Verdi  went  to  the  Milan  Conserva- 
tory it  is  reported  that  Basily,  the  prin- 
cipal, after  a  thorough  examination,  de- 
cided that  the  boy  had  not  the  requisite 
talent,  and  accordingly  rejected  the  greatest 
Italian  master  since  Palestrina.  Indeed,  it 
often  seems  to  be  the  weakness  of  highly 
schooled  conservative  academicians  to  be 
stone  blind  to  real  talent.  There  are  in- 
numerable instances  in  musical  history  of 
teachers  rejecting  or  discouraging  young 
men  and  women  who  have  afterward  be- 
come far  more  celebrated  than  the  teachers 
who  turned  them  down.  Garcia  at  first 
turned  aside  Jenny  Lind,  and  the  following 
incident  from  Mr.  David  Bispham's  highly 
interesting  book,  A  Quaker  Singer's  Recollec- 
tions, indicates  how  the  able  and  experienced 
Sir  George  Henschel  might  have  robbed 
America  of  her  greatest  baritone  if  Mr. 
Bispham's  ambition  had  not  been  uncon- 
querable. Henschel  was  then  conducting  the 
Boston  Symphony  orchestra.     Mr.  Bispham 


says :  "After  full  inquiry  into  my  experience 
and  capabilities  he  told  me,  to  my  keen  dis- 
appointment, that  he  thought  them  inade- 
quate as  a  basis  for  professional  work,  for 
what  I  had  done  had  been  done  entirely  as 
an  amateur  and  without  serious  study.  I 
was  listening  to  an  accomplished  pianist, 
composer,  conductor  and  singer.  I  could  not 
play  the  piano.  I  had  never  conducted.  I 
could  not  compose,  but  I  thought  I  could 
sing.  Henschel,  however,  told  me  that 
though  I  had  a  good  natural  voice,  my  in- 
ability to  play  the  piano  made  it  fairly 
impossible  for  me  to  learn  even  a  little  of 
the  music  I  must  know  if  I  wished  to  take 
up  a  singer's  career  with  any  reasonable 
hope  of  success.  Disappointed  as  I  was,  I 
nevertheless  determined  from  that  night  to 
be  a  singer." 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  JOHN 

Boston  Transcript 

Work  is  to  be  resumed  upon  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  John  the  Divine  in  New  York.  The 
trustees,  at  a  meeting  held  this  week,  voted 
to  begin  the  erection  of  the  nave  on  the  first 
of  April  next.  This  great  temple  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  will  be  the 
third  largest  cathedral  in  the  world.  Mod- 
em scientific  knowledge  has  enabled  its  de- 
signers to  improve  in  many  respects  ujwn 
the  methods  of  construction  known  to  the 
masters  of  the  past,  while  at  the  same  time 
this  modem  structure  retains  all  the  dis- 
tinctive features  of  cathedral  architecture. 
Barring  some  great  catastrophe,  it  will 
stand  on  the  heights  above  the  Hudson  for 
unnumbered  ages.  In  its  majestic  propor- 
tions it  will  vie  with  the  other  great 
cathedrals  of  the  world. 

The  nave  will  be  200  feet  in  length,  and 
will  rise  to  a  height  of  175  feet.  It  will  be 
built  of  golden  granite,  so-called,  a  stone 
of  light  buff  color  in  keeping  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  stone  used  in  the  com- 
pleted parts  of  the  edifice.  The  cost  is  esti- 
mated at  $4,000,000,  and  $2,000,000  addi- 
tional will  be  raised,  in  accordance  with 
the  policy  of  the  trustees  that  each  addi- 
tion to  the  structure  shall  be  accompanied 
by  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  endow- 
ment. It  is  thought  that  the  work  will 
progress  at  a  rate  which  will  call  for  the 
expenditure  of  about  $500,000  annually. 

Many  good  people,  harassed  and  per- 
plexed by  the  plight  of  a  war-ravaged  world, 
will  find  comfort  in  the  decision  to  resume 
work  on  the  cathedral.  The  slowly  rising 
structure  will  serve  to  recall  to  their  minds 
the  eternal  verities  which  are  not  affected 
by  passing  strife  and  turmoil.  Lincoln  in- 
sisted, during  the  dark  days  of  the  Civil 


EDITORIALS  EMPLOYING  A  PEG 


185 


War,  that  work  on  the  Capitol  should  con- 
tinue in  order  that  it  might  constitute  a 
proclamation  that  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington would  endure.  The  continuance  of 
work  on  the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the 
Divine  during  the  years  when  the  world  is 
being  remade,  after  the  destruction  wrought 
by  the  greatest  of  wars,  will  serve  to  remind 
those  who  follow  its  progress  that  the  les- 
sons taught  by  Christianity,  although  they 
may  have  seemed  to  be  forgotten,  are  still 
cherished  in  the  heart  and  mind  of  human- 
ity, and  point  to  a  world  made  better  and 
a  strengthened  hope  for  the  future. 

MOBY   DICK 

New  York  Sun 

A  good  many  persons  will  incline  to  be- 
lieve that  the  attacks  on  bathers  which  have 
furnished  such  dreadful  reading  lately  were 
the  work  of  one  or  two  sharks,  and  if  the 
readers  are  of  the  older  generation  their 
minds  will  instinctively  revert  to  a  story  of 
Herman  Melville's  which  appeared  just 
sixty-five  years  ago. 

"Moby  Dick,  or  the  White  Whale,"  was 
the  tale  of  a  sea  monster  whose  ferocity 
filled  the  souls  of  seamen  with  awe  and 
terror.  The  formidable  thing  about  this 
great  cetacean  was  the  cruel  intelligence  he 
displayed.  He  had  a  peculiar  snow-white 
wrinkled  forehead  and  a  high  pyramidal 
white  hump.  The  rest  of  his  body  was  so 
streaked  and  spotted  and  marbled  with  the 
same  shrouded  hue  that,  in  the  end,  he  had 
gained  his  distinctive  appellation  of  the 
White  Whale;  a  name,  indeed,  literally  jus- 
tified by  his  vivid  aspect  when  seen  gliding 
at  high  noon  through  a  dark  blue  sea,  leav- 
ing a  milky-way  wake  of  creamy  foam,  all 
spangled  with  golden  gleamings. 

It  was  not  so  much  his  size,  his  ghastly 
color,  nor  his  deformed  lower  jaw  that  in- 
spired fear,  says  Melville,  "as  that  unex- 
ampled, intelligent  malignity  which,  accord- 
ing to  specific  accounts,  he  had  over  and  over 
again  evinced  in  his  assaults."  The  chron- 
icler adds: 

"More  than  all,  his  treacherous  retreats 
struck  more  of  dismay  than  perhaps  aught 
else.  For,  when  swimming  before  his 
exulting  pursuers,  with  every  apparent 
symptom  of  alarm,  he  had  several  times 
been  known  to  turn  suddenly,  and,  bearing 
down  upon  them,  either  stave  their  boats  to 
splinters  or  drive  them  back  in  consterna- 
tion to  their  ship.  His  three  boats  stove 
around  him,  and  oars  and  men  both  whirl- 
ing in  the  eddies,  one  captain,  seizing  the 
line  knife  from  his  broken  prow,  had  dashed 
at  the  whale,  as  an  Arkansas  duellist  at  his 
foe,  blindly  seeking  with  a  six-inch  blade  to 
reach  the  fathom  deep  life  of  the  whale. 


That  captain  was  Ahab.  And  then  it  was 
that,  suddenly  sweeping  his  sickle-shaped 
lower  jaw  beneath  him,  Moby  Dick  had 
reaped  away  Ahab's  leg,  as  a  mower  a 
blade  of  grass  in  the  field." 

Melville's  discursive  narrative,  in  134 
chapters  (some  only  a  page  or  so  long),  tells 
of  Captain  Ahab's  monomaniac  pursuit  of 
Moby  Dick.  This  tragic  chase  aroused  the 
superstitious  horror  of  the  crew,  who  saw 
something  impious  in  the  captain's  madness 
for  revenge.  For  the  precise  and  vivid  ac- 
count of  whaler's  work  Melville  was  in- 
debted to  his  own  experience.  At  twenty- 
two  he  rounded  Cape  Horn  on  a  whaler  and 
was  so  hardly  used  that  he  and  a  com- 
panion escaped  to  one  of  the  Marquesas 
Islands,  where,  as  a  captive  of  warlike 
natives,  Melville  got  the  material  for  his 
romantic  novel,  "Typee."  The  tale  of  the 
White  Whale  was  his  last  romance  to  con- 
tain enduring  qualities;  the  waters  of  tran- 
scendentalism closed  over  Melville's  head 
and  some  of  his  later  books  are  well-nigh 
unfathomable. 

HOMESICK  IN  HEAVEN 

New  York  Times 

Sorrow  in  Petrograd,  and  one  poor  heart 
breaking.  Miss  Emma  Goldman  is  weary  of 
her  own,  her  native  land.  Exported,  at  con- 
siderable expense,  from  an  ungrateful  coun- 
try quite  unworthy  of  her;  brought  back 
into  the  genial  bosom  of  Bolshevism,  the 
friend  of  humanity  is  unhappy.  Six  weeks 
she  has  been  in  the  home  of  the  exploited 
proletariat;  six  weeks  she  has  been  exiwsed 
to  the  free  and  joyous  movement  of  tri- 
umphant applied  Marxism;  and  the  salt 
tears  are  tender  in  her  eyes.  "It  is  rotten," 
says  the  broken-hearted  one;  "it's  so  rotten 
I  am  sick  of  it." 

Our  lost  angel  of  universal  happiness  has 
seen  in  its  own  home  and  capital  the  triumph 
of  the  beloved  idea  of  her  soul.  She  says, 
very  frankly,  that  socialism  in  Russia  "has 
taken  away  even  the  little  freedom  the  man 
has  under  individual  capitalism  and  has 
made  him  entirely  subject  to  the  whims  of 
a  bureaucracy  which  excuses  its  tyranny  on 
the  ground  it  is  all  done  for  the  welfare  of 
the  workers."  Unhappiness  and  disillusion; 
the  long  dream  of  this  gracious  friend  of 
humanity  broken  and  destroyed. 

Still,  parting  is  such  sweet  sorrow.  In- 
deed, one  begins  to  hope  that  the  troubles 
of  the  Soviet  are  not  as  great  as  they  are 
represented  to  be.  If  they  have  made  the 
country  unpleasant  to  Miss  Goldman,  they 
have  reconciled  Americans  just  the  least  bit 
to  that  unpleasantness.  Evidently  she 
yearns  to  come  back.  No  possible  relations 
of  trade  and  commerce  and  friendliness  with 


186 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


future  Russian  Governments  could  induce 
Americans  to  consent  to  the  re-exportation 
or  re-immigration  of  Miss  Goldman.  Of  her, 
at  least,  the  country  has  been  rid;  and  it 
does  add  a  bitter  vividness  to  our  conception 
of  the  horrors  of  the  dictated  proletariat  to 
think  that  even  she  finds  them  intolerable. 
INDIANS  AND  THE  HALL  OF  FAME 
Boston  Transcript 

A  reflective  New  York  contemporary  dis- 
cusses the  interesting  question  whether  the 
name  of  an  American  Indian  should  not  be 
inscribed  on  the  panels  of  the  Hall  of  Fame. 
It  makes  no  nomination,  however,  content- 
ing itself  with  the  general  statement  that  in 
view  of  the  Indian's  original  ownership  of 
the  land,  he  is  entitled  to  a  representative 
position  in  the  national  Valhalla.  It  is  im- 
possible to  quarrel  with  this  position,  and  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  name  several  In- 
dians who  have  possessed  the  qualities  of 
true  greatness.  The  fact  that  most  of  these 
Indians  were  at  one  time  or  another  the 
enemies  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  English  Colonies  should  not  mil- 
itate against  the  presence  of  the  name  of 
one  or  more  of  them  in  the  Hall  of  Fame. 

We  might  begin  with  Massasoit,  who, 
three  hundred  years  ago,  welcomed  the  Pil- 
grims to  these  shores.  He  was  a  kindly 
and  noble  ruler,  who  believed  that  his  people 
had  been  chastened  to  their  death  by  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  seems  to  have  had  a 
prophetic  view  that  the  whites  would  dem- 
onstrate their  fitness  to  possess  the  land. 
He  might  well  be  enshrined  as  a  prophet,  or 
in  memory  of  his  position  at  the  very 
threshold  of  our  history.  His  son,  Meta- 
comet,  whom  the  whites  called  King  Philip, 
was  undoubtedly  a  great  man.  In  his  inter- 
course with  the  white  colonists,  as  well  as 
in  his  organization  of  the  Indian  resistance 
to  them,  he  showed  the  highest  qualities  of 
brain  and  of  spirit.  Red  Jacket,  a  Seneca, 
was  an  orator  whose  eloquence  deeply  im- 
pressed his  time.  The  greatest  of  our  In- 
dian figures,  undoubtedly,  was  Tecumtha 
or  Tecumseh,  chief  of  the  Shawnees — a 
brave  and  able  man  of  the  noblest  qualities. 

In  more  recent  times  we  have  had  a  long 
list  of  Indian  chieftains  of  distinction — the 
redoubtable  Cochise,  the  Apache,  who  had, 
by  measurement  and  weight,  a  brain  as  large 
as  Daniel  Webster's;  Geronimo  of  the  same 
heroic  tribe;  Joseph,  the  broad-minded  and 
gentle  chief  of  the  Nez  Perces,  who  per- 
formed one  of  the  most  notable  of  military 
feats  in  his  baffling  retreat  before  General 
Howard;  Red  Cloud  and  Sitting  Bull,  the 
finest  flowers  of  the  greatest  of  Indian 
races,  the  Sioux;  Osceola,  the  Seminole 
half-breed,  who  in  the  Everglades  long  defied 


the  power  of  the  whole  United  States;  and 
others  as  well. 

Of  course  the  essential  difficulty  about  the 
selection  of  an  Indian  name  for  the  Hall  of 
Fame  lies  in  the  fact  that  each  Indian  chief- 
tain, though  possibly  a  great  man,  shone 
only  in  the  records  of  one  tribe  or  one  small 
Indian  nation,  and  did  not  pertain,  as  our 
white  heroes  are  supposed  to  pertain,  to  a 
whole  vast  continental  nation.  But  that  in- 
ferior dignity  was  rather  our  own  fault  than 
theirs.  If  our  fathers,  by  a  generous  in- 
clusion of  the  Indian  natives  in  the  body  of 
their  State,  had  absorbed  or  assimilated 
them,  we  might  ere  this  have  had  an  Indian 
name  which  would  have  assumed  the  emi- 
nence in  our  annals  that  glorifies  the  name 
of  Benito  Juarez  in  Mexico. 

WHAT  ARE  UP-TO-DATE 

"FAMILY  VIRTUES"? 


The   Mayor   of   Providence,   R.   I.,   Has   to 
Decide — Can  You  Help  Him? 

Philadelphia  Public  Ledger 

Candidates  for  the  position  of  mayor  of 
Providence,  R.  I.,  will  please  form  a  line  on 
the  left! 

The  Mayor  of  Providence  has  had  a  per- 
fectly good  new  job  wished  on  him  in  per- 
petuity by  an  entire  stranger  which  may 
tend  to  make  the  office  unpopular.  The 
"dark  stranger"  in  the  case  is — or  rather 
was — Count  Paul  Bajnotti,  of  Turin,  Italy, 
a  millionaire  who  had  the  good  sense  to 
marry  an  American  lady.  This  turned  the 
attention  of  the  Turin  Count  to  America,  a 
far-off  land  which  a  countryman  of  his  dis- 
covered. He  thought  so  well  of  us,  indeed, 
that  he  remembered  us  in  his  will;  and  he 
apparently  based  this  kindly  remembrance 
of  us  on  the  goodly  virtues  of  the  wife  we 
gave  him.  This  is  the  point,  marked  on  the 
diagram  by  an  "X,"  where  the  troubles  of 
the  Mayors  of  Providence  begin. 

The  will  bequeaths  to  the  city  of  Provi- 
dence the  sum  of  $10,000,  "the  interest  of 
which  shall  annually  be  donated  about  July 
17  to  the  young  lady  in  that  city  who,  being 
twenty  years  old,  marriageable  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  common  people,  will  best  deserve 
it  by  her  conduct  and  family  virtues." 

All  that  is  left  to  do  is  to  pick  the  lady 
with  the  "family  virtues";  and  this  simple, 
easy  and  noncontentious  job  is  laid  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  Mayor.  She  is  to  be  "a 
daughter  of  the  common  people" — ^the  class 
who  have  the  most  votes — and  she  is  to  be 
selected  seriatim  every  year.  This  will  ren- 
der it  unnecessary  in  the  future  for  Provi- 
dence to  have  any  constitutional  provision 
against  a  Mayor  succeeding  himself.     The 


EDITORIALS  EMPLOYING  A  PEG 


187 


"common  people"  whose  daughters  are  not 
chosen  "about  July  17"  will  attend  to  that 
detail. 


It  is  interesting  to  surmise  what  the 
worthy  Mayors  of  Providence  will  decide  to 
be  the  supreme  "family  virtues"  of  today. 
Once  it  would  have  been  easy.  The  "daugh- 
ters of  the  common  people"  had  nothing  but 
"family  virtues";  they  all  got  them  at  the 
same  pure  sources;  and  they  all  practiced 
them  with  the  same  assiduity  on  the  de- 
fenseless male  members  of  their  own  fam- 
ilies until  some  venturous  youth  from  a 
neighboring  household  volunteered  as  "vic- 
tim." 

But  are  there  any  of  these  dear, 
docile,  demure,  unsophisticated,  uncigaretted 
"daughters"  left?  "Daughter"  itself— one 
of  the  most  charming  words  in  the  language 
— is  tending  to  become  obsolete.  It  seems 
in  its  old-fashioned  resonance  to  mark  a 
difference  in  age  and  standing  between  two 
members  of  the  family  on  the  distaff  side 
which  neither  of  them  is  anxious  to  em- 
phasize. The  "daughter"  is  chagrined  to  be 
thought  less  worldly-wise  than  her  mother; 
and  it  is  only  fair  to  add  that  she  seldom  is. 
The  "mother"  on  her  part  is  no  doubt  the 
perfection  which  that  sweet  name  always 
connotes;  but  she  modestly  declines,  as  a 
rule,  to  "dress  the  part,"  and  is  seldom  so 
flattered  as  when  she  is  taken  for  the  elder 
sister  of  her  youngest  "bud."  Mothers  are 
becoming  more  and  more  difficult  to  dis- 
tinguish, and  "grandmothers"  have  entirely 
disappeared. 

So  when  the  plucky  but  puzzled  Mayor  of 
Providence  sets  out  to  find  his  "daughter 
of  the  common  people"  he  is  liable  to  make 
mistakes.  He  will  need  a  sly  glance  at  the 
Family  Bible — if  by  any  chance  such  antique 
denizens  of  the  "parlor  center-table"  still 
exist.  Yet  it  is  possible  that  in  this  new 
day  the  voters'  lists  will  set  him  right. 
"Mother"  is  likely  to  figure  among  the  "free 
and  independent"  politically.  She  is  much 
superior  to  that  domestically. 


But  when  it  comes  to  the  supreme  test  of 
assessing  the  "family  virtues,"  how  is  the 
Mayor  going  to  make  up  his  schedule?  He 
must  have  a  list  of  percentages — so  much 
for  "bread-making,"  so  much  for  "keep- 
ing a  room  tidy,"  so  much  for  untidying  it 
again  with  personally  constructed  "tidies," 
and  so  on.  This  is  really  the  crux  of  the 
situation.  It  will  never  do  for  the  Mayor  to 
set  out  on  his  understudy  of  Paris  without 
a  fixed  and  definite  schedule  of  values  to 
cling  to.  Otherwise  he  is  apt  to  g^t  his 
he^d  turnfed  ^nd  his  ju'di'c'ial  bfukltti*^  fatally 

14 


twisted  by  feminine  attributes  which  may 
enhance  but  are  oftener  regarded  as  ren- 
dering unnecessary  "family  virtues." 

Still  the  difficulty  is  going  to  be  that,  if 
the  Mayor  be  a  man  of  middle  age  who  has 
not  paid  any  particular  attention  to  the 
daughters  of  either  common  or  uncommon 
people — or  the  uncommon  daughters  of  most 
folks  these  days — since  he  was  a  young  man, 
he  may  find  that  his  list  of  these  "virtues," 
prepared  from  memory,  turns  out  to  be 
really  a  list  of  nonexistent  qualities  and 
capacities  that  are  only  memories.  For  in- 
stance, he  naturally  puts  down  "bread- 
making"  as  a  first-class  family  virtue  worth 
10  per  cent.  But  when  he  gets  all  round,  no 
one  has  earned  the  10  per  cent.  They  all 
get  it  from  the  baker. 

Doubtless  he  will  put  down  "pleasing 
social  qualities,"  rated  at  15  per  cent;  and 
then  his  perplexities  will  multiply.  Has  a 
young  lady  "pleasing  social  qualities"  who 
cannot  talk  about  the  books  that  her 
mother  should  never  have  read?  How  does 
she  class  up  when  she  cannot  join  him  in  a 
cigarette  on  the  porch?  What  if  her  danc- 
ing repertoire  does  not  go  much  beyond  the 
waltz  and  its  decorous  sisterhood?  Or  sup- 
pose, on  the  other  hand,  that  all  the  animal 
dances  with  animal  names — or  names  which 
a  "daughter  of  the  people"  twenty  years 
ago  would  have  thought  meant  something 
unmentionable  in  mixed  society — are  fa- 
miliar to  her,  but  that  her  piquant  vocabu- 
lary is  drawn  almost  wholly  from  the 
"slanguage"  lexicon,  how  is  he  to  mark 
her  on  his  schedule?  How  does  gum-chew- 
ing rank?  Is  it  an  accomplishment,  a 
rhythmic  exercise  or  a  wicked  waste  of 
energy  ? 


These  are  all  difficult  problems  for  His 
Honor,  the  Mayor  of  Providence.  He  will 
need  all  the  help  that  Providence  can  give 
him.  And  he  will  not  get  a  cent  for  all  his 
parlous  adventures,  all  the  mighty  risks  he 
will  run,  all  the  undying  enmities  he  will 
create.  Count  Bajnotti  should  have  left  a 
legacy  to  the  Mayor  as  well;  say,  a  retir- 
ing allowance. 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  people  of 
America  who  are  favored  by  this  attention 
from  overseas  should  rally  to  the  help  of 
the  Mayor  and  see  that  he  is  equipped  with 
the  best  afdvice  and  the  latest  technical  in- 
formation on  the  object.  He  should  be  able 
to  deduce  from  a  nation-wide  symposium  of 
expert  opinion  just  what  do  constitute 
"family  virtues"  in  the  American  home  to- 
day. Ha\pe  wfe  th'e  c^t^-fashione^  collection 
with  us  yet?     ffa'vte  wis  eVen  the  old-fash- 


188 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL- WRITING 


ioned  home  ?  Do  we  still  cherish  the  maiden 
who  stood  "with  reluctant  feet  where  the 
brook  and  river  meet";  or  do  we  prefer  her 
whose  feet  are  "reluctant"  only  to  be  still, 
whether  it  be  a  Jazz  band,  a  classic  dance  or 


the  foot-levers   of  a  high-power  motorcar 
that  invite  action? 

We  ought  to  give  the  Mayor  something  to 
go  by.  We  ought  not  to  leave  him  to  face 
so  delicate  and  dangerous  a  problem  alone. 


CHAPTER    III 


EDITORIALS  DEVELOPED  IN  THREE  STAGES 


The  editorials  collected  in  the  next 
following  pages  are  widely  various 
in  other  respects,  but  are  alike  in  the 
fact  that  each  of  them  is  developed 


more  or  less  strictly  in  three  parts, 
representing  the  three-stage  plan 
explained  and  analyzed  in  Part  I, 
Chapter  III. 


THE  OTHER  FELLOW'S  JOB 

Quincy  (Calif.)   Bulletin 

It  was  Josh  Billings  who  said,  "When  a 
man  thinks  his  nabor  is  happier  than  he, 
if  he  would  traid  places  with  him  he'd  want 
to  traid  back  next  day."  Underneath  the 
quaint  spelling  and  humor  of  Josh  there  is 
always  a  deal  of  common  sense.  This  little 
proverb  is  no  exception. 

Generally  it  is  because  we  do  not  know 
the  other  fellow's  job  that  we  envy  him.  We 
see  only  the  easy  side  of  it.  We  do  not 
know  the  work  he  has  to  do,  what  he  has 
to  stand  for  and  what  he  is  expected  to  give 
for  the  salary  he  receives. 

Usually  we  get  about  what  we  give.  If 
we  see  a  man  getting  a  big  salary,  inside 
investigation  will  show  that  he  is  probably 
giving  just  a  little  bit  more  for  the  money 
than  anyone  else  his  employers  know  about 
— else  he  would  not  get  it. 

A  FOOD  ANCHOR  TO  WINDWARD 

New  England   Homestead 

"Buckwheat  is  my  answer  to  the  cold,  late, 
backward  spring,"  said  to  us  one  of  the  best 
farmers  in  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.  He  can- 
not hire  help  for  planting  potatoes,  cabbage 
and  similar  crops,  or  for  a  dairy,  but  points 
out  that  buckwheat  can  be  sown  quite  late, 
will  yield  heavily  on  good  land,  and  in  view 
of  the  prospective  shortage  of  other  grains, 
ought  to  sell  readily  at  good  prices. 

Each  passing  day  emphasizes  the  possi- 
bility of  food-shortage  next  winter.  It 
seems  safe  to  conclude  that  everything  the 
farmer  can  raise  ought  to  command  good 
prices.  The  real  danger  is  that,  in  spite  of 
their  desire  to  do  their  best,  farmers  will 
not  be  able  to  produce  nearly  as  much  as 


the  market  requires.  There  is  no  conspiracy 
among  them  to  reduce  consumption,  but 
farmers  are  this  season  the  victims  as  never 
before  of  inexorable  conditions  wholly  be- 
yond their  control. 

LET  THE  SOUTH  RAISE  SORGHUM 

Memphis  Commercial  Appeal 

We  have  in  our  hands  a  partial  remedy 
for  the  high  price  of  sugar.  An  acre  of 
sorghum  will  furnish  enough  sweetening  for 
any  ordinary  family  with  some  to  spare, 
and  sorghum  can  be  grown  successfully  from 
the  Ohio  River  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

About  now  is  the  time  to  plant  sorghum. 
Every  planter  should  grow  enough  to  guar- 
antee his  tenants  sweetening-matter  at  a 
low  cost  during  the  greater  part  of  the  fall 
and  next  year.  Every  small  farmer  should 
do  the  same. 

As  a  commercial  crop,  sorghum  will  be 
high  this  fall.  If  any  man  grows  a  surplus 
he  can  find  a  ready  sale  for  it.  The  cotton- 
products  people  were  in  the  market  for 
sorghum  two  or  three  years  ago,  but  the 
market  was  not  stabilized  and  their  expe- 
rience was  not  always  happy.  Some  of  the 
surghum-growers  sold  their  product  at  an 
agreed  price  and  then  when  there  was  an 
advance  sold  to  someone  else. 

The  Southern  people  could  make  it  so 
that  the  high  price  of  potatoes  and  the 
high  price  of  sugar,  the  high  price  of  beans 
and  even  com  and  meat,  would  concern 
them  very  little. 

WHERE   GOOD-WILL   GOSPEL    BEGINS 

The    Churchman 

A  crucial  question  in  Christianity  is.  Do 
you  own  your  genius,  your  leadership,  your 


EDITORIALS  DEVELOPED  IN  THREE  STAGES 


189 


skill,  or  are  they  God's,  to  be  used  for  His 
purpose  ? 

We  shall  not  find  the  solution  of  the  in- 
dustrial problem  until  our  industrial  gen- 
iuses take  orders  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
The  Christian  doctrine  of  stewardship  is  not 
concerned,  first  of  all,  with  who  has  prop- 
erty or  how  much  one  has.  The  gospel 
grips  the  problem  farther  down.  It  does 
not  propose  a  programme  for  the  solution 
of  our  industrial  problem;  it  insists  that  a 
programme  shall  be  worked  out  by  men 
who  have  dedicated  their  leadership  to 
Christ.  Has  the  industrial  and  social  prob- 
lem ever  had  from  our  business  geniuses 
this  single-minded  contribution  of  good- 
will? If  our  social  reforms  have  been  so 
often  visionary,  it  is  because  idealists  have 
had  so  little  co-operation  from  industrial 
leaders,  who,  if  they  had  the  good  will, 
might  have  pointed  out  practical  paths  of 
progress. 

It  is  not  the  selfish  use  of  property  which 
has  caused  the  present  social  conflict.  It  is 
the  selfish  use  of  skill,  genius  and  power. 

IDLY  FLAPPING 

Cincinnati  Times-Star 

Is  aviation  to  continue  to  be  the  great 
shame  of  America?  Is  the  heritage  of  the 
Wright  Brothers  to  be  less  appreciated  by 
their  own  countrymen  than  by  the  British, 
the  French,  the  Italians,  the  Germans? 

It  looks  that  way.  The  various  aviation 
services  of  the  United  States  are  approach- 
ing extinction.  Congress  is  permitting 
them  to  die  a  more  or  less  slow  death.  Ap- 
propriations are  withheld  and,  worse  still, 
there  has  been  no  constructive  legislation 
that  would  permit  a  healthy  development 
of  aviation  even  if  the  money  were  forth- 
coming. Meanwhile  Great  Britain  has  es- 
tablished a  Cape  to  Cairo  air  service  in 
Africa.  In  six  months  of  civil  aviation  in 
England,  over  50,000  passengers  were  car- 
ried, with  but  two  fatalities.  The  man 
who  would  fly  between  London  and  Paris 
or  between  Paris  and  Brussels  has  but  to 
buy  his  ticket  and  find  out  when  his  aero- 
plane leaves.  Flocks  of  aeroplanes  pass 
almost  daily  over  the  Alps  from  France 
into  Italy,  or  vice  versa. 

After  expending  a  billion  or  so,  we  never 
really  got  into  the  war,  in  an  aviation 
sense.  With  all  our  money  we  were  unable 
to  compete  with  the  countries  that  had  de- 
veloped the  science  of  flying.  And  we  have 
not  even  learned  the  lesson  that  apprecia- 
tion of  our  ignorance  would  have  taught. 
Other  countries  are  going  ahead,  while  we 
mark  time.  About  all  that  can  be  said  of 
aviation  in  the  United  States  is  that  it  is 
"up  in  the  air"  metaphorically,  not  literally. 


DO  YOU  STUDY  ANY  MORE? 

The  Three  Partners 

With  many  the  idea  is  common  that  the 
study  period  of  life  ends  when  college  or 
school  days  end;  that  one  studies  to  pre- 
pare for  work  and  when  work  begins  study 
ends;  that  when  one  gets  a  job  or  a  position 
study  days  are  over. 

In  youth  one  studies  both  to  acquire 
knowledge  and  to  learn  how  to  think,  how 
to  digest  information.  The  act  of  studying 
may  be  defined  as  the  intensive  application 
of  a  mind  to  a  given  subject.  Studying  is 
both  a  beneficial  mental  exercise  and  a 
means  of  acquiring  more  knowledge.  It 
most  certainly  should  not  be  abandoned 
when  one  becomes  grown  up  and  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  job. 

There  is  a  saying,  "As  a  man  readeth,  so 
he  thinketh;  as  a  man  think eth,  so  he  is." 

A  certain  amount  of  intensive  reading 
and  studying — the  good  old-fashioned  kind 
that  is  near  to  drudgery,  that  often  hurts — 
should  be  done  each  day,  whatever  one's 
age,  in  order  to  keep  the  mind  at  its  active 
best,  to  increase  efficiency,  to  keep  up  with 
one's  daily  work,  to  fit  one  for  better  things 
to  come. 

No,  hours  of  systematic  study  should 
never  cease  if  one  is  to  progress  from  year 
to  year. 

SOMETHING  BIGGER  THAN  PARTY 

New    York    Evening    Post 

The  splendid  outcome  in  Massachusetts  is 
only  what  would  be  seen  in  any  part  of  this 
country  where  the  same  test  were  made. 

Uneasy  and  glib  gentlemen  who  know 
their  fellow-countrymen  only  as  they  see 
them  in  the  distorted  mirror  of  their  own 
emotions,  have  had  much  to  say  about  vast 
impending  changes  in  the  United  States. 
The  past  was  to  be  sponged  clean.  Old  po- 
litical methods  were  to  expire  in  contempt. 
There  was  to  be  "direct  action,"  control  of 
everything  by  a  group  that  knew  exactly 
what  it  wanted  and  was  to  brush  aside  all 
obstacles  to  obtaining  it  instanter.  Now, 
the  great  majority  of  the  people  have  been 
listening  to  this  sort  of  talk,  first  with 
amusement,  then  with  irritation,  and  finally 
with  impatience  to  "get  at"  that  kind  of 
nonsense. 

They  had  their  first  chance  in  Massachu- 
setts. And  the  whole  nation  rejoices  at  the 
emphatic  demonstration  of  what  America 
stands  for  unflinchingly.  It  has  led  to  the 
unprecedented  action  of  a  Democratic  Pres- 
ident congratulating  a  Republican  governor 
on  his  triumphant  re-election.  The  thing  is 
bigger  than  party.  It  is  plain  that  thou- 
sands of  Massachusetts  Democrats  voted  for 
Coolidge.      So     would    partisan    lines     be 


190 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


broken  everywhere,  if  the  simple  issue  were 
squarely  laid  before  the  people.  And  on 
account  of  what  Massachusetts  has  done, 
Americans  of  all  parties  or  of  none  have 
reason  to  thank  God  and  take  courage. 

SWITZERLAND'S  MOTORLESS  SUNDAY 

Springfield   Republican 

In  forbidding  the  use  of  motor  cars  on 
Sunday  the  Swiss  Government  acts  pri- 
marily in  the  interest  of  its  own  people, 
who  want  one  day  in  the  week  to  use  their 
roads  without  annoyance  or  the  constant 
fear  of  being  run  down.  Yet  it  is  possible 
that  tourists,  also,  if  worthy  of  a  sojourn 
among  the  Alps,  may  come  to  appreciate 
the  charm  of  a  motorics s  day. 

That  there  is  a  great  charm  in  gliding 
swiftly  and  easily  along  the  smooth  high- 
ways which  have  made  the  beauties  of 
Switzerland  so  accessible  is  recognized  by 
everybody,  but  the  mountains  deserve,  too, 
a  more  deliberate  and  meditative  apprecia- 
tion than  the  motorist  is  likely  to  give.  If 
Byron,  Wordsworth,  Coleridge  and  the  other 
poets  who  have  recorded  their  impressions 
had  merely  seen  the  Alps  from  a  motor  car 
little  in  the  way  of  poetic  inspiration  would 
have  resulted. 

There  is  little  danger  that  in  our  day  the 
kinetic  sense  will  be  neglected;  it  is  stim- 
ulated to  the  utmost  by  airplane,  automobile 
and  motion  picture.  All  these  quicken  the 
imagination,  it  is  true,  but  they  do  not  go 
deep,  and  one  image  is  effaced  by  the  next 
in  the  endless  phantasmagoria  of  modern 
life.  It  is  not  difficult  to  comprehend  why 
Switzerland  should  want  in  its  week  one  day 
of  quiet,  sober  comfort. 

A  PRIEST  PROPERLY  SPANKED 

Hartford    Courant 

Rev.  Dr.  Percy  Stickney  Grant,  rector  of 
the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  New  York, 
who  was  very  properly  spanked  by  his  cler- 
ical and  lay  brethren  last  week,  showed  his 
ill  temper  on  Sunday  when  he  indicated  to 
his  congregation  that  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  this  country  is  not  directed 
to  his  liking. 

He  said  that  the  bishops  are  reaching  out 
after  authority  which  narrows  and  hampers 
the  growth  of  the  church  and  that  the  more 
vigorous  of  its  ciergy  will  organize  their 
parishes  into  community  churches  or  else 
will  leave  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
altogether.  He  told  them,  if  he  was  cor- 
rectly quoted,  that  confirmation  is  an  out- 
worn custom  and  that  few  thinking  adults 
join  the  church  today  upon  any  intellectual 
persuasion. 

Something  serious,  we  infer,  is  about  to 
happen;    either  the   church  will   disappear 


and  leave  Rev.  Dr.  Grant  in  possession  o: 
a  community  church  or  else  Dr.  Grant  wil 
leave  the  denomination,  as  did  Rev.  Di 
Richmond.  There  is  no  occasion  for  th( 
world  to  worry  at  least  as  far  as  Rev.  Dr 
Grant's  remarks  are  concerned,  inasmuch  ai 
a  higher  power  than  he  or  his  bishop  maj 
be  assumed  to  have  in  charge  the  future  o: 
the  church.  What  Dr.  Grant  has  said  goei 
far  to  establish  the  wisdom  of  the  conven 
tion  which  rebuked  his  actions. 

TWO  YEARS  OF  BOLSHEVISM 

New    York    Evening    Sun 

Two  years  ago  today  the  Bolsheviki  over 
threw  Premier  Kerensky  and  took  posses 
sion  of  the  Russian  Government.  The] 
came  proclaiming  a  new  era  of  freedom  aaic 
prosperity,  a  Utopia,  in  which  the  poor  mai 
was  to  have  bigger  opportunity  than  the 
rich,  a  regime  in  which  the  theories  oJ 
Karl  Marx  should  be  put  into  actual  opera- 
tion, and  the  old  unequal  fabric  of  societj 
swept  away  forever. 

Today  the  Bolsheviki  stand  discredited 
hated  and  feared  in  Russia,  outlawed  by  the 
rest  of  the  world.  In  their  two  years  oJ 
power  they  have  brought  to  the  ancieoit  em- 
pire of  the  Czars  suffering  and  desolatior 
unprecedented  in  modem  times.  With  its 
industrial  system  ruined,  with  the  best  ele- 
ments of  its  population  exiled  or  held  ir 
abject  subjection,  with  its  people  cold  and 
hungry,  shuddering  in  terror  at  the  pitiless 
despotism  which  grips  them,  unhappy  Russia 
has  cause  to  rue  that  day  two  years  age 
when  Lenine  and  Trotzky  established 
themselves  as  its  masters. 

The  radicals  of  the  world  may  celebrate 
November  8  if  they  choose,  but  for  Russia 
the  day  will  be  forever  associated  with  suf- 
fering and  unspeakable  disaster. 

JAIL  FOR  HAZING 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

A  crime  by  any  other  name  is  no  lesa 
criminal.  Now  that  the  courts  are  begin- 
ning to  impose  actual  sentences  upon  stu- 
dents who  injure  their  fellows  under  cover 
of  an  evil  tradition,  there  is  hope  that  the 
practice  of  hazing  may  finally  be  stamped 
out. 

A  Montgomery  county  jury  has  sent  one 
student  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute 
to  the  penitentiary  for  a  year,  three  others 
getting  six  months  each  in  jail.  This  ought 
to  take  some  of  the  false  charm  out  of  the 
custom.  It  is  to  be  hopted  that  all  boys 
with  inclinations  toward  that  type  of  sav- 
agery will  take  notice,  and  that  other  courts 
will  take  courage  to  do  their  ful^  duty. 

There  is  no,  desije  to  be  vindictive  toward 
these  misguided  boys.    Some  kind  of  bitter 


EDITORIALS  DEVELOPED  IN  THREE  STAGES 


191 


medicine  appears  to  be  needed  to  cure  the 
disease  and  save  those  that  are  to  come.  In 
the  case  referred  to  the  victim  of  the  hazers 
suffered  paralysis  of  the  spine  as  a  result 
of  the  blows  inflicted  "in  fun,"  with  "no 
idea  of  serious  injury." 

The  chief  end  of  school  is  preparation  for 
life.  Consideration  for  the  rig'hts  of  others 
is  one  of  the  first  lessons  in  good  citizen- 
ship. If  school  traditions  teach  the  oppo- 
site, they  must  be  exploded.  Jail  sentences 
may  help  to  blast  them  out,  like  an  old 
stump,  by  the  roots.  But  the  process 
shouldn't  stop  there.  It  is  too  external. 
College  boys  themselves  must  develop  a 
better  ideal  of  manliness.  And  when  col- 
lege sentiment  turns  against  hazing,  high 
schools  and  other  institutions  will  take  the 
hint. 

A  TIP  FOR  MOTHERS 

Columbus  Citizen 

A  woman  on  the  North  Side  has  solved  the 
hot  weather  problem  for  her  children,  aged 
six  and  four. 

Each  afternoon  she  fills  a  large  washtub 
with  water  and  places  it  in  the  sun  in  the 
backyard. 

An  hour  or  two  later,  the  kiddies,  in  their 
home-made  bathing  togs — ^they're  mighty 
scant,  too— climb  into  the  water  for  their 
romp. 

Such  fun  as  they  have!  In  a  week  they 
have  acquired  a  healthy  coat  of  tan.  They 
kick  and  splash  to  their  heart's  content, 
forgetting  the  heat,  and  giving  tired  mother 
a  chance  to  cool  off  a  bit  out  on  the  front 
porch. 

Our  folks  never  thought  of  this  stunt  for 
us,  but  we  have  a  hunch  that  we  would  have 
enjoyed  a  dip  every  afternoon  in  our  own 
backyard. 

Your  children  probably  would,  too.  Why 
not  give  it  a  trial  ? 

STRICTLY  PRIVATE  STRIKE 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

If  all  the  disputes  between  employer  and 
employee  were  carried  on  with  as  little  pub- 
lic inconvenience  as  the  drug  clerks'  strike, 
there  would  be  little  ground  for  complaint. 
We  remarked  the  other  day  that  crippling 
the  modem  pharmacy  was  not  primarily  a 
chemical  matter.  But  so  far  as  the  medical 
aspect  is  concerned  the  chief  danger  was 
guarded  against  from  the  beginning. 

Arrangements  were  made  before  the  con- 
test began  to  keep  open  at  least  one  pre- 
scription department  in  every  section  of  the 
city,  so  that  necessary  medicine  could  be 
obtained  without  delay.  Such  consideration 
is  in  happy  contrast  with  the  conduct  of 
many  of  these  affairs.     Whatever  be  the 


degree  of  justice  in  the  demands  of  the 
employees,  at  least  public  sympathy  will 
not  be  alienated  because  of  ruthless  dis- 
regard of  life  and  health. 

As  to  the  progress  of  the  strike  itself, 
accounts  differ.  The  union  declares  that 
employers  are  acceding  to  their  demands. 
Certain  proprietors,  however,  insist  that 
they  have  all  the  help  they  need  without 
making  concessions.  It  may  be  that  the 
case  will  settle  itself  in  some  mysterious 
way  by  the  simple  passage  of  time  and  the 
pressure  of  necessity.  The  point  to  be 
noted,  however,  is  the  exceptional  case  of  a 
strike  carried  on  without  infliction  of  hard- 
ship on  the  public.  Employer  and  employee 
are  competent,  under  those  circumstances, 
to  come  to  any  terms  they  can  agree  upon. 

VALUE  OF  THE  SHIN  BONE 

Baltimore  Star 

Recently  we  have  been  informed  that  we 
do  not  need  the  entire  shinbone,  that  lowly 
part  of  the  body  which  helps  to  propel  us 
through  life.  If  a  bone  is  shattered  or  dis- 
eased in  some  other  part  of  the  body  mod- 
em surgery  does  not  hesitate  to  cut  out  a 
piece  from  the  leg  bone,  but  in  such  cases 
you  get  back  what  you  give  up.  Such 
operations  have  not  been  infrequent,  espe- 
cially in  relief  of  the  spinal  column. 

In  the  European  conflict,  however,  the 
shinbone  has  been  found  invaluable  in  giv- 
ing back  to  wounded  soldiers  their  facial 
beauty.  When  the  soldier's  jaw  is  shattered 
and  he  seems  doomed  to  horrible  disfigure- 
ment for  life,  the  surgeon  steps  into  the 
amphitheater  of  his  happy  existence  and  by 
grafting  a  piece  of  his  shinbone  upon  his 
shattered  jaw  makes  him  passably  pretty  by 
leaving  only  an  honorable  scar  instead  of 
a  grotesque  facial  outline.  In  this  work  it 
is  pleasing  to  note  that  American  surgeons 
have  taken  a  most  prominent  part. 

Man  has  not  missed  the  rib,  the  appendix 
or  the  piece  out  of  his  shinbone.  It  might 
be  interesting  to  know  just  how  many  other 
parts  of  the  human  anatomy  could  be  dis- 
pensed with,  in  view  of  the  great  advance 
made  by  modern  surgery. 

FARMERS  SHOULD  TAKE  THE  HOME 
NEWSPAPER 

Spencer    (Wis.)    Record 

The  most  important  paper  for  any  Wis- 
consin farmer  to  take  is  the  paper  edited, 
and  published  for  and  in  his  community.  It 
should  be  the  first  paper  on  his  reading 
table,  says  F.  G.  Swoboda,  county  agent. 

The  publisher  of  the  country  paper  ranks 
in  influence  and  power  to  do  good  with  the 
pastor  or  priest,  the  school  teacher,  the 
county  agent,  and  the  banker.    He  is  the 


192 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


connecting  link  between  the  town  and  coun- 
try folks.  In  his  position  as  purveyor  of 
the  news  of  the  community  he  occupies  a 
strategic  position  where  he  can  do  a  great 
deal  in  breaking  down  prejudice,  discord, 
and  misunderstanding.  A  failure  to  appre- 
ciate the  place  throws  the  whole  community 
into  the  rut. 

By  all  means  the  best  acquaintances  of 
the  publisher  are  the  farmers  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Being  the  most  numerous,  the 
most  important  class  in  the  county,  they 
hold  out  a  field  with  news  of  vital  interest 
to  the  entire  community — urban  as  well  as 
rural. 

Farmers  are  beginning  to  advertise,  for  at 
some  period  of  the  year,  every  farmer  has 
something  to  sell.  Their  products  may  not 
warrant  a  large  display  advertisement  for  a 
classified  or  small  display  may  suffice. 

The  best  place  for  the  farmer  to  advertise 
is  in  the  home  paper.  The  cost  will  be 
smaller  and  the  returns  larger  than  from 
any  other  form  of  advertising.  Where  there 
is  no  local  market  for  his  stock  or  produce 
then  only  should  the  farmer  need  to  go  out- 
side his  community  to  find  a  profitable  ad- 
vertising medium. 

Farmers  in  many  communities  are  now 
buying  neatly  printed  letterheads  as  well  as 
the  customary  auction  posters  from  the  local 
paper.  Farm  booklets  and  sales  lists,  as 
well  as  other  forms  of  advertising,  grow 
more  common  each  year  as  farmers  learn 
the  value  of  advertising,  the  value  of  the 
home  paper,  and  the  home  print  shop. 

MOVIES  AND  THE  CHURCH 

Indianapolis  Star 

An  investigator — there  are  investigators 
in  these  inquisitive  and  meddlesome  days 
into  all  human  activities — announces,  with 
an  air  of  uncovering  human  iniquity,  that 
more  people  in  Chicago  attend  motion  pic- 
ture shows  than  go  to  church. 

This  is  no  doubt  ti-ue,  but  what  is  anyone 
going  to  do  about  it?  Of  course  a  great 
many  people  who  go  frequently  to  the 
movies  go  also  to  church,  the  line  between 
the  patrons  of  picture-shows  and  churches 
not  being  a  dividing  one  by  any  means.  It 
is  tiTie  that  many  moving  pictures  are  not 
worth  looking  at,  but  on  the  whole  there  is 
nothing  incompatible  between  churchgoing 
and  visiting  the  shows. 

It  is  undoubtedly  a  fact,  however,  that  a 
great  proportion  of  the  people  who  make  up 
movie  crowds  do  not  attend  church,  and  the 
plain  and  simple  explanation  is,  not  that 
they  are  necessarily  sinners,  but  that  they 
find  themselves  better  entertained  by  the 
pictures.  This  may  be  a  reflection  on  the 
judgment  and  religious  attitude  of  the  movie 


patrons,  but  it  is  a  situation  that  exists;  it 
is  a  problem  for  earnest  and  devoted 
thought. 

Before  the  advent  of  the  moving  picture 
it  used  to  be  said  in  a  condemnatory  way 
of  nonchurchgoers  that  they  idled  their  Sun- 
day hours  away  and  gained  no  benefit.  They 
are  equally  condemned  now  that  they  do  get 
some  benefit,  for  notwithstanding  the  triv- 
ialities of  many  films,  in  the  long  run  edu- 
cation and  enlightenment  as  well  as  enter- 
tainment are  derived  from  them.  The  thing 
to  do,  it  would  seem,  is  for  the  church  folk 
not  to  decry  the  movies,  but  to  strike  a 
partnership  with  them  and  adapt  them  tc 
their  own  uses. 

A  JOB  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENTS 

New  Orleans  Times-Picayune 

Senator  Edge  of  New  Jersey  is  credited 
with  the  proflcer  of  a  mildly  interesting  sug- 
gestion. The  vice-president,  he  thinks, 
should  be  useful  as  well  as  ornamental 
"Congress,"  he  assumes,  "is  about  to  pass 
finally  a  budget  bill.  Here  is  a  chance  foi 
a  real  working  vice-president.  Under  the 
budget  system  the  president  becomes  more 
and  more  responsible  for  the  estimates  as 
transmitted  to  Congress  representing  as 
they  necessarily  do  every  activity  of  the 
government.  In  my  judgment,  the  vice- 
president  should  therefore  be  looked  upor 
as  the  real  executive  officer  of  the  govern- 
ment, having  general  charge  of  carrying 
out  the  policy  of  the  Administratior 
through  the  various  departments  of  th( 
governments,  directly  overseeing  the  budget 
which  is  the  bedrock  of  these  activities 
and  really  becoming  what  a  chief  of  staff 
executive  officer  or  vice-president  in  anj 
successful  business  organization  in  the  worlc 
would  be.  He  should  sit  with  the  cabinet 
and  be  the  connecting  link." 

The  suggestion  has  its  practical  possi' 
bilities  if  we  assume  that  the  business  oi 
the  government  is  at  last  to  be  conductec 
in  a  business-like  way.  In  a  thoroughly 
business-like  organization  the  vice-presiden" 
could  very  well  render  more  and  more  use 
ful  service  than  he  has  done  hitherto.  Bu' 
it  would  require  a  good  deal  of  adjusting  tc 
fit  the  vice-president  into  the  budget  scheme 
of  things  as  general  overseer /or  "chief  o: 
staff,"  and  the  budget  bill  recently  passec 
does  not  attempt  it. 

The  average  American  president  is  ap 
to  be  strong-minded,  strong-willed  anc 
jealous  of  his  prerogatives.  The  commoi 
or  garden  variety  of  Congress  is  inclined  t( 
be  resentful  of  the  interposition  of  sub 
ordinates  between  itself  and  the  chief  exec 


EDITORIALS  DEVELOPED  IN  THREE  STAGES 


193 


utive.  Serving  in  the  capacity  suggested  by 
Senator  Edge,  we  feai  that  the  vice-presi- 
dent's lot  would  not  be  a  happy  one.  Ex- 
change of  his  present  ease  and  leisure  for 
the  carking  cares  of  a  difficult  and  perhaps 
thankless  job  as  assistant  business  manager 
might  intensify  the  present  shortage  of 
vice-presidential  aspirants.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Senator  Edge,  after  outlining 
his  idea,  promptly  and  emphatically  declined 
to  be  considered  a  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency. 

COLLEGE  EDUCATION  AGAIN 

SioTix    Falls    Ar^us-Leader 

The  Red  Man,  a  publication  devoted  to 
Indian  welfare,  has  an  article  on  the  sub- 
ject, "Is  a  College  Education  Necessary  to 
Success  ?"  The  purport  of  the  article  would 
seem  to  be  comforting  assurance  to  the  red 
brother  that  if  he  does  not  happen  to  be 
able  to  get  a  college  education  he  can  suc- 
ceed just  as  well  in  the  world. 

The  burden  of  the  article  is  that  many 
men  have  succeeded  without  a  college  edu- 
cation, and  this  is  true. 

There  died  some  months  ago  in  South 
Dakota  a  farmer  who  was  reputed  worth 
over  a  half  million  dollars;  he  could  hardly 
read  or  write,  and  did  not  believe  m  educa- 
tion for  his  children.  He  also  lived  a 
miserable,  pinched  life.  He  was  successful, 
but  he  would  have  been  more  successful 
had  he  believed  in  the  highest  kind  of 
education  for  his  children,  and  provided  it 
for  them.  At  least,  the  children  would 
have  been  happier,  and  he  would  have 
shared  in  their  joy. 

The  article  mentions  many  men  who  did 
not  have  a  college  education,  and  became 
successful,  even  famous.  But  they  obtained 
in  some  way  an  education  that  embodied 
several  features  of  the  technically  so-called 
college  education. 

No  one  could  claim  that  a  college  educa- 
tion is  the  sure  road  to  success.  There  is 
no  such  road,  anyway.  College  education 
is  no  panacea  against  failure;  is  it  fair  to 
say  that  the  college  is  always  to  blame  for 
it?  Colleges  do  not  supply  brains  or 
commonsense.  They  only  supply  the 
students  with  knowledge  to  help  develop 
them.  The  very  word  education,  which 
means  "to  bring  out,"  is  suggestive  here. 
The  college  can  but  bring  out  into  one's 
life  the  desirable  things  that  are  already 
in  him.  If  they  are  not  there,  ten  sheep- 
skins will  do  him  no  good.  When  we  speak 
of  failure  of  the  college,  it  would  be  well 
to  remember  that  in  many  cases,  the  failure 
is  not  in  the  college,  but  in  the  student 


who  either  did  not  have  the  ability  to  avail 
himself  of  college  instruction,  or  deliber- 
ately failed  to  make  good. 

At  any  rate,  a  college  education  given 
an  ambitious,  well-balanced,  brainy  young 
man  is  no  bar  to  his  success  in  life.  It  is 
a  strong  factor  in  his  favor,  not  against 
him. 

THE  DIE  IS  CAST 

Omaha    Bee 

The  judgment  of  his  countrymen  has  no 
more  effect  now  on  the  president  sick  than 
it  did  after  the  1918  election  when  the 
president  was  well.  The  large  majority  in 
the  senate  against  the  league  without 
reservations,  the  formidable  opposition  in 
his  own  party  to  the  league  with  or  with- 
out reservations,  have  made  no  impression 
upon  him. 

So  weak  physically  he  can  walk  but  a  few 
steps  without  assistance,  chained  most  of 
his  working  hours  to  an  invalid's  wheel, 
carefully  deposited  in  a  chair  by  attendants 
before  cabinet  members  are  admitted  to 
meetings,  greeting  them  without  rising, 
suffering  from  periods  of  mental  depression, 
his  passion  for  autocratic  domination  of  all 
about  him,  and  his  intolerance  of  counsel 
from  any  source,  remain  unimpaired. 

This  is  demonstrated  by  his  action  Satur- 
day in  dictating  a  message  to  Oregon  demo- 
crats in  which  he  demands  from  his  party 
the  unqualified  endorsement  of  his  League 
of  Nations  and  its  covenant,  without  the 
"dotting  of  an  i"  or  the  "crossing  of  a  t." 
He  seeks  to  fasten  on  his  party  what  he 
calls  "the  service  of  humanity"  at  the  cost 
of  his  country's  political  independence,  its 
treasure,  and  the  blood  of  its  youth,  which 
he  would  freely  give  to  establish  and  main- 
tain the  independence  and  the  territorial 
integrity  of  foreign  nations  as  fixed  in  the 
grabbing  and  bargaining  at  the  peace  con- 
ference. 

The  hopes  of  the  sane  democracy  of  the 
nation  are  dashed.  Its  vision  of  division 
and  disastrous  defeat  is  made  certain.  It? 
leader  in  the  White  House  welcomes  for  it 
the  repudiation  of  American  nationalism  for 
internationalism,  contrary  to  the  teachings 
of  the  fathers  of  the  republic.  The  fight  is 
now  precipitated.  Mr.  Wilson  demands 
what  Mr.  Bryan  aptly  calls  "suicide,"  and 
what  many  other  northern  and  not  a  few 
southern  democratic  leaders  believe  to  be 
a  fatal  policy.  The  issue  is  squarely  de- 
fined, and  the  sure  result  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Wilsonian  ukase  has  been  forecasted 
in  the  primary  elections  of  this  spring. 


194 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


THE  ADVANCE  OF  THE  FARMER 

Orlando  Reporter-Star 

As  pictured  in  the  comic  supplements,  the 
farmer  is  a  frowsy  sort  of  animal.  His 
clothes  look  like  a  tramp's,  he  is  usually 
minus  a  necktie,  and  if  his  whiskers  grow, 
they  look  like  Carranza's. 

The  real  farmer,  as  he  comes  down  town 
these  fine  mornings,  is  a  different  person- 
age. If  his  errand  calls  for  contact  with 
the  beasts  of  the  field  or  good  red  earth, 
he  may  not  look  just  fit  for  a  dancing  party. 
But  usually  you  can't  tell  him  from  any 
other  kind  of  business   man. 

An  Iowa  man  was  remarking  the  other 
day,  that  in  his  neighborhood  the  average 
farm  is  worth  close  to  $30,000,  and  is  in- 
creasing in  value  10  per  cent  annually.  A 
number  of  other  states  are  just  as  pros- 
perous as  Iowa.  Our  friend  remarked  how 
many  farmers  now  have  houses  lighted  by 
electricity  or  gas,  funiace  heat,  brussels 
carpets,  lace  curtains,  pianos  and  victrolas. 
They  have  one  or  two  automobiles,  take 
one  to  three  daily  newspapers  and  as  many 
weeklies,  support  churches  liberally,  and 
send  their  children  to  college  and  technical 
school. 

Of  course  in  the  newer  states,  many  of 
the  farmers  are  where  the  Iowa  man's 
father  was  30  years  ago.  But  they  will 
soon  come  along.  In  the  more  unpro- 
gressive  states  of  the  East,  it  is  not  fully 
understood  as  yet  that  the  agricultural 
college  knows  more  than  your  grandfather. 
But  this  fact  is  much  better  realized  than 
it  was. 

What  folly  then,  for  the  newspapers  to 
continue  the  preposterous  habit  of  ridiculing 
the  farmer's  alleged  rusticity.  It  could  well 
be  ignored,  did  it  not  lead  some  silly  young 
people  to  quit  the  farms  for  the  empty 
allurements  of  the  white  way.  Also  it 
deters  working  men  from  going  to  the 
country,  and  makes  it  harder  to  get  farm 
help,  thus  raising  the  cost  of  living  for 
everyone.  But  the  city  man  who  pities  the 
country  people  for  their  primitive  condition 
may  have  to  borrow  money  of  them  to 
help  him  buy  the  necessities  of  life. 

HE  IS  RIGHT 

St.    Joseph   Gazette 

Prof.  George  Melcher  of  Kansas  City  is 
quite  right.  Students  frequently  choose 
more  wisely  in  selecting  their  school  work 
than  do  instructors  who  seek  to  direct  what 
the  pupils  shall  do.  It  is  common  knowl- 
edge among  the  scholars  that  this  is  true, 
although  we   do  not  before   recall  having 


heard  educators  themselves  confess  to  the 
fact. 

A  boy,  for  instance,  knows  far  better 
than  the  faculty  and  the  board  of  education 
what  he  wishes  to  do  in  school.  Yet  he 
seldom  succeeds  in  having  his  way.  He 
realizes  the  value  of  inveigling  flies  and 
bugs  into  bottles  in  order  that  he  may  study 
their  mysterious  ways,  while  at  the  same 
time  giving  the  girl  in  the  next  seat  the 
scare  of  her  timid  young  life,  by  offering 
to  dump  the  exhibit  into  her  lap.  He  knows 
that  the  thrilling  nickel  novel  tucked  away 
inside  the  covers  of  his  geography  affords 
him  a  better  understanding  of  the  life  of 
the  western  country  than  can  be  gleaned 
from  a  map  of  the  Pacific  slope  states — but 
what  teacher  will  believe  him?  He  appre- 
ciates the  superiority  of  studying  the  human 
body  from  going  in  swimming  in  the  alto- 
gether to  that  of  discussing  its  frailties  by 
means  of  a  schoolroom  chart,  yet  he  has 
difficulty  in  getting  educational  lights  to 
accept  his  viewpoint. 

It  is  much  the  same  with  a  girl's  studies. 
Left  to  arrange  the  curriculum  herself,  she 
would  have  one  period  for  comparing  latest 
styles,  another  for  washing  the  hair,  a  third 
for  practice  in  writing  notes  of  acceptance 
to  invitations  for  her  company,  and  yet  an- 
other for  learning  something  about  boys. 
Still,  how  futilely  might  she  suggest  such 
a  course  of  study  to  the  bespectacled  fem- 
inine members  and  the  bald-headed  men  of 
the  corps  of  instructors! 

Yes,  Professor  Melcher  is  undoubtedly 
right — quite  right.  The  student  could  select 
a  better  schedule  of  work  for  the  recitation 
room  and  study  hall  than  is  now  in  force 
by  mandate  of  the  board  of  education.  The 
choice,  unhappily,  is  never  left  to  the  class- 
men. That  is  why  things  are  as  they  are; 
that  is  why  the  world  of  education  is  chaos 
itself,  as  any  bright  junior  can  tell  you. 

"SUPERFLUOUS  WOMEN" 

Knoxville  Journal  and  Tribune 

This  is  one  of  the  things  that  are  now 
adding  to  the  troubles  of  our  Uncle  John 
Bull.  Sir  Rider  Haggard  has  been  making 
a  tour  of  the  world,  making  an  investiga- 
tion looking  to  the  disposition  of  the  over- 
stock of  "the  sex"  in  Great  Britain.  He 
has  paid  special  attention  to  the  possibility 
of  reducing  the  number  of  inhabitants  of 
the  female  "gender."  He  says  there  were 
over  a  million  of  superfluous  women  in 
Great  Britain,  and  that  when  the  war  ends 
there  will  be  millions  of  them. 

This  is  easily  understood.     If  there  were 
so  many  more  women  than  men  before,  the 


EDITORIALS  DEVELOPED  IN  THREE  STAGES 


195 


difference  will  be  widened  on  account  of  so 
many  men  being  killed  in  the  war.  And 
what  applies  to  Great  Britain  must  also 
apply  to  Germany  and  France,  and  Belgium 
and  Austria,  in  which  countries  the  loss  of 
lives  of  men  must  run  away  up  into  the 
millions. 

It  is  claimed  that  there  is  a  shortage  of 
women  in  Canada,  Australia  and  other 
British  possessions  to  which  many  un- 
married men  have  been  immigrating  and 
but  a  few  of  them  finding  wives.  Of  course 
there  may  be  found  places  for  a  portion  of 
the  superfluity;  but  what  if  they  don't  care 
to  leave  England  and  go  there?  What  is 
to  be  done?  Will  the  women  be  forced  to 
go  to  these  outlying  possessions,  just  to  get 
rid  of  them  and  make  them  less  plentiful? 
As  suggested  by  the  Louisville  Courier- 
Journal,  "the  truly  advanced  woman  might 
prefer  a  seat  at  a  spindle  in  an  English 
factory,  with  wages  and  independence,  as 
against  the  hardship  of  a  home  in  New 
Zealand,  British  Columbia  or  British 
Africa."  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  women  as  well  as  men  have  a  love  for 
the  home  of  their  childhood.  Be  it  ever 
so  humble,  there's  no  place  like  the  old 
home. 

There  be  those  who  without  serious 
thought  may  be  provoked  to  smile  at 
such  a  condition  as  that  reported;  but 
with  those  who  think,  it  wears  a  very 
serious  aspect.  The  killing  of  men  in  war 
is  bad  enough  seen  from  any  point  of  view, 
and  there  are  various  points  to  be  con- 
sidered. The  presence  of  so  many  "super- 
fluous women,"  is  one  of  them. 

RAIL  CONSUMPTION  CUT  LOW 

Iron   Trade  Review 

A  smaller  tonnage  of  steel  rails  was  con- 
sumed in  the  United  States  in  1919  than 
during  any  similar  period  in  more  than 
twenty  years.  Considering  the  expansion 
of  the  transportation  systems  of  the  coun- 
try during  the  past  two  decades  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  1919  consumption  relatively 
was  the  lowest,  barring  one  or  two  years, 
in  all  history  since  steel  rails  came  into 
common  use.  These  are  the  conclusions  to 
be  drawn  from  the  official  figures  of  rail 
production  for  the  year  1919  which  have 
just  been  issued  and  appear  elsewhere  in 
this  issue. 

The  output  of  2,203,843  gross  tons  of 
rails  in  1919  was  the  lowest  since  1898,  ex- 
cepting only  the  two  poor  business  years 
of  1908  and  1914,  when  1,921,015  gross 
tons  and  1,945,095  gross  tons  respectively 
were  rolled.    Exports  of  rails  in  1919,  how- 


ever, were  the  largest  in  history,  totaling 
652,449  tons,  and  making  the  net  domestic 
consumption  1,551,394  tons.  This  compares 
with  the  net  indicated  domestic  consumption 
of  2,087,356  tons  in  1918,  2,431,492  tons  in 
1917,  2,313,690  tons  in  1916,  1,812,824  tons 
in  1915  and  1,770,415  tons  in  1914. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  before,  the  rail- 
roads during  the  period  of  Government  con- 
trol were  exceedingly  poor  buyers  of  rails 
and  other  forms  of  iron  and  steel.  The 
total  purchases  of  rails  of  the  Railroad 
Administration  in  1919  in  fact  amounted  to 
only  a  few  hundred  thousand  tons,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  tonnage  consumed  having 
come  from  deliveries  against  contracts 
placed  by  the  roads  with  the  mills  while 
the  former  were  under  private  management. 
The  parsimonious  attitude  of  the  Railroad 
Administration  in  taking  care  of  renewals 
and  replacements  has  put  an  added  burden 
upon  the  railroads  under  restored  private 
management.  This  has  forced  the  latter 
to  come  as  a  large  buyer  into  the  steel 
market  dominated  by  a  general  shortage 
of  tonnage  and  to  bid  for  supplies  against 
other  consumers  with  a  consequent  sharp 
increase  of  costs  to  themselves. 

A  SCHOOL  OF  AMERICANISM 

New  York  Herald 

In  a  recent  address  Mr.  Martin  J.  Wade, 
judge  of  the  United  States  Court  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Iowa,  contributes  to 
current  thought  many  valuable  suggestions 
on  the  question,  Shall  we  have  a  school 
of  Americanism? 

Judge  Wade  says  that  the  war  "disturbed 
the  lives  of  many  of  our  people,  unsettled 
their  occupations,  overturned  ordinary  eco- 
nomic conditions  and  produced  confusion. 
The  war  aroused  many  elements  of  human 
passion  which  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tion  civilization  had  long  been  dormant. 
The  passion  of  selfishness  and  greed  seems 
to  have  been  aroused  to  a  degree  never 
before  existing  in  this  country.  The  com- 
mon interest  in  the  lives  and  fortunes  of 
our  fellow  men  which  must  exist  in  a 
democracy  seems  to  have  faded  away." 

Many  persons  will  not  agree  with  Judge 
Wade  in  his  apparent  pessimism;  neverthe- 
less all  will  endorse  his  statement  that 
education  is  the  first  remedy  for  the  evils 
which  exist  as  a  result  of  radical  socialism, 
anarchism  and  all  forms  of  Bolshevism.  It 
is  well  said  that  "every  American  should 
be  a  lamp  lighting  the  way  of  freedom  as 
well  as  a  stone  wall  resisting  every  attack 
upon  the  integrity  of  the  nation."    Yet  the 


196 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


big  question  is,  How  shall  this  education  be 
practically  accomplished  ? 

Judge  Wade  suggests  that  in  an  Ameri- 
canization campaign  the  methods  of  political 
campaigners  should  be  adopted.  Some 
stanch  American  should  be  selected  in  each 
precinct.  A  questionnaire  should  go  to  him 
giving  information  concerning  every  voter. 
From  these  answers  a  mailing  list  should 
be  made.  To  the  proper  persons  on  this 
list  Americanization  literature  should  be 
sent  which  will  help  bring  to  them  some- 
thing of  the  vision  of  their  country  as  it 
really  is. 

In  the  words  of  Judge  Wade:  "This 
generation  is  going  to  protect  the  flag;  the 
next  generation  may  substitute  the  red  flag 
for  the  Stars  and  Stripes."  To  avoid  this 
calamity  the  present  generation  must  in- 
augurate some  Americanization  campaign 
bringing  practical  results.  Judge  Wade's 
suggestions  with  regard  to  the  manner  of 
conducting  such  a  campaign  are  worthy 
of  serious  consideration. 

MARVELOUS  MODERN  FACILITIES 

Providence  Bulletin 

The  public's  attention  has  been  directed 
anew  to  one  of  the  strange  conditions  of 
modern  life  by  the  statement  that  cold- 
storage  warehouses  in  New  Jersey  now 
hold  eighteen  million  dozens  of  eggs,  seven 
million  pounds  of  meat,  and  eleven  million 
pounds  of  other  foods.  And  this  is  the  re- 
port from  only  one  of  the  States  in  which 
the  cold-storage  industry  is  a  tremendous 
factor  in  conserving  the  food-supply  of  the 
nation  and  equalizing  its  distribution. 

Here  is  one  of  the  little-considered 
changes  that  have  occurred  in  the  economic 
mechanism  of  living  during  the  past  three 
or  four  decades,  but  it  has  been  far-reach- 
ing in  its  effects.  The  development  of  store- 
house facilities  has  been  marvelous  since 
the  days  when  Joseph  in  Egypt  warned 
against  the  famine  menaced  by  the  "lean 
years,"  and  advised  conservation.  The  pos- 
sibilities of  modern  cold-storage  seem 
almost  unlimited.  The  combination  of  ware- 
house and  refrigerator-car  has  made  prac- 
ticable many  achievements  that  were  con- 
sidered impossible  fifty  years  ago,  but  that 
are  now  accepted  as  commonplace. 

The  development  of  refrigeration  has 
been  both  beneficial  and  detrimental  in  its 
effects  upon  economic  conditions,  for  there 
are  inevitable  drawbacks  in  most  processes 
of  evolution.  We  cannot  believe  that  the 
change  is  yet  complete.  Probably  in  a 
hundred  years  the  present  conditions  will 
be  regarded  as  quite  as  crude  as  the  con- 


ditions of  1816  now  appear  to  us.  Not  onlj 
will  improved  methods  be  employed,  bu1 
probably  some  of  the  present  commercia 
evils  of  the  cold-storage  business  will  be 
eliminated  by  that  time.  Unquestionablj 
we  have  reached  a  permanent  era  of  cold- 
storage  and  canned  goods,  but  in  this  the 
importance  of  fresh  food  need  not  be  for- 
gotten. The  next  problem  to  be  recognized 
is  that  of  prompt  and  equitable  distribu- 
tion. There  is  too  strong  a  tendency  at 
present  to  sacrifice  fresh  food-supplies  to 
the  interests  of  canning  and  cold-storage 
industries. 

THE  MORGUE-KEEPER 

Pep 

All  jobs  on  newspapers  are  good,  but 
some  are  worse.  The  worst  is  that  of  the 
down-trodden  morgue-keeper. 

The  morgue-keeper,  usually  of  the 
feminine  gender,  begins  her  career  filled 
with  the  importance  of  her  job.  The  editor 
has  just  had  a  long  talk  with  her.  He  has 
told  her  how  essential  a  morgue  is  to  his 
paper,  how  in  the  past  his  hasn't  been  the 
realest  sort  of  morgue.  But  now  he  has 
determined  to  build  up  a  morgue  that  will 
be  worth  more  to  him  than  many  reporters. 

If  the  mayor  of  Tokyo  dies,  this  editor 
is  going  to  be  in  a  position  to  print  the  full 
facts  of  his  mayorship's  life;  these  facts 
will  all  have  been  clipped  from  here  and 
there,  filed  and  properly  indexed.  And,  of 
course,  the  mayor's  picture  will  also  have 
been  filed.  If  a  burglary  is  done  and  much 
swag  is  made  away  with,  the  paper  will  be 
able  instantly  to  print  an  article  on  all  the 
famous  burglaries  that  have  been  committed 
in  the  past  fifty  years;  the  facts  for  this 
article  will  have  been  clipped  and  filed  by 
the  morgue-keeper. 

And  so  the  editor  raves  on  in  the  ear  of 
his  elected  clipper,  filer  and  indexer,  and 
he  believes  his  own  ravings. 

And  the  morgue-keeper,  flattered  that  she 
of  all  others  has  been  selected  to  fill  so 
responsible  a  post,  undertakes  her  work  of 
reading  and  clipping  and  filing.  And  in 
less  than  a  week  she  is  also  doing  social, 
writing  recipes  for  the  woman's  page,  an- 
swering the  telephone,  going  out  on  a  story 
when  there  is  no  one  else  to  go  out  on  it 
(and  there  usually  isn't),  reading  proof; 
and  in  between  times  she  finds  10  minutes  a 
day  to  devote  to  the  morgue. 

Every  man  in  the  editorial  room  finds 
eight  hours  a  day  to  devote  to  removing 
from  the  morgue  files,  clippings,  pictures, 
mats.  He  returns  them  if  he  feels  like 
doing  so,  which  he  usually  doesn't. 


EDITORIALS  DEVELOPED  IN  THREE  STAGES 


197 


And  yet  through  it  all  this  feminine  per- 
son known  as  the  morgue-keeper  does  get 
away  with  her  job.  Somehow  she  always 
can  come  through  with  the  dope  that  will 
build  the  flash  story  up.  She  loses  her 
temper  sometimes,  but  never  her  loyalty. 
She  fights  for  that  darn  morgue  as  a  tabby 
fights  for  a  kitten.  And  somehow  the 
morgue  is  a  success. 

Not  as  big  a  success  as  would  be  if  its 
importance  were  really  understood. 

It  is  apparent  that  the  editor  who  insists 
on  a  well  conducted  morgue  and  then  fails 
to  co-operate  in  its  upbuilding  doesn't  really 
understand  what  a  morgue's  all  about.  But 
despite  lack  of  co-operation  that  girl  in 
the  morgue  does  make  herself  worth  several 
reporters. 

Pep  sympathizes  with  her  trials,  recog- 
nizes her  service,  and  wishes  her  luck. 

MILK   SUPPLY  AND  PRICES 

Springfield  Union 

The  report  that  farmers  are  being  ad- 
vised to  sell  some  of  their  cows  in  order 
to  keep  up  the  price  of  milk  through  a 
reduction  of  the  supply  is  naturally  pro- 
voking protests  from  producers.  In  the 
ordinary  course  the  spring  months,  with 
their  plentiful  supply  of  green  feed,  bring 
increased  milk  production  and  lower  prices. 
This  year,  it  is  reported,  some  producing 
interests  hope  to  avoid  a  reduction  of  the 
price  and  are  urging  reduction  of  herds  as 
a  means  of  preventing  the  usual  spring 
surplus  of  milk  from  coming  on  the  market. 

From  the  viewpoint  of  dollars  and  cents 
to  the  producer  this  proposal  may  seem  in- 
viting, especially  with  labor  scarce  and  with 
the  railway  transportation  conditions  far 
from  the  desired  standards  of  efficiency. 
But  from  the  standpoint  of  public  welfare 
such  a  reduction  would  constitute  a  real 
peril.  Milk  is  a  necessity,  the  use  of  which 
should  be  encouraged  by  every  means  that 
can  be  devised  by  publicity,  co-operation 
and  proper  legislation.  The  best  and  surest 
way  to  promote  that  end  is  to  make  the 
price  of  milk  as  reasonable  as  possible,  in 
justice  to  all  factors. 

To  an  extent  the  producer  is  no  doubt 
warranted  in  his  desire  to  prevent  a  decline 
of  the  price  of  milk  through  expansion  of 
the  supply,  since  grain  and  help  are  so 
exceptionally  high  as  to  involve  special 
stakes  and  risks  for  the  farmer.  But  some 
reduction  of  the  price  would  seem  to  be 
warranted  by  the  natural  advantage  that 
comes  from  the  farmer's  being  enabled  to 
turn  his  cows  out  to  grass  and  economize 


in  their  feeding  and  care.  The  public,  for 
urgent  and  vital  reasons,  should  reap  a 
share  of  that  advantage.  Attempts  to 
profiteer  in  milk  should  be  emphatically  dis- 
couraged. There  is  a  broader  reason,  more- 
over, why  any  movement  to  cut  down  farm 
herds  should  be  discouraged.  A  reduction 
of  livestock  on  the  farms  means  a  reduc- 
tion in  fertility  and  output  of  the  farms  on 
general  lines,  and  that  certainly  is  not  in 
line  with  the  efforts  making  on  the  part 
of  our  farm  improvement  and  rural  better- 
ment organizations. 

LEARNING  TO  THINK 

Fargo   CJourier-News 

According  to  a  professor  in  the  summer 
school  of  the  Ohio  State  University,  there 
has  been  a  marked  deterioration  in  the  last 
twenty-five  years  in  the  ability  of  students 
to  think.  He  says  that  formerly  he  was  able 
to  lead  his  pupils  to  consecutive  thought,  but 
now  they  do  not  concentrate;  what  they  ac- 
quire is  by  parrotlike  memorizing. 

This  is  also  admitted  by  other  noted  edu- 
cators in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and 
doubtless  has  a  large  amount  of  truth  in  it. 
The  youth  of  today  has  his  attention  scat- 
tered and  diverted  over  a  wide  area  of  in- 
terests. The  variety  of  amusements  outside 
of  school,  the  highly  spiced  and  exciting  ex- 
periences of  everyday  life,  are  not  calculated 
to  develop  the  ability  to  fix  the  attention 
upon  a  subject  until  it  has  been  measured. 
The  school  curriculum  is  largely  given  over 
to  a  variety  of  subjects — so  great  a  variety, 
in  fact,  that  few  pupils  get  more  than  a 
smattering  of  each. 

But  too  much  ought  not  to  be  expected 
from  the  public  school  pupil.  When  it  is 
realized  that  nearly  all  of  the  instruction 
he  gets  in  culture,  religion,  morals  and  be- 
havior is  now  given  in  the  schools,  it  be- 
comes apparent  that  they  have  a  big  job  on 
their  hands. 

Further  than  this,  the  art  of  fixing  the 
attention  is  not  easily  acquired.  Ability  to 
concentrate  is  gained  only  by  painful  and 
persistent  effort.  Our  guess  is  that  the  most 
serious  fault  here  is  due  to  the  teachers* 
failure  to  instruct  the  pupils  in  the  method 
of  concentration.  They  should  be  expert  in 
this,  for  college  training  is  supposed  to 
have  this  for  one  of  its  chief  objects. 

We  have  not  forgotten  the  dictum  of  a 
professor,  uttered  in  our  hearing  long  ago, 
in  a  manner  calculated  to  impress  all  stu- 
dents who  heard  it.  "At  the  end  of  the 
freshman  year  in  college  the  student  ought 
to  be  able  to  think  consecutively  upon  a 
subject  for  five  minutes;  at  the  end  of  his 
sophomore  year,  for  ten  minutes;  at  the  end 


198 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


of  the  junior  year,  for  fifteen  minutes,  and 
the  graduate  having  carefully  utilized  the 
advantages  of  his  alma  mater  for  four  years 
should  be  able  to  concentrate  and  think 
consecutively  for  twenty  minutes." 

The  college  training  which  can  bring  its 
subjects  to  the  commencement  (of  their  ac- 
tive life)  with  the  ability  to  think  consecu- 
tively and  with  concentration  upon  a  subject 
for  twenty  minutes  ought  to  be  satisfactory 
enough  for  anybody. 

Meanwhile,  we  commend  to  the  attention 
of  public  school  teachers — especially  high 
school  teachers — ^the  need  of  teaching  stu- 
dents how  to  think,  how  to  concentrate  and 
how  to  study.  It  is  in  these  points  that  the 
chief  defects  of  our  system  lie. 

LINCOLN  AND  FIUME 

Providence  Journal 

A  report  went  the  rounds,  just  prior  to 
the  San  Remo  conference,  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  once  interested  himself  in  the  Fiume 
question.  Verification  is  now  furnished  in 
a  statement  that  a  representative  from 
Zara,  on  the  Dalmatian  coast,  among  those 
present  at  San  Remo,  had  a  "hitherto  un- 
published letter,"  written  by  Lincoln  in  1853, 
dated  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  which  made 
known  his  ideas — incidentally  they  were 
widely  divergent  from  those  that  Mr.  Wilson 
has  been  attempting  to  force  on  Italy.  The 
Journal  printed  the  substance  of  the  re- 
ported letter  recently,  and  it  is  said  that 
photographic  copies  of  the  original,  found 
in  the  archives  of  the  Melloni  family,  are 
on  their  way  to  America. 

Anything  new  relating  to  Lincoln  is,  of 
course,  of  great  interest.  Last  February 
what  was  announced  as  a  "find,"  a  speech 
delivered  in  1842  "comparable  to  the  Gettys- 
burg Address,"  was  made  public.  But  it 
turned  out  that  Lincoln's  biographers  had 
not  overlooked  it.  No  reference  to  any  such 
letter  as  that  now  reported,  however,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  made  by  the  historians 
— ^which  is  not  surprising,  considering  the 
reported  circumstances. 

As  narrated,  it  was  written  to  Professor 
Macedonio  Melloni,  a  distinguished  Italian 
physicist,  at  the  latter's  request.    Professor 


Melloni,  who  died  in  1854,  had  been  prom- 
inent as  a  revolutionist;  he  was  undoubtedly 
interested  in  world  politics  as  well  as 
science;  he  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with 
personages  in  Paris  and  London,  and  that 
he  should  have  communicated  with  a  rising 
American  statesman  is  not  improbable. 

Lincoln,  at  that  tim«,  was  in  what  his 
biographers  call  the  second  period  of  his 
career.  His  service  in  Congress  had  given 
him  some  political  reputation,  but  he  bad 
settled  down  to  the  practice  of  law  at 
Springfield,  and  was  studying  the  mathe- 
matics of  Euclid  to  make  himself  proficient 
in  close  and  sustained  reasoning.  Italy  was 
in  a  fever  of  irredentism.  Trieste  was  seeth- 
ing with  revolution,  and  the  whole  Dalma- 
tian coast  was  affected. 

Large  views  are  expressed  in  this  sup- 
posed Lincoln  letter.  A  United  States  of 
Europe  was  in  the  writer's  mind;  and,  first 
of  all,  in  order  to  secure  the  equilibrium 
necessary  to  the  realization  of  the  idea  he 
regarded  it  as  "indispensable  to  assure  the 
absolute  independence  of  Italy."  Latin  civ- 
ilization strongly  appealed  to  him.  He  was 
heart  and  soul  with  the  Irredentists.  He 
held  that  not  only  should  the  lost  provinces 
be  restored  to  Italy,  but  she  should  have 
"absolute  mastery  of  the  ancient  Lake  of 
Venice — ^the  Adriatic — ^from  Fiume  as  far 
as  Cattaro  without  interruption,  the  whole 
length  of  Dalmatia  as  far  as  Albania,  which 
also  ought  to  be  united  to  Italy."  His  study 
of  the  twenty-two  centuries  of  Dalmatia's 
history  had  convinced  him  that  "the  ethnical 
quantities  which  have  been  violently  super- 
imposed there,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  native 
Italians,  are  formed  by  the  most  barbarous 
people  of  the  world,  Bulgarians,  Croats  and 
Serbians."  He  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  the  territory  should  be  taken  from 
Austria,  to  which  Power  the  soulless  Holy 
Alliance  had  given  it. 

Assuming  the  authenticity  of  this  inter- 
eting  document,  Italy  will  have  the  backing 
of  the  American  people  in  appealing  from 
Wilson  to  Lincoln.  Regardless  of  the  au- 
thorship of  the  letter,  of  course,  the  just- 
ness of  the  Italian  aspiration  is  as  clear 
today  as  it  appeared  to  the  writer  seventy 
years  ago. 


CHAPTER    IV 


EDITORIALS  FOCUSED  UPON  THE  NEWS 


The  editorials  in  the  pages  next 
following  are  brought  together  be- 
cause they  have  one  characteristic  in 
common— each  of  them  focuses  itself, 


from  one  angle  or  another,  upon  its 
subject  as  a  news-matter.  See  Part 
I,  Chapter  IV,  for  classifications  of 
the  news-editorial. 


THE    WAR-DIPLOMAS 

Maasaehusetts  Ck)llegian 
In  granting  diplomas  to  those  men  who 
attended  M.  A.  C.  for  three  years  and  then 
left  college  for  the  service,  the  faculty  is 
taking  a  step  which  should  have  been  made 
long  ago.  It  is  never  too  late  to  mend  and 
the  faculty  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  the 
belated  magnanimity.  Just  exactly  what 
these  diplomas  are  worth,  except  as  parlor 
decorations,  remains  to  be  seen. 

BETTER  BRING  AN  UMBRELLA 

Buffalo  Express 

Here  is  a  current  despatch  from  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.:  "A  three-day  week  schedule 
has  been  inaugurated  in  many  textile  mills 
here  owing  to  the  slack  situation  in  the 
market.  Practically  all  the  silk  mills  have 
adopted  the  three-day  week  and  contem- 
plate shutting  down  unless  the  situation 
improves." 

This  is  the  first  discordant  note  in  the 
chorus  of  prosperity.  It  is  not  to  take 
alarm  at,  but  merely  to  remind  that  no  tide 
stays  long  at  flood  and  that  the  coming 
rainy  day  should  find  us  with  a  roof  over 
our  heads  and  provisions  in  the  house. 

WE'RE  EMBARGOED 

Sun  and  New  York  Herald 
On  and  after  the  first  day  of  June  it  will 
cost  citizens  $10  for  permission  to  voyage 
from  these  States  to  foreign  lands — $1  for 
executing  the  application  and  $9  for  the 
passport  when  issued.  But  there  are  ex- 
ceptions. The  elder  statesmen  constituting 
the  committees  of  Congress  having  juris- 
diction over  bills  relating  to  our  foreign 
relations,  meeting  in  conference,  were  moved 
by  charity,  generosity,  pity  or  what  not,  and 
excepted  from  payment  of  this  tax  those 
voyagers  whose  destination  is  Cuba  or  Can- 
ada. Fortunate  Cuba!  Happy  Canada! 
Lands  blessed  with  climates  alluring  and 
no  $10  handicap  imposed  upon  those  eager 
ebtd^  ^ngii^  m^r  w(ays  id  ab^'rb  Miniatic 
delight^. 


PAPER  MADE  FROM  GARBAGE 

Sun  and  New  York  Herald 
The  experiences  of  paper  manufacturers 
in  Middletown,  0.,  last  year  have  proved  the 
practicability  of  manufacturing  paper  from 
the  refuse  and  garbage  of  cities,  and  may 
point  the  way  toward  a  solution  of  the  paper 
shortage,  according  to  Thomas  J.  Keenan, 
secretary-treasurer  of  the  Technical  Asso- 
ciation of  the  Pulp  and  Paper  Industry, 
which  is  meeting  in  conjunction  with  the 
forty-third  annual  convention  of  the  Amer- 
ican Paper  and  Pulp  Association. 

The  fibres  of  vegetable  matter,  old  paper 
and  cloth,  wood  an-d  leather  fragments  found 
in  refuse  make  a  satisfactory  pulp,  when 
treated  by  the  continuous  heating  system 
and  cooked  with  soda,  for  the  manufacture 
of  coarse,  strong  paper,  said  Mr.  Keenan. 
Although  the  paper  itself  is  too  stiff  and 
dark  colored  to  be  useful  as  newsprint, 
quantity  production  in  many  cities  on  a 
large  scale  might  be  expected  to  partly  re- 
lieve the  demand  for  high  grade  wood  pulp 
needed  in  newsprint  manufacture,  which  is 
now  used  in  the  manufacture  of  low  grade 
papers. 

LATENT  POWER  IN  ATOMS 

Scientific   American 

Only  a  few  years  ago  it  was  the  teaching 
that  the  atom  was  the  smallest  division  of 
matter,  and  today  scientists  are  discussing 
the  possibility  of  the  race  learning  how  to 
use  the  force  which  would  become  available 
with  the  unlocking  of  the  latent  atomic 
power. 

Prof.  W.  A.  Noyes  discussed  the  relations 
between  atoms  and  electrons,  which  form  a 
part  of  atoms,  in  his  address  upon  being 
awarded  the  Willard  Gibbs  medal,  and  stated 
that  electrons  probably  rotate.  This  would 
make  the  atom  a  sort  of  miniature  universe 
in  which  its  nucleus  would  correspond  to  a 
sun  and  the  electrons  to  the  revolving 
planets. 

Sir  Qlive^  I^od^e  u^  a  cece^t  fiddrea^  alsb 
spoke  6i  the  latent  atoftufe  povreit  which  h^ 


200 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


considers  so  very  great  that  it  would  be 
disastrous  to  have  it  become  available  to 
men  before  a  moral  plane  high  enough  to 
prevent  its  abuse  has  been  reached.  He 
thought  that  a  way  to  release  this  great 
power  is  not  beyond  the  possible  and  some 
day  it  may  supply  a  satisfactory  substitute 
for  that  now  obtained  when  molecules,  made 
up  of  atoms,  are  shattered  by  combustion  of 
fuel  or  other  chemical  processes. 

PERCENTAGE  OF  STORE  EXPENSE 
Dry    Goods    Reporter 

Several  weeks  ago  the  Michigan  Retail 
Dry  Goods  Association  sent  to  its  members 
a  questionnaire  regarding  percentage  of 
gross  annual  expense.  It  was  the  purpose 
of  the  association  to  gather  figures  which 
could  be  used  with  authority  in  case  a  mem- 
ber should  be  called  before  an  investigating 
committee  on  a  charge  of  profiteering  or  to 
give  general  figures  as  to  retail  business. 

The  replies  received  from  the  members 
indicate  that  most  of  the  stores  do  not  keep 
accounts  accurately  enough  to  enable  them 
to  tell  just  what  their  expenses  are. 

The  statements  of  expense  varied  widely. 
One  of  the  most  accurate  statements  that 
was  made,  indicating  that  the  store  has  a 
very  complete  understanding  of  the  costs  of 
doing  business,  gave  the  gross  annual  ex- 
pense for  1917  as  32.5  per  cent  and  for 
1918,  36.5  per  cent.  Another,  equally  com- 
plete, gave  figures  for  the  two  years  of 
29.75  and  29.25  per  cent.  A  third  gave  26.18 
and  25.4  per  cent. 

Other  figures  were  much  lower.  One  very 
successful  merchant  in  a  country  village 
gave  his  expenses  as  14,6  and  11.4  per  cent. 
The  total  costs  in  small  towns  ran  from  16 
to  24  per  cent  a  year. 

The  general  summary  of  the  replies  indi- 
cates that  the  gross  cost  of  doing  business 
in  Michig£^n  is  not  far  from  25  per  cent  and 
anyone  estimating  lower  than  this  is  apt  to 
be  led  into  error  and  subsequent  loss. 

Retailers  are  advised  to  give  this  figure 
as  the  approximate  cost  of  doing  business,  if 
called  upon  for  a  statement. 

THE  CENTENNIAL  ERA 

Boston  Post 
The  people  of  Hawaii  are  winding  up  a 
season  of  celebrations  to  commemorate  the 
landing  at  Honolulu  one  hundred  years  ago 
of  the  party  of  American  missionaries  which 
sailed  from  Boston  for  those  Pacific  Islands 
six  months  before.  This  benevolent  in- 
vasion fixed  the  foundation  of  the  develop- 
ment of  that  people  and  of  their  rich  terri- 
tory along  the  lines  which  have  led  to 
incorporation  as  a  worthy  section  of  our 
republic. 


In  a  more  distant  outlook,  preparations 
are  now  making  at  Manila  to  mark  the 
discovery  of  the  Philippine  Islands  by 
Magellan.  The  fourth  century  from  the 
date  when  the  great  navigator  set  foot  upon 
the  island  of  Malhou  will  not  be  completed 
until  March  of  the  coming  year;  and  at  this 
distance  in  the  ages  there  will  be  no  in- 
congruity in  continuing  the  celebration,  as 
has  been  proposed,  for  a  couple  of  months 
to  commemorate  the  arrival  of  Admiral 
Dewey  at  Manila  in  these  modern  times. 

Right  here  at  home  we  are  accepting  the 
centennial  habit  with  approval.  The  his- 
tory which  has  been  written  on  this  con- 
tinent since  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  at 
Provincetown  three  hundred  years  ago  forms 
the  greatest  chapter  in  the  world's  records. 

HOME-MADE  BOOZE 

San   Francisco    Bulletin 

Nominally  the  nation  is  bone  dry;  ac- 
tually, it  is  almost  as  moist  as  ever,  but 
with  a  strange,  new,  amateur  and  home- 
made moisture.  Everybody's  brewing  it,  but 
they  are  all  brewing  it  in  different  ways. 
They  meet  and  exchange  experiences, 
formulas  and  samples,  and  never  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  country  was  there  such  wide- 
spread interest  in  the  chemistry  of  intox- 
icants. 

Some  librarians  have  censored  all  volumes 
containing  information  on  the  subject  of 
brewing,  vinting  and  distilling,  and  there 
are  gaps  in  their  encyclopedias,  but  the  lit- 
erature of  enlivening  liquids  is  very  exten- 
sive and  accessible.  Even  if  it  were  not,  the 
human  instinct  for  making  draughts  with  a 
"kick"  would  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  in- 
dustriously thirsty.  The  earliest  nature 
study  revealed  the  plants  from  which  some 
form  of  "joy  juice"  may  be  extracted.  The 
most  benighted  of  savages  were  quick  to 
seize  upon  the  herbs  with  a  latent  jolt  or  a 
narcotic  balm.  Huxley  says  that  savage 
man's  first  step  toward  civilization  was 
when  he  devised  some  way  of  qualifying  his 
water,  and  scientists  tell  us  that  civilization 
is  many  thousand  years  older  than  some  of 
us  may  believe. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  observe  the  results 
of  the  prevailing  enthusiasm  for  the  study 
of  chemistry.  The  search  for  new  explosives 
is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  search  for 
new  ways  of  getting  an  internal  "kick." 

SENATOR  FALL  ON  MEXICO 

New  York  Evening  Post 
Of  outstanding  interest  in  the  report  of 
the  Fall  committee  upon  our  relations  with 
Mexico  is  its  recommendation  that  the  pro- 
visions of  the  famous  Article  27  of  the 
Mexican    Constitution    shall    not    apply   to 


EDITORIALS  FOCUSED  UPON  THE  NEWS 


201 


A-mericans.  This  is  the  article  which  pro- 
ddes  that  subsoil  products,  meaning  par- 
ncularly  oil,  shall  be  and  remain  the  prop- 
irty  of  the  Mexican  Government,  to  be  dis- 
posed of  by  law  or  decree.  The  Petroleum 
3ode,  which  was  drafted  to  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  this  article,  was  the  subject 
of  a  protest  from  President  Wilson  to  Car- 
ranza  two  years  ago.  In  that  note  the 
President  declared:  "The  United  States  can- 
aot  acquiesce  in  any  procedure  ostensibly  or 
nominally  in  the  form  of  taxation  or  the 
exercise  of  eminent  domain,  but  really  re- 
sulting in  the  confiscation  of  private  prop- 
erty and  arbitrary  deprivation  of  vested 
rights."  So  long  as  Article  27  remains  in 
the  Mexican  Constitution  unaltered,  it  can 
be  made  the  basis  for  confiscatory  legisla- 
tion. With  a  new  regime  in  Mexico,  de- 
sirous of  better  relations  with  us,  there  is 
hope  that  advances  made  by  the  State  De- 
partment in  the  proper  spirit  may  result  in 
such  modification  of  the  article  as  will  re- 
move one  of  the  chief  causes  of  contention 
between  the  two  countries. 

For  the  time  being  we  may  fix  our  atten- 
tion upon  that  phase  of  the  Fall  report 
which  emphasizes  the  need  of  an  under- 
standing with  Mexico  without  taking  too 
seriously  the  alternative  of  a  military  oc- 
cupation. 

SHEEP  RAISING  IN  THE  HILLS 

Kansas    City    Star 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  of  Penn- 
sylvania is  trying  to  make  great  sheep  pas- 
tures of  the  hilly  districts  of  that  state; 
and  Massachusetts  is  working  out  a  plan 
for  extensive  sheep  raising  in  the  Berkshire 
hills,  which  cover  the  western  part  of  that 
state.  In  those  sections  the  soil  is  poor  and 
the  land,  for  the  most  part,  lies  waste  and 
unproductive.  Yet  it  might  be  profitably 
employed  in  raising  sheep. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  state  buys  the  ewes 
and  places  ten  of  them  with  anyone  who 
will  care  for  them,  the  farmer  keeping  all 
the  wool  and  one-half  the  lambs  bom.  The 
state  takes  the  other  half,  and  this  pays  the 
cost  of  carrying  on  the  plan.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  farmer  who  gets  the  ten  sheep 
will  soon  learn  that  there  is  a  good  profit 
in  sheep-raising  as  a  food  and  wool  supply. 

In  Massachusetts  the  plan  is  for  several 
neighboring  farmers  to  combine  their  flocks 
into  one  large  flock  and  hire  a  shepherd  to 
care  for  them. 

Agricultural  experts  agree  that  no  coun- 
try is  better  adapted  to  sheep-raising  than 
the  Ozark  hills  of  Missouri,  and  yet  there 
are  scarcely  any  sheep  there.  With  the 
present  stimulus  of  high  prices  for  mutton 


and  wool,  and  the  outlook  for  the  continu- 
ance of  those  prices,  there  ought  to  be  good 
profits  in  sheep  raising  in  the  Ozarks. 

ANESTHETICS  USED  ON  PLANTS 

New  York  Times 

Several  recent  dispatches  from  London 
have  told  of  an  interesting  piece  of  mechan- 
ism, the  invention  of  an  East  Indian  sci- 
entist, by  the  use  of  which  the  growth  and 
movements  of  plants  were  so  magnified  as 
to  become  easily  visible  as  shadowed  on  a 
screen.  These  exhibitions  gave  the  ob- 
servers of  them  a  clearer  realization  than 
they  had  before  of  the  fact  that  plants  not 
only  are  alive,  but  that  their  lives  are  active 
and  purposeful  in  much  the  same  way  as 
are  the  lives  of  animals. 

Now  the  same  scientist — who  has  the  fine 
name  of  Sir  Jagadish  Chandra  Bose — has 
made,  he  says,  the  interesting  discovery  that 
if  plants  are  to  be  subjected  to  a  severe 
shock,  such  as  is  involved  when  they  are 
removed  from  one  place  in  the  ground  to 
another,  they  are  much  more  likely  to  sur- 
vive it  if  they  are  anaesthetized  before  the 
"operation"  is  performed.  This  seems  a 
fanciful  assertion,  but  its  accuracy  is  a 
matter  of  fact,  not  of  opinion,  and  the  pro- 
pounder  of  the  theory  says  that  he  has 
tested  it  repeatedly  in  transplanting  ex- 
periments, and  that  his  success  has  been 
remarkable. 

It  has  been  known  for  years  that  the  vital 
activities  of  plants,  exactly  like  those  of 
animals,  can  be  slowed  down  or  suspended 
by  the  use  of  anaesthetics,  and  by  this 
means  some  florists  have  prevented  blossom- 
ing before  a  desired  date  like  Easter  or 
Christmas.  That  transplantation  is  a  great 
shock  to  all  vegetable  growth  from  seed- 
lings to  mature  trees — that  it  is  often  fatal 
and  always  delays  their  progress — is  known 
to  every  gardener,  professional  or  amateur. 
It  is  not  at  all  incredible,  therefore,  that  the 
removal  would  be  better  borne  if  the  plant 
were  in  a  state  describable  as  one  of  un- 
consciousness. 

These  investigations  deserve  heeding  by 
people  who  let  what  might  be  called  do- 
mesticated plants  go  hungry,  and  especially 
thirsty — subject  them,  that  is,  to  cruelty 
which  they  would  not  dream  of  inflicting 
on  any  animals.  That  the  plants  thus 
neglected  "suffer"  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word  may  not  be  demonstrable,  but 
they  present  all  the  familiar  signs  of  pain, 
including  that  of  death,  when  the  maltreat- 
ment is  too  prolonged  or  severe,  and  the 
possessors  of  hearts  really  kind  and  con- 
sciences really  sensitive  should  feel  com- 
punction when  they  forget  to  water  the 
geraniums  on  the  window  ledge. 


202 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


CHURCHES  AFTER  THE  WAR 

New    Orleans    States 

The  prediction  of  a  general  spiritual 
awakening  after  the  war  is  only  partially 
fulfilled  in  the  statistics  given  in  the  year 
book  of  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches, 
just  now  issued. 

The  tables  reveal  an  increase  of  2,780,000 
members  in  all  the  churches  of  the  United 
States  since  1916,  580,000  representing  the 
growth  of  the  Protestant  bodies  belonging 
to  the  Council. 

These  figures,  taken  alone,  are  encourag- 
ing evidence  of  freshened  religious  activity, 
but  a  closer  analysis  discloses  some  grounds 
for  discouragement,  as  for  instance  in  the 
falling  off  in  Sunday  schools  and  attend- 
ance upon  them. 

Last  year  there  were  10,587  fewer  Sunday 
schools  than  three  years  ago,  and  the  at- 
tendance 3,644,000  less.  The  churches,  of 
course,  draw  their  new  membership  from 
the  Sunday  schools,  and,  with  a  declining 
Sunday  school  attendance,  the  growth  in 
church  membership  cannot  fail  to  be  af- 
fected. 

One  curious  development  is  a  falling  off 
in  attendance  at  the  Jewish  synagogues  of 
New  York.  Last  year  it  was  260,000,  indi- 
cating that  a  considerable  number  of  per- 
sons of  Jewish  ancestry  have  ceased  to  go 
to  religious  services. 

According  to  the  figures  of  the  year  book 
the  membership  of  the  Protestant  churches 
is  26,000,000,  and  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
18,000,000.  It  is  explained,  however,  that 
whereas  the  Protestant  reports  only  cover 
adult  church  members  the  reports  of  the 
Catholic  churches  cover  entire  families. 

The  Greek  Orthodox  Church  reports  a 
total  membership  of  120,000,  and  the  Rus- 
sian Orthodox  100,000.  It  may  surprise 
many  to  know  that  the  membership  of  the 
two  Mormon  bodies  is  within  5000  of  half 
a  million. 

THE  END  OF  AN  ODYSSEY 

Manchester    Guardian 

The  news  from  Berlin  of  the  arrival  in 
Arabia  of  the  remnants  of  the  Emden's  crew 
is  the  finishing  touch  to  an  adventure  well 
in  keeping  with  the  general  history  of  the 
famous  German  commerce  raider.  When 
the  Emden  was  caught  by  the  Sydney  off 
Cocos  Island  on  November  9  she  put  out  to 
meet  the  Sydney  without  taking  on  board 
ag'ain  the  landing  party  which  had  been 
put  ashore  to  Wretk  the  cable  station. 

By  the  time  the  Emden  had  formally  sur- 
rendered and  several  rescues  had  been  made 
of  isolated  mfembbrs  of  her  crfew  who  had 
taken  to  the  water,  night  was  fallitfgi  knd 


it  was  too  late  for  the  Sydney  to  get  into 
communication  with  the  cable  station. 

When  she  did  so  on  the  next  day  her  cap- 
tain learned  that  the  Emden's  landing  party 
of  forty  men  and  three  officers  had  made 
vigorous  use  of  the  delay.  They  had  seized 
and  provisioned  a  seventy-ton  schooner,  the 
Ayesha,  and  escaped  in  her  the  previous 
evening  with  four  Maxims  and  a  modest 
but  useful  amount  of  ammunition  for  them. 

There  was  material  here  for  a  fine  ad- 
venture after  the  heart  of  a  sea-faring 
novelist,  and  it  has  been  pretty  well  fulfilled 
in  fact.  The  cable  operators  vowed  that  it 
would  be  a  short  one,  asserting  that  the 
Ayesha  was  leaking  when  she  was  seized 
and  would  take  her  captors  to  the  bottom 
with  her  before  they  got  very  far. 

But  she  did  not  sink — ^perhaps  the  re- 
sourceful crew  repaired  her  on  their  voyage 
— and  in  three  weeks  she  was  lying  in  storesi 
at  Padang,  a  straight  830  miles  away,  on 
the  coast  of  Sumatra.  This  was  on  No- 
vember 28,  and  since  then,  from  the  details 
given  in  the  Berlin  message,  the  Ayesha 
has  made  her  way  in  four  months  across  at 
least  4100  miles  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  reach-j 
ing  the  Arabian  coast  at  the  bottom  of  the' 
Red  Sea  on  March  27. 

Presumably  the  intention  of  her  crew  was 
then  to  march  inland  to  the  nearest  center 
of  their  allies,  the  Turkish  army.  But  their 
adventures  were  by  no  means  over,  for  on 
their  way  they  were  attacked  by  the  Arabs 
of  the  Yemen,  who  have  no  great  love  for 
Turkish  rule.  The  Arabs  clung  to  the  party 
for  three  days,  and  left  their  mark  on  i\ 
in  the  shape  of  several  casualties. 

The  wounded,  says  the  Berlin  message 
are  now  in  hospital  at  Jeddah,  which  pre- 
sumably means  that  the  rest  have  got  intc 
touch  with  some  sort  of  Turkish  forces: 
and  so  we  come  definitely  to  the  "last  of  the 
Emden,"  as  an  individual  fighting  unit. 

JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 

Chicago  Tribune 

Two  items  of  interest  touching  the  sub- 
ject of  Japanese-American  relations  have 
appeared  in  the  press. 

One  was  a  report  from  Argentina  thai 
Japan  seems  to  have  embarked  upon  an  ex- 
tensive colonization  scheme  in  South  Amer 
ica.  Paraguay,  Uruguay,  Peru,  and  Bolivia 
are  said  to  be  welcoming  settlement  oJ 
Japanese  in  their  countries,  having  un- 
developed land  to  spare. 

The  Japanese,  cooped  up  in  their  islands 
and  growing  in  numbers,  must  go  some- 
wbfer'ei.  Thfe  Unilfed  States  is  tr^ng  to  keej 
them   dul  b'f  it^  borders.     Siberii^  iis   th^ 


EDITORIALS  FOCUSED  UPON  THE  NEWS 


203 


reverse  of  hospitable.  China  is  already 
overpopulated.     Corea  is   limited. 

Expansion  is  not  a  policy  with  Japan.  It 
is  a  necessity. 

The  other  item  conveyed  news  of  the 
generous  welcome  given  by  Japan  to  a 
travelling  party  of  American  business  men. 
One  of  the  party  says:  "It  is  inconceivable 
that  Japan  and  America  will  fight  over  a 
misunderstanding  now  when  European 
civilization  has  retrograded  fifty  years  as  a 
result  of  the  war  and  a  Jap-American  con- 
flict would  retard  civilization  a  century. 
Literally  the  hope  of  both  east  and  west 
rests  upon  American- Japanese  co-opera- 
tion." 

As  for  a  misunderstanding,  we  agree 
that  it  is  at  least  almost  inconceivable 
that  Japan  and  America  should  fight  over 
a  misunderstanding.  Wars  are  seldom  the 
result  of  a  misunderstanding,  unless  it  be 
a  misunderstanding  of  each  other's  strength. 
But  consideration  for  civilization  has  never 
stopped  a  great  war,  and  we  doubt  if  it 
ever  will. 

A  war  between  Japan  and  America  will 
not  come  unless  America  blocks  the  road 
to  some  object  which  the  Japanese  consider 
essential  to  their  welfare  and  progress,  or 
unless  Japan,  in  pursuing  that  road,  threat- 
ens the  peace  and  welfare  of  America. 

The  amenities  of  international  inter- 
course, official  or  non-oiScial,  will  not  avoid 
either. 

The  American  people  and  their  govern- 
ment would  do  well  to  grasp  the  truth  that 
the  way  to  come  to  blows  with  Japan  is 
to  be  so  weak  and  uncertain  as  to  invite 
encroachment:  to  be  taken  in  by  pacifists 
who  would  have  us  believe  that  Japanese 
policy  is  not  energetically  patriotic  but 
sentimentally  altruistic,  or  by  optimists,  of 
a  more  practical  disposition,  who  discern 
private  profits  in  financial  enterprises  in 
the  far  east. 

We  see  no  necessity  for  war  with  Japan, 
But  peace  can  be  preserved  between  us 
only  if  we  study  Japanese  policy  and  ac- 
tion, understand  their  powerful  motives, 
and  at  all  times  maintain  our  power  to 
defend  our  own  legitimate  concerns.  There 
is  nothing,  we  believe,  in  the  direct  path 
of  Japan's  proper  expansion  which  need 
clash  with  our  important  interests,  and 
there  is  no  likelihood,  therefore,  of  our 
adopting  a  course  of  action  which  Japan 
must  necessarily  challenge. 

That  is,  there  is  no  likelihood  if  we  look 
facts  clearly  in  the  face  and  do  not  permit 
our  defensive  strength  to  fail  to   a  point 


at  which  Japanese  policy  might  be  tempted 
to  expand  at  our  expense. 

The  South  American  development  is  not 
one  to  which  we  can  afford  to  shut  our 
eyes.  If  it  extends,  it  is  likely  to  bring 
about  a  serious  situation  for  both  countries. 
On  the  other  hand,  Japanese  expansion  in 
the  far  east  promises  no  very  serious  diffi- 
culties, and  we  must  hope  it  marks  the 
trend  of  Japanese  amibition,  rather  than 
expansion  on  our  side  of  the  Pacific. 

But  if  we  neglect  our  naval  and  military 
power  we  shall  be  preparing  with  certainty 
the  war  we  would  earnestly  avoid. 

ELIMINATING  TYPESETTING 

FROM  THE  MAGAZINES 

The  Inland  Printer 

What  may  prove  to  be  a  revolution  in 
methods  of  producing  publications  appears 
very  likely  to  be  the  outgrowth  of  the 
present  disturbance  in  the  printing  industry 
of  New  York  city.  A  report  from  that  city 
advises  us  that  two  magazines  attempted 
publication  during  the  past  month  without 
the  aid  of  compositors,  one  getting  out  its 
issues  without  the  aid  of  pressmen. 

In  order  not  to  miss  an  issue  after 
seventy-three  years  of  continuous  publica- 
tion, the  Dry  Goods  Economist  produced  its 
October  11  number  on  mimeographs,  five  of 
these  machines  being  installed  to  accom- 
plish the  work,  copy  being  written  on  a 
typewriter,  and  some  crude  outline  draw- 
ings inserted  in  the  advertising  pages.  The 
mimeographs  took  sheets  8V^  by  14  inches 
in  size  and  printed  on  only  one  side.  The 
magazine  required  twenty-four  of  these 
sheets,  printed  on  both  sides.  The  sheets 
were  folded  once,  collated  and  stitched, 
making  a  book  of  ninety-six  pages,  7  by  8% 
inches.  The  edition  was  thirteen  thousand, 
and  it  was  necessary  for  the  five  machines 
to  be  kept  working  four  days  and  nights, 
ninety-six  hours,  to  get  it  out.  For  the 
issue  of  October  18  several  multigraphs 
where  used,  with  somewhat  better  results, 
as  these  machines  print  from  type  or  elec- 
trotypes from  photoengraved  plates.  This 
issue  consisted  of  fifteen  thousand  copies, 
one  hundred  pages,  and  twenty-five  signa- 
tures had  to  be  collated  and  wire  stitched. 

The  publishers  of  The  Literary  Digest 
adopted  the  plan  of  typewriting  the  copy 
and  having  it  photoengraved,  so  that  the 
magazine  was  printed  from  photoengrav- 
ings. The  copy  was  typewritten  in  ten- 
point  type,  five  inches  wide.  Pages  were 
pasted  up  on  cardboard,  the  typewritten 
matter,  headings  and  proof  from  engrav- 


204 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


ings  being  assembled  and  sent  to  the  en- 
graver, who  reduced  them  to  the  regular 
page  size,  which  brought  the  type  down  to 
about  eight-point.  Our  report  states  that 
nothing  was  saved  in  the  cost  of  composi- 
tion, as  it  was  found  that  the  cost  of  the 
typewriting,  pasting  and  photoengraving 
averaged  $7.50  a  page. 

Another  report  from  California  indicates 
that  the  same  or  a  similar  plan  was  adopted 
by  the  Los  Angeles  Times,  and  this  report 
goes  so  far  as  to  predict  that  "within  ten 
years  the  linotype  will  be  a  thing  of  the 
past." 

This  plan  of  tjrpewriting  copy  to  be  photo- 
engraved,  the  engraved  plates  to  be  used 
in  printing  instead  of  printers'  type,  has 
been  tried  several  times.  It  may  be  in- 
teresting to  recall  that  in  1905  Browning  & 
Backes,  of  New  York,  published  a  book 
called  "Glorified  Typewriting,  Its  Book- 
Teaching  the  Principles  of  American  Calli- 
typy,"  which  defined  callitypy  as  the  art 
of  typewriting  in  such  adapted  manner  that 
the  machine's  product  can  be  used  for 
printing  purposes  through  line-engraving 
processes.  The  idea  failed  because  type- 
written copy  when  reproduced  is  illegible 
compared  with  regular  type  printing,  and 
human  eyes  are  too  precious  to  take  any 
chances  of  injuring  them. 

The  results  of  these  efforts  to  issue  pub- 
lications without  the  use  of  regular  type  can 
not  be  called  satisfactory.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  such  a  plan  could  be  developed  to 
an  extent  that  would  give  results  equal  to 
those  given  by  type.  Nevertheless,  they 
demonstrate  what  can  be  done  in  an  emer- 
gency, and  it  seems  evident  that  we  may 
look  forward  to  some  remarkable  changes 
in  methods  of  producing  publications. 

This  recalls  to  mind  the  fact  that  some 
years  ago  it  was  proposed  that  pictorial 
sections  of  magazines  be  produced  on  a 
photographic  rotary  press,  using  a  reel  of 
film  and  rolls  of  sensitized  paper  which 
would  be  brought  into  contact  and  printed 
photographically,  developed,  washed,  dried, 
folded  and  delivered  rapidly. 

Who  can  tell  what  the  next  decade  may 
bring  forth  in  the  way  of  improvements  in 
the  reproduction  of  illustrations  and  letter- 
press in  magazine  work! 

LLOYD  GEORGE  SEES  NEW  LIGHT 

Boston  Transcript 

The  speech  which  Lloyd  George  made 
Thursday  in  the  House  of  Commons  was 
far  more  than  a  perfunctory  enumeration 
of  the  results  of  San  Remo.  Merely  to 
render  an  account  of  his  stewardship,  the 


British  Premier  need  not  have  addressed 
the  House  of  Commons.  Lloyd  George's 
speech  of  yesterday  is  significant  as  a  de- 
fense of  a  striking  reversal  of  policy,  and 
the  acceptance  by  the  British  Government 
of  the  main  points  of  the  position  laid  down 
by  Premier  Millerand  acting  as  the  spokes- 
man of  the  French  nation.  The  British 
Premier  is  especially  anxious  to  emphasize 
the  completeness  of  the  accord  between  the 
two  governments,  and  the  success  with 
which  he  has  pointed  out  the  solid  basis 
of  the  agreement  is  the  measure  of  the 
extent  to  which  the  French  policy  of  treaty 
enforcement  has  prevailed  in  the  agree- 
ments reached  at  San  Remo. 

Lloyd  George  tells  the  House  of  Commons 
that  absolute  unanimity  prevails  in  regard 
to  the  necessity  of  enforcing  the  terms  of 
the  treaty.  The  point  of  view  has  changed 
with  incredible  swiftness.  Only  a  few 
weeks  ago,  the  British  Government  was 
reported  as  bitterly  opposed  to  the  use  of 
anything  more  than  economic  pressure  to 
bring  home  to  Germany  the  necessity  of 
fulfilling  her  treaty  obligations.  Today, 
France  is  supported  by  the  full  force  of 
British  influence.  The  occupation  of  Frank- 
fort and  adjoining  territory,  is  now  recog- 
nized by  the  British  premier  as  a  measure 
of  defence  fully  justified.  The  San  Remo 
conference  has  "dispelled  all  suspicions" 
that  a  divergence  is  possible  between  the 
British  and  French  Governments  on  funda- 
mental questions.  "It  was  perfectly  clear 
to  our  mind,"  says  Lloyd  George,  "as  to 
theirs,  that  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  is  the 
basis  upon  which  European  policy  must 
march  in  reference  to  Germany,  and  that 
we  propose  to  act  with  them  and  the  other 
Allies  in  the  enforcement  of  the  treaty." 

Even  more  successful  is  Lloyd  George 
in  clearing  up  the  misunderstandings  and 
suspicion  of  the  motives  of  France  which 
a  short  time  ago  filled  the  air  in  England. 
The  charge  of  "militarism"  raised  by  those 
ignorant  of  the  basic  facts  in  European 
diplomacy,  he  dismisses  as  groundless. 
France,  the  British  Premier  points  out,  is 
free  from  imperialistic  designs  in  her 
present  policy  towards  Germany.  Her 
leaders  are  firmly  convinced  that  another 
world  war  will  become  a  certainty  if  a 
new  "Alsace-Lorraine"  problem  comes  into 
being  in  the  redrawing  of  the  map  of 
Europe.  "I  need  hardly  assure  the  House 
that  the  French  minister  readily  and  sin- 
cerely gave  assurances  that  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  people  of  France  were  just 
as  much  opposed  to  any  policy  of  that  kind 


EDITORIALS  FOCUSED  UPON  THE  NEWS 


205 


as  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  That 
declaration  is  embodied  in  the  minutes  of 
the  conference.  I  attach  enormous  im- 
portance to  it."  The  misunderstandings,  he 
continues,  were  chiefly  due  to  mischief- 
makers  at  home,  who,  from  "personal 
malignity,"  were  idly  seeking  to  sow  dis- 
cord and  confusion  between  nations  which 
are  determined  to  progress  together  in 
comradeship  and  good  feeling. 

Lloyd  George's  speech  in  the  House  of 
Commons  has  achieved  its  purpose.  It  has 
given  notice  to  the  world  that  the  British 
Government  is  in  close  accord  with  French 
policy  of  treaty  enforcement.  Lloyd  George 
has  repudiated  the  policy  which  a  few  weeks 
ago  threatened  to  create  an  impassable  gap 
between  the  two  governments  to  the  great 
joy  and  visible  comfort  of  Berlin.  That 
crisis  has  been  averted.  It  has  been  averted 
because  Lloyd  George,  the  responsible  head 
of  the  British  Government,  has  seen  the 
peril  that  lurked  in  his  former  path,  and 
before  it  was  too  late,  has  had  the  common 
sense  to  pledge  British  support  to  the 
French  in  disposing  of  the  chief  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  permanent  European  peace. 

THE  ROSE 

Country   Gentleman 

We  have  our  favorite  flowers  for  all  oc- 
casions and  places.  The  purity  of  the  lily 
for  Easter,  the  sweetness  of  the  carnation 
for  Mothers'  Day,  and  the  gay  poinsettia 
for  merry  Christmas.  All  the  states  but 
five  have  designated  a  state  flower,  the 
choice  ranging  from  the  cactus,  sagebrush, 
sunflower  and  the  golden  weed  which  hay- 
fever  victims  shun,  to  the  fragile  violet  and 
waxy  Mayflower — a  total  of  thirty-seven 
different  flowers  being  thus  honored. 

Officially,  we  have  no  national  flower,  but 
unofficially  we  might  well  agree  on  the 
rose.  We  depend  upon  roses  for  all  occa- 
sions where  words  fail  or  seem  inadequate. 
Brides  carry  them,  the  sick  are  cheered  by 
them,  and  our  dead  are  buried  under  a 
benedictory  blanket  of  them.  Our  pioneers 
planted  a  rosebush  beside  the  door  as  a 
pledge  that  it  was  a  home.  Three  of  our 
states  found  the  wild  rose  growing  and 
made  it  the  state  flower,  and  two  other 
states  have  adopted  varieties  of  roses  as 
their  sentimental  representative  in  the  hall 
of  states. 

As  our  civilization  has  become  a  little 
older,  and  as  we  have  taken  more  time  to 
improve  our  homes,  the  rose  garden  has 
become  commoner.  A  well-planned  rose 
garden  is  almost  a  sanctuary  where  one 


may  take  tired  muscles  and  troubled  hearts 
for  rest.  When  you  see  men  and  women  and 
children  working  with  roses,  caring  for 
them,  loving  them,  you  have  no  doubt  about 
them.    The  influence  of  the  rose  is  for  good. 

We  feel  inspired  to  say  all  this  by  the 
arrival  of  The  American  Rose  Annual,  the 
official  book  of  The  American  Rose  Society. 
The  society  has  been  organized  since  1899, 
and  for  the  last  five  years  it  has  been 
recording  rose  progress  in  its  handsome  and 
informative  annual. 

To  those  folks  to  whom  a  rose  is  just  a 
rose  the  book  will  be  a  revelation.  It  lists 
144  new  varieties.  It  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  America  is  not  only  growing  all 
the  best  varieties  of  Europe  but  is  develop- 
ing many  wonderful  roses  particularly 
suited  to  our  climate  and  conditions.  A 
map  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
shows  where  teas  may  be  grown,  where 
hybrid  teas  may  be  expected  to  be  safe,  and 
where  hybrid  perpetuals  should  endure. 
It  is  only  a  small  portion  of  the  United 
States  where  a  rose  of  some  sort  cannot 
be  grown,  according  to  this  map.  Thus  is 
the  rose  truly  national. 

E.  T.  Meredith,  the  new  Secretary  of 
Agriculture,  writes  the  greeting  in  the  book 
and  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  people 
are  not  content  with  the  three  primary 
necessities  of  food,  clothing  and  shelter,  but 
must  have  things  like  the  rose  to  "express 
life's  great  drama  in  the  passing  of  the 
seasons." 

"No  decorative  plant  has  been  more  closely 
identified  with  the  progress  of  western 
civilization  than  the  rose,"  he  says.  "It  is 
an  insignia  alike  of  joy,  of  sorrow,  of  love, 
and  of  war.  It  is  the  flower  beloved  by  all. 
Certainly  those  who  contribute  in  any  way 
to  the  propagation,  development  and  culture 
of  the  rose  are  adding  much  to  the  joys  and 
beauties  of  life." 

And  we  feel  he  might  have  gone  further 
and  said  that  they  are  also  adding  to  the 
safety  of  society.  The  rose  is  an  inde- 
pendent sort  of  flower  with  a  sharp  thorn 
for  him  who  would  tread  on  it,  but  its  mere 
presence  speaks  of  permanency,  and  the 
sermon  of  its  beauty  certainly  suggests 
neither  wandering  from  our  hearthstones 
nor  our  national  altars. 

For  any  of  our  readers  who  may  feel  the 
same  way  and  want  to  aid  let  us  suggest 
that  two  dollars  sent  to  E.  A.  White,  secre- 
tary, American  Rose  Society,  Ithaca,  New 
York,  will  bring  a  membership  and  a  copy 
of  the  book. 


206 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


INTERCHURCH  MOVEMENT  TO 

ADVERTISE  NATIONALLY 

Printer's    Ink 

At  the  recent  World  Survey  Conference 
of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  at 
Atlantic  City  plans  were  approved  for  a 
national  advertising  compaign  to  be 
launched  this  spring.  Virtually  all  the  ad- 
vertising devices  of  proved  effectiveness 
will  be  employed,  at  a  total  cost  of  prob- 
ably $1,000,000.  It  is  proposed  to  invest 
from  $300,000  to  $400,000  of  this  sum  in 
newspaper  and  periodical  advertising.  Be- 
sides this,  posters,  circulars,  booklets,  dis- 
play-cards, exhibits  and  numerous  other 
mediums  will  be  used. 

The  aim  of  the  campaign  will  be  to  ac- 
quaint the  nation  with  the  facts  based  on 
the  world  survey  recently  completed  by  the 
Interchurch  organization.  This  survey  in- 
cluded work  among  the  home  missions  both 
in  city  and  country,  in  foreign  missions,  in 
the  educational  field,  among  hospitals  and 
other  benevolent  institutions,  in  industrial 
relations,  and  among  the  churches  and  min- 
isters themselves.  The  secular  as  well  as 
the  religious  needs  of  humanity  will  be 
proclaimed,  all  the  advertising  being  based 
on  a  scientific  plan  of  "churching  the 
country." 

The  campaign  will  be  carried  out  under 
the  supervision  of  C.  S.  Clarke,  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement,  whose  offices 
are  at  222  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York,  who 
will  have  the  aid  and  counsel  of  the  two 
advertising  agencies  of  Joseph  Richards 
Co.,  Inc.,  and  Barton,  Durstine  &  Osborn, 
Inc.,  which  will  co-operate  with  each  other 
in  planning,  producing  and  placing  the  ad- 
vertising. 

The  advertising  programme  will  be  a 
step  toward  the  realization  of  the  broad 
plans  of  the  World  Movement,  which  has 
already  completed  the  stages  of  organiza- 
tion and  preparation.  This  movement  had 
its  immediate  rise  in  the  conference  of  135 
representatives  of  home  and  foreign  mis- 
sion boards  in  New  York  on  December  17, 
which  met  to  consider  some  form  of  church 
co-operation.  It  was  agreed  at  this  time 
that  the  time  was  ripe  for  the  working 
bodies  of  the  various  evangelical  denomina- 
tions so  to  relate  their  activities  as  to 
present  a  united  front  to  the  world.  A  com- 
mittee of  twenty  was  appointed  to  outline 
a  plan  of  church  co-operation  and  to  present 
it  to  the  denominational  and  inter-denomina- 
tional boards  that  were  to  meet  the  fol- 
lowing month.  The  purpose  of  the  move- 
ment,  as    defined   by   this   committee,   was 


"to  present  a  unified  programme  of 
Christian  service  and  to  unite  the  evangeli- 
cal churches  of  North  America  in  the 
performance  of  their  common  task,  thus 
making  available  the  values  of  spiritual 
power  which  come  from  unity  and  co-ordi- 
nated Christian  effort  and  meeting  the 
unique   opportunities  of  the  new   era." 

In  January,  a  meeting  of  six  joint  boards 
endorsed  the  plan  and  their  action  was  ap- 
proved by  more  than  sixty  denominational 
boards  and  interdenominational  agencies. 

The  preliminary  steps  in  the  organization 
of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  cul- 
minated at  the  Interboard  Conference  at 
Cleveland,  April  29-30,  and  May  1.  It  was 
representative  of  the  majority  of  the  official 
denominational  boards  and  societies  of  the 
United  States  and  was  attended  by  more 
than  500  men  and  women  connected  with 
home  and  foreign  missionary  work  and 
benevolent  boards  of  the  evangelical 
churches  of  North  America. 

The  findings  committee  brought  in  a  re- 
port which  summarized  the  aims  and  ideals 
of  the  movement.  It  declared  "that  the  In- 
terchurch World  Movement  is  a  co-operative 
effort  of  the  missionary,  educational  and 
other  benevolent  agencies  of  the  evangelical 
churches  of  the  United  States  and  Canada 
to  secure  the  necessary  resources  of  men 
and  money  and  power  required  for  these 
tasks  (i.  e.,  the  missionary  and  evangelistic 
tasks  previously  defined) ;  that  it  is  a  spirit- 
ual undertaking  of  survey,  education  and 
inspiration;  that  it  is  an  instrumentality  of 
co-operation  and  co-ordination  of  adminis- 
trative agencies,  designed  to  serve  and  not 
to  supplant  them." 

In  effect,  the  proposed  campaign  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement  is  not  greatly 
unlike  that  planned  by  commercial  concerns. 
It  has  surveyed  its  field,  decided  upon  its 
market,  obtained  the  necessary  preliminary 
distribution,  and  hence  there  only  remains  a 
broad  advertising  campaign. 

OUR  RULE  CRITICISED 

Providence  Journal 

The  criticism,  made  by  speakers  at  the 
Clark  Unversity  conference  on  Mexico  and 
the  Caribbean,  of  the  Administration's 
course  toward  Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti 
and  the  practices  of  its  agents  there,  to- 
gether with  some  reference  also  to  Cuba, 
Nicaragua  and  the  Virgin  Islands,  is  not  to 
be  wholly  disregarded,  even  though  we  may 
surmise  that  the  critics  are  not  friendly  to 
the  United  States.  Our  paternal  policies 
affecting  some  of  the  smaller  Latin  Ameri- 


EDITORIALS  FOCUSED  UPON  THE  NEWS 


207 


can  republics  have,  of  course,  been  viewed 
with  suspicion  by  their  neighbors. 

In  this  instance  we  are  denounced  by  a 
Venezuelan  publicist  and  by  a  former  func- 
tionary of  the  Dominican  Government.  Al- 
though Venezuela  was  rescued  from  the 
tyrant  Castro  largely  by  our  effort,  we 
never  seem  to  have  many  friends  in  influ- 
ential circles  in  that  country.  As  for  the 
Dominican  spokesman,  it  might  be  pre- 
sumed that  he  would  be  a  prejudiced  witness 
of  the  results  of  our  guardianship  of  that 
troublesome  little  country. 

The  Venezuelan  confined  himself  to  a 
consideration  of  our  Government's  general 
policy  as  pursued  since  1898,  to  extend 
American  influence  over  the  Caribbean, 
chiefly  for  strategic  purposes.  American 
opinion  can  join  issue  on  this  controversial 
ground  without  being  sensitive  about  it.  It 
is  probably  the  fact,  for  instance,  as  this 
critic  complains,  that  in  protecting  Nicara- 
gua from  revolutions  we  put  restraint  on 
the  free  will  of  the  Nicaraguans;  but, 
surely,  we  can  defend  ourselves  on  that 
score.  So  in  Cuba,  if  our  paternalism  helps 
to  keep  the  country  at  peace  and  promotes 
its  prosperity  we  need  make  no  apology. 
Our  critic  believes,  indeed,  that  "the  United 
States  has  a  noble  mission  in  the  Carib- 
bean," but  he  thinks  we  show  little  con- 
sideration for  the  "moral  and  political"  in- 
terests of  the  people  down  there. 

The   denunciation   of  our   rule    in   Haiti 


and  Santo  Domingo,  however,  goes  further. 
The  Dominican  spokesman  holds  that 
"wherever  in  the  last  five  years  the  United 
States  has  assumed  the  government  of  an- 
other country,  the  coming  of  the  American 
flag  signified  suppression  of  popular  insti- 
tutions and  the  setting  up  of  an  arbitrary 
and  inefficient  militarism."  He  declares 
that  the  Virgin  Islanders  regret  that  they 
are  no  longer  under  the  Danish  flag.  And, 
additionally,  he  charges  acts  of  abuse,  even 
cruelty,  against  the  inhabitants  of  Santo 
Domingo,  of  the  same  general  nature  as 
were  once  charged  in  the  Philippines.  As 
to  the  practices  he  mentions  he  does  not 
pretend  to  much  knowledge  beyond  hearsay 
testimony., 

We  may  recall  that  the  Wilson  Adminis- 
tration, during  the  Bryan  period,  made  a 
mess  of  things  in  Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo, 
but  our  Marines  have  certainly  established 
peace  on  the  island,  and  there  has  been  no 
recent  information  to  indicate  that  matters 
are  not  going  on  satisfactorily.  But  if 
there  is  anything  in  the  "unfortunate  stories 
of  torture  of  prisoners,"  and  other  allega- 
tions of  gross  abuses  of  authority,  the 
American  people  ought  to  know  about  it. 

The  Administration  through  its  civil  rep- 
resentatives and  the  Navy  Department  is 
responsible  for  the  government  of  Haiti 
and  Santo  Domingo,  and  regardless  of  their 
source  specific  accusations  should  not  pass 
unnoticed. 


CHAPTER    V 


EDITORIALS  CONCERNED  WITH  SURVEY  AND  REVIEW 


The  specimens  reprinted  in  this 
division  represent  editorials  that  em- 
ploy or  are  in  some  way  directed 
toward  survey  or  review  of  matters 


more  or  less  outside  of  "spot"  news ; 
i.  e.,  from  the  immediate  news  of  the 
day.  For  discussion  of  such  editorials, 
see  Part  I,  Chapter  V. 


Breeder's  Gazette 
All  over  the  combelt  live  stock  feeders 
and  shippers  are  clamoring  for  cars  ordered 
weeks  ago,  consignments  reaching  Chicago 
from  Iowa  this  week  as  much  as  seven 
weeks  behind  schedule.  As  shippers  of 
grain  and  other  commodities  are  in  similar 
predicament  immediate  relief  is  improbable. 
By  the  somewhat  drastic  process  of  taking 
stock  cars  from  western  roads  the  eastern 
embargo  on  live  stock  has  been  lifted  dur- 
ing the  past  week,  relieving  congestion  at 
Chicago  and  stabilizing  prices  to  some  ex- 
tent, but  both  the  market  and  the  trans- 
portation situation  are  unsatisfactory,  the 
countryward  movement  of  stock  cattle  hav- 
ing been  crippled  at  a  time  when  pastures  are 
usually  replenished.  Shipments  of  live  stock 
from  Chicago  to  local  eastern  points  have 
been  positively  refused  by  several  lines,  but 
traffic  to  Atlantic  seaboard  points  was  re- 
stored to  a  normal  basis  this  week.  West- 
em  roads  are  taking  stock  cattle,  injecting 
considerable  life  into  that  trade  after  a 
month  of  stagnancy.  The  practice  of  east- 
em  roads  of  holding  stock  cars  unless  they 
can  be  returned  loaded  is  working  hardship 
on  the  industry. 

CARRYING  MAIL  BY  AIRPLANE 

New  York  Times 

A  former  Army  aviator  was  arrested  at 
Los  Angeles  not  long  since  for  disorderly 
conduct  in  looping  the  loop  over  a  public 
square.  On  the  same  day  two  aviators  were 
arrested  in  New  Jersey  for  shooting  wild 
geese  in  the  closed  season  from  a  plane. 
These  incidents  of  "joy  riding"  in  the  air 
are  worthy  of  notice  as  showing  how  much 
at  home  man  has  become  in  the  element 
through  which,  since  the  dawn  of  time  until 
less  than  twenty  years  ago,  only  the  birds 
wmged  their  way.  When  we  turn  to  the 
use  of  the  airplane  for  transportation  in 
the  carrymg  on  of  business  we  have  the 
proof  of  stability  and  stanchness  that  ex- 
plain how  liberties  can  be  taken  with  it  by 
darmg  aviators. 


When  an  attempt  was  made  to  substitute 
the  airplane  for  the  mail  car  there  was  a 
solemn  wagging  of  heads;  in  fine  weather  all 
might  go  well  and  the  letters  and  express 
parcels  might  be  delivered  on  time,  but  it 
was  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  any  kind  of 
schedule  could  be  maintained  in  the  winter 
season.  Well,  in  one  of  the  most  inclement 
and  turbulent  of  winters  the  carriers  easily 
beat  the  railroads  and  sometimes  triumphed 
over  conditions  that  delayed  the  land  mail 
for  hours,  and  even  for  days.  The  routes 
on  which  the  flying  was  done  were  laid  out 
between  New  York  and  Washington  and  be- 
tween New  York  and  Cleveland. 

TIME  TO  ACT  IN  TIME 

The  Independent 

Because  the  inevitable  revolutions  in  the 
despotic  countries  of  Europe  were  postponed 
the  Great  War  was  rendered  inevitable.  By 
postponing  unity  of  command  and  other  nec- 
essary but  disagreeable  measures  the  Allies 
came  near  losing  the  war.  By  putting  off 
the  revision  of  the  secret  treaties  the  vic- 
torious Allies  found  themselves  unready  to 
declare  their  peace  terms  at  the  end  of  the 
war.  By  failing  to  settle  the  Adriatic 
question  a  year  ago  the  diplomats  in  Paris 
gave  d'Annunzio  his  chance  to  intervene  and 
make  the  question  more  insoluble  than  ever. 
Because  they  could  not  agree  on  a  partition 
of  Turkey  in  1854,  1878,  1912  and  1919  the 
Powers  find  it  harder  than  ever  to  agree  in 
1920.  Because  England  refused  Home  Rule 
to  Ireland  a  generation  ago  the  Irish  are 
demanding  complete  independence  today. 
Because  the  Senate  delayed  the  peace  treaty 
to  tag  the  League  of  Nations  covenant  with 
needless  reservations  the  United  States  re- 
mains at  war  with  Germany  and  in  rather 
strained  relations  with  the  Allies. 

De  Quincey  once  warned  the  youth  of  his 
generation  that  murder  led  to  theft,  theft  to 
drunkenness,  drunkenness  to  Sabbath  break- 
ing and  profanity,  and  these  vices  in  the  end 
led  to  habits  of  idleness  and  procrastina- 
tion.   Professor  Clark  of  Columbia  has  sug- 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


209 


gested  that  in  view  of  the  mischief  which 
procrastination  has  wrought  in  the  world, 
De  Quincey's  moralizing  should  have  been 
taken  seriously. 

No  settlement  is  a  right  settlement  unless 
it  is  made  at  the  right  time. 

BET  YOU  DON'T  KNOW  BEANS 

Chemical   Round  Table 

Many  of  us  think  that  we  know  beans. 
We  may  change  our  point  of  view,  for  re- 
cent researches  show  that  the  average 
American  does  not  really  know  the  value  of 
the  various  grades  of  those  much-used 
legumes.  The  true  story  of  the  bean  was 
told  recently  by  Dr.  C.  0.  Johns  of  the 
Bureau  of  Chemistry,  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, in  an  address  before  the  biological 
section  of  the  American  Chemical  Society. 

Dr.  Johns  said  that  the  beans  which  gave 
full  growth  to  the  animals  to  which  they 
were  fed  were  of  Chinese  origin,  the  soy 
bean,  which  is  already  cultivated  to  some 
extent  in  this  country,  and  the  mung  bean, 
from  which  the  Chinese  raise  the  sprouts 
which  are  a  leading  ingredient  in  chop 
suey.  There  is  another  Oriental  bean,  the 
adsuki,  which  has  about  half  the  value  in 
promoting  growth  as  have  the  soy  and 
mung  beans. 

The  bean  of  commerce,  known  as  the  navy 
bean,  used  both  in  the  making  of  Boston 
baked  beans  and  New  York  beans,  does  not, 
according  to  Dr.  Johns,  promote  growth, 
but  it  will  maintain  strength  and  restore 
the  losses  of  fatigue. 

The  Lima  bean  has  about  the  same  quali- 
ties as  the  navy  bean. 

These  two  American  beans  can  be  made 
more  valuable  for  growing  children  by  the 
addition  of  cystene,  a  crystal  derived  from 
wool,  if  three-tenths  of  1  per  cent  of  that 
product  is  added. 

Dr.  Johns  also  recommended  the  peanut, 
as  having  about  the  same  qualities  as  the 
Chinese  beans,  of  which  he  spoke  in  glowing 
praise. 

DUELING  LEGAL  FOR  ONCE 

New    York    Times 

^  By  passing  a  law  giving  formal  authoriza- 
tion to  dueling,  after  a  duly  appointed  com- 
mission has  decided  that  in  no  other  way 
can  a  quarrel  be  honorably  settled,  the 
little  Republic  of  Uruguay  has  taken  action 
which,  if  not  without  precedent,  certainly 
comes  near  to  being  so. 

Of  course,  in  many  countries  and  for 
many  centuries,  and  in  not  a  few  countries 
still,  the  duel  has  been  in  fact  obligatory, 
in  certain  well  understood  conditions,  upon 
all  men  of  military  or  social  rank  high 
enough  for  them  to  claim  with  plausibility 


to  be  possessed  of  "honor."  Even  in  those 
countries,  however,  not  only  now,  but  al- 
most as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  re- 
liance on  courts  for  the  settlement  of  per- 
sonal grievances,  the  duel  has  been  forbidden 
and  penalized,  so  far  as  the  statute  book 
was  concerned. 

That  such  laws  were  not  often  enforced 
with  either  sincerity  or  vigor  is  true,  but 
they  have  existed,  and  everywhere,  almost 
invariably,  the  encounters  had  to  be  con- 
ducted with  at  least  the  pretense  of  secrecy. 
Spectators  were  few  and  trusted,  the  scene 
a  forest  glade  or  sequestered  meadow,  the 
time  dawn.  And  when  the  result  of  the 
combat  was  death  it  was  usually  essential 
to  the  victor's  convenience,  and  often  to  his 
safety,  that  he  should  retire  across  the 
nearest  frontier  until  the  representatives  of 
authority  forgot  his  offense. 

In  other  words,  custom  has  tolerated  or 
compelled  dueling,  while  the  law  forbade  it. 
The  course  of  Uruguay  is  therefore  anom- 
alous and  at  this  late  day  astonishing.  The 
only  available  explanation  is  that  an  ex- 
President  of  Uruguay  recently  killed  a  man 
in  a  duel  and  prefers  to  have  such  acts 
legalized. 

THE  SLACKER  EVIL 

Minneapolis    Journal 

Never  in  the  country's  history  has  un- 
skilled labor  had  such  an  inning  as  now; 
and  never  has  it  flouted  its  fortune  as  now. 
"Wages  have  doubled  and  service  has  been 
cut  in  half"  is  a  common  saying  among  em- 
ployers of  common  labor. 

In  the  Federal  Employment  Agency  in 
this  city  are  jobs  for  a  thousand  men.  From 
one  to  three  hundred  men  come  daily  to 
look  over  the  offerings,  and  most  of  them 
go  away  to  remain  idle.  From  fifty  to 
sixty-five  cents  an  hour  is  offered  for  un- 
skilled work  on  highways,  on  railroads,  for 
chore  work  or  for  any  task  lasting  from  a 
day  to  a  year. 

Twenty-five  calls  daily  for  farm  hands  are 
received,  and  usually  not  more  than  five  or 
six  men  respond.  The  wages  offered  range 
from  seventy  to  eighty-five  dollars  a  month 
with  board,  room  and  laundry — ^the  equiva- 
lent of  forty  or  fifty  dollars  more.  To  mar- 
ried couples  is  offered  a  hundred  dollars  a 
month,  with  house,  garden  and  other  sub- 
stantial privileges.  Where  the  employment 
is  at  a  distance,  the  railroad  fare  is  usually 
paid. 

Recently  a  call  came  for  three  men  to 
carry  mail.  Their  duty  would  be  to  sit  on 
a  wagon  seat,  drive  about  a  little  and  wait 
a  good  deal — no  lifting,  no  care  of  horses. 
The  job  was  near  to  doing  nothing,  and  the 
pay  was  a  hundred  and  five  dollars  a  month. 


210 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Yet  the  agency  had  great  difficulty  in  find- 
ing three  men  out  of  three  hundred. 

During  the  war  slacking  of  this  kind  was 
a  misdemeanor;  and  the  men  wilfully  un- 
employed had  to  fight  or  work.  This  slack- 
ing element  is  as  sore  a  load  as  it  was 
during  the  war.  It  aggravates  every  eco- 
nomic evil;  it  eats  what  its  betters  produce 
and  spoils  more  than  it  consumes. 

It  is  a  pity  that  pressure  cannot  be 
brought  to  bear  on  this  disloyal  mass  to 
make  it  bear  its  fair  share  of  the  load  under 
which  the  world  is  now  staggering. 

THE  FARMER'S  NEW  VOICE 

Kansas  Industrialist 

Men  in  business  are  always  ready  listen- 
ers when  their  business  is  being  discussed. 
Probably  the  most  striking  example  of  this 
is  found  in  the  interest  shown  by  farmers 
in  the  country  correspondence  of  a  local 
newspaper. 

Farmers  realize  that  it  is  their  neighbor 
who  is  writing,  the  man  who  farms  under 
the  same  conditions,  goes  to  the  same 
church,  sends  his  children  to  the  same 
school,  votes  at  the  same  polls — a  man  that 
has  proved  himself  to  be  a  trusted  friend. 

People  are  giving  their  attention  now 
more  than  ever  to  the  correspondent  who 
can  do  more  than  report  the  news.  The 
rapidly  developing  field  of  country  corre- 
spondence now  contains  reports  of  experi- 
ments in  feeding,  plowing,  and  seeding,  and 
the  results  of  the  harvests.  Current  topics, 
with  application  to  the  particular  locality, 
are  presented.  Questions  relating  to  roads, 
markets,  boys'  and  girls*  clubs,  machinery, 
farm  bureau  work,  schools,  and  churches 
are  discussed  and  the  views  of  different  per- 
sons are  given. 

It  is  the  new  voice  of  the  farmer  speaking 
as  an  individual  and  as  a  community.  The 
miller,  the  merchant,  the  manufacturer,  the 
laborer,  and  the  politician  are  all  watching 
the  new  development  with  a  keen  eye. 

THE  COMING  NEWSPAPER 

Ft.  Scott  Tribune 

It  probably  will  not  be  many  years  before 
the  rates  per  inch  or  per  line  in  American 
newspapers  will  be  six  or  eight  times  as 
high  as  they  are  now,  necessitating  a  great 
reduction  in  the  size  of  the  advertisements. 
This  change  would  be  attended,  also,  by  a 
great  reduction  in  the  amount  of  reading 
matters  in  the  newspapers. 

The  world's  shortage  of  newsprint  paper, 
should  it  continue  much  longer,  and  the  tre- 
mendous costs  of  labor  and  supplies  will 
bring  this  about. 

These  two  changes  could  be  effected  with- 
out serious  consequences.    Fully  one-half  of 


the  reading  matter  that  appears  in  the 
average  American  newspaper  could  be  cut 
without  curtailing  the  real,  essential  news 
of  the  day.  The  larger  city  papers  could 
eliminate  two-thirds  of  their  reading  mat- 
ter and  still  give  as  much  news  as  they 
do  give. 

The  growth  of  American  newspapers  the 
past  quarter  of  a  century  has  resulted  in 
the  padding  of  the  news  columns  to  bal- 
ance the  advertising  columns.  It  is  a  theory 
that  there  must  be  a  proportionate  amount 
of  reading  matter  to  advertising.  The  result 
is  that,  regardless  of  the  nature  or  quality 
of  the  news,  so  much  space  must  be  filled 
with  reading  matter.  News  stories  are 
padded  and  much  unimportant  stuff  is  pub- 
lished. It  would  detract  nothing  from  the 
effectiveness  of  the  merchants'  advertising 
to  reduce  the  space,  if  all  advertisers  reduce 
their  space  proportionately.  A  page  of  the 
Tribune-Monitor  would  be  just  as  effective 
were  the  full  page  but  half  its  present  size 
and  the  general  standard  of  sizes  propor- 
tionately diminished.  In  other  words,  the 
efficacy  of  advertising  is  not  measured  by 
inches,  but  by  proportions.  And  so,  if  it 
becomes  necessary  to  reduce  the  size  of 
newspapers,  to  eliminate  the  surplusage  in 
reading  matter  and  increase  the  charge  for 
space  proportioately,  the  service  to  the  ad- 
vertiser would  in  no  way  be  impaired,  and 
the  new  economic  obstacles  that  confront  the 
newspaper  trade  would  be  met. 

LONDON-CAIRO-THE  CAPE,  BY 
AIRPLANE 

Scientific  American 

The  recent  flight  from  London  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  by  way  of  Cairo,  a  distance, 
over  the  route  followed,  of  nearly  10,000 
miles,  is  comparable  with  the  12,000-mile 
flight  which  was  recently  made  from  London 
to  Australia,  and,  like  the  preceding  ven- 
ture, it  has  brought  its  full  measure  of 
useful  scientific  and  technical  data.  Colonel 
Van  Rynevelt  and  Captain  Brand,  of  the 
South  African  Air  Service,  left  London  in 
a  Vickers-Vimy  on  February  4th,  and  trav- 
eled by  way  of  Rome  and  Solium,  on  the 
African  coast,  to  Cairo.  Leaving  Cairo  on 
February  10th  for  a  non-stop  to  Khartoum, 
they  crashed  when  about  half-way  over  the 
desert  at  Wadi  Haifa,  and  the  plane  was 
hopelessly  vn:ecked.  They  salved  their  en- 
gines and  returned  to  Cairo,  where  they 
placed  them  in  a  sister  machine  and  made 
another  start.  Again  they  came  down  in 
the  tracherous  air  at  Wadi  Haifa,  but 
struggled  through  to  Khartoum.  Victoria 
Nyanza  was  reached  February  26th,  Vic- 
toria Falls  on  the  Zambezi  on  March  2d,  and 
Buluwayo    on   March   5th.     Leaving   Bulu- 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


211 


wayo,  their  machine  failed  to  rise  properly 
and  crashed.  The  South  African  Govern- 
ment sent  north  a  Royal  Air  Force  Factory 
Vickers  machine,  and  on  this  they  left 
Buluwayo  on  March  17th  and  reached  Cape 
Town  on  March  20th. 

The  lessons  of  this  extraordinary  fight 
with  the  elements  are,  first,  that  the  air- 
plane is  no  mere  fair-weather  craft,  but  is 
capable  of  winning  through  against  ab- 
normally severe  obstructions.  One  of  the 
competing  craft  had  no  less  than  eight 
forced  landings  in  a  strange  country,  in  spite 
of  which  it  was  able  to  carry  on.  We  quite 
agree  with  Land  and  Water  that  aircraft 
manufacturers  must  cut  loose  from  some 
war  conceptions;  that  just  as  the  battleship 
would  make  a  poor  merchantman,  the  battle 
plane  should  be  the  foundation  rather  than 
the  model  of  the  commercial  plane;  and, 
finally,  that  it  is  necessary  to  chart  the  air 
as  the  sea  has  been  charted.  There  are 
areas  of  dangerous  and  stormy  air  as  there 
are  of  dangerous  and  stormy  sea.  Hot,  dry 
air  was  the  cause  of  forced  descent  and  of 
failures  to  rise,  and  areas  of  this  character 
must  be  carefully  charted  before  regular 
overland  travel  can  be  achieved  with  safety 
and  on  schedule  time. 

PAPER  FROM  COTTON-STALKS 

Charleston  Post 
German  scientists  announce  the  interest- 
ing "discovery"  that  paper  can  be  made  from 
cotton-stalks,  a  fact  which  has  been  known 
and  proved  in  this  country  for  at  least  ten 
and  probably  a  good  many  more  years.  A 
while  back  it  used  to  be  quite  a  stirring 
subject  throughout  the  cotton-growing 
States,  and  there  was  a  lot  of  talk  about 
the  great  factories  that  were  to  be  put  up 
in  the  South  for  the  conversion  of  this  waste 
material  into  a  useful  product,  and  the  news- 
papers of  this  part  of  the  country,  for  a 
time,  even  dreamed  that  they  would  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  northern  pine  forests — ^and 
the  paper  trust.  We  rather  think  some  of 
the  cotton-stalk  paper  was  made  up  at 
Gaffney  as  an  experiment,  and  it  looked 
very  good,  too,  though  more  like  heavy  wrap- 
ping paper  than  newsprint.  Certainly  paper 
can  be  made  from  cotton-stalks;  the  German 
professor  has  discovered  a  true  thing,  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  he  has  had  as  happy  a 
thrill  as  used  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  folk 
hereabout  who  first  found  it  out  and  thought 
they  had  a  new  bonanza.  But  as  a  com- 
mercial proposition  the  German  financiers, 
who  have  not  too  much  to  spare  on  new 
ventures  just  now,  anyway,  had  better — 
and  it  is  a  safe  guess  that  they  will — look 
a  little  closer  into  the  matter  and  do  some 
scientific  figuring. 


WAR  AND  PANIC  PRICES 

Better    Farming 

There  is  just  complaint  of  the  present 
high  prices,  but  it  may  be  a  little  comfort 
to  know  that  they  have  been  higher.  I 
have  been  going  over  the  record,  which 
shows  the  prices  prevailing  in  the  years  be- 
tween 1865  and  1868,  just  following  the 
great  war  between  the  States.  It  appears 
that  cotton  was  $1.54  per  pound,  wheat  was 
$2.16,  cattle  $9.50  per  hundred,  hogs  $15.60, 
butter  70c,  flour  $23.50  per  barrel,  sugar 
37c  per  pound,  tea  $2.10  per  pound,  calico 
50c  a  yard,  potatoes  $5  a  bushel,  wool  $1.70 
per  pound.  Doubtless  everybody  was  ask- 
ing then,  as  now,  "Will  these  war  prices 
ever  tumble?"  They  did  tumble,  and  they 
tumbled  fast  when  once  they  started  down- 
ward. The  low  level  seems  to  have  been 
reached  in  the  years  1895,  1896  and  1897. 
An  extract  from  a  local  paper  of  that  period 
in  Iowa  has  come  to  my  desk.  The  prices 
quoted  are  as  follows:  Eggs,  7%c  per  dozen; 
butter,  10c  per  pound;  spring  chickens,  5c 
per  pound;  ducks,  S^/^c;  geese,  3c;  hay,  $6  to 
$7  per  ton;  steers,  $3.50  to  $4  per  hundred 
pounds;  cows  and  heifers,  $2  to  $2.50;  hogs, 
$2.50  to  $2.85;  sheep,  $2  to  $2.50.  Com  ap- 
pears to  have  been  worth  15c  to  17c  per 
bushel;  wheat,  40c;  oats,  lie;  potatoes,  9c 
to  12c  per  bushel;  wool,  lie  per  pound. 
Horses  were  sold  for  $5  to  $25  each  for 
unbroken  Westerns,  others  from  $20  up- 
wards, but  it  took  a  good  one  to  bring  $100. 

These  prices  must  have  been  discouraging 
to  the  farmer,  but  he  had  some  consolation 
in  the  fact  that  he  could  buy  a  pair  of 
overalls  for  35c,  suspenders  for  9c,  two 
flannel  shirts  for  45c,  shoes  for  $1.50,  ladies' 
fine  shoes  $2,  a  pound  package  of  coffee  for 
20c,  eighteen  pounds  of  granulated  sugar 
for  $1,  and  a  sack  of  flour  for  95c. 

The  chief  instruction  that  the  above  fig- 
ures impart,  both  high  and  low,  is  this:  Con- 
ditions today  will  not  be  the  conditions  to- 
morrow. No  one  desires  the  post-war  prices 
of  1865  nor  those  of  1920  to  continue. 
Neither  do  we  desire  the  panic  prices  of  1896. 
There  must  be  and  will  be  a  fair  medium 
which  will  grant  to  the  producer  a  fair  re- 
turn for  his  investment  and  labor  and  will 
give  the  consumer  the  chance  to  live  with- 
out mortgaging  his  next  year's  salary. 

PRESIDENTS  FURNISHED  BY  WARS 

Washington    Post 

"Every  war  in  which  America  has  en- 
gaged has  produced  one  or  more  presidents, 
and  despite  the  natural  reaction  against  all 
things  that  smacked  of  the  military  imme- 
diately following  the  bloodiest  of  all  wars — 
supposedly  the  last  war — I  believe  that  the 


212 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


precedent  will  be  followed  in  1920,"  said 
G.  E.  Ford  of  Denver.  "The  war  for  inde- 
pendence gave  us  President  Washington,  the 
war  of  1812  gave  us  President  Jackson,  the 
Indian  wars  gave  us  President  William 
Henry  Harrison,-  the  Mexican  War  gave  us 
Presidents  Taylor  and  Pierce,  the  Civil  War 
gave  us  President  Grant,  and  the  Spanish 
War  gave  us  President  Roosevelt.  Presi- 
dents Lincoln,  Garfield,  Hayes,  Benjamin 
Harrison  and  McKinley  all  had  military  rec- 
ords, which  beyond  question  greatly 
strengthened  their  candidacies.  Soldiers 
have  been  leaders  in  government  since  the 
beginning  of  civilization,  and  unless  human 
nature  changes  almost  overnight  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  a  soldier  will  lead  this 
country  for  the  next  four  years. 

"General  Wood  is  unquestionably  the 
leading  candidate  at  present.  Although  he 
has  become  involved  in  several  party  con- 
troversies which  may  militate  against  his 
chances,  his  strength  throughout  the  coun- 
try cannot  be  gainsaid,  and  it  will  be  diffi- 
cult for  the  other  aspirants  for  the  Repub- 
lican nomination  to  overcome  his  lead.  The 
other  soldier  candidate.  General  Pershing, 
now  looms  as  a  compromise  candidate,  due 
to  the  strife  which  has  grown  up  between 
the  candidates.  Of  all  the  soldiers  who  have 
been  elected  the  chief  civil  magistrate  of 
the  country,  not  one  has  been  chosen  on  his 
military  record  alone.  In  addition  to  the 
spectacular  prominence  accorded  a  military 
leader  in  time  of  war,  each  one  of  these 
soldier  candidates  was  made  his  party 
standard  bearer  because  of  some  quality 
brought  out  under  the  acid  test  of  war  aside 
from  purely  military  ability.  In  General 
Pershing's  case  this  quality,  prominently 
brought  out  during  the  war,  was  business 
ability— the  successful  management  of 
America's  vast  business  enterprises,  the 
American  Expeditionary  Forces.  No  man 
other  than  Roosevelt  has  ever  been  given 
such  a  reception  as  Pershing  has  been  given 
everywhere  he  has  appeared  since  his  return 
to  America.  That  the  cheers  given  him 
could  be  translated  into  votes  should  he  be 
named  at  Chicago,  there  is  little  doubt." 

THE  SHIFTING  CORN-BELT 

Brooklyn    Standard   Union 

Somebody  has  discovered  that  the  corn- 
belt  has  the  habit  of  moving,  and  announces 
the  fact,  which  is  likely  to  cause  surprise 
in  quarters  where  this  staple  is  planted, 
gathered  and  is  the  subject  of  discussions 
and  predictions. 

At  one  time  the  belt  stretched  across 
Iowa,  Illinois,  and  Indiana;  and  then  it 
shifted,  or  was  extended,  to  certain  parts  of 
Missouri,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  South  Da- 


kota. There  it  remained  stationary  for  a 
period,  and  then  it  resumed  its  travels,  go- 
ing South  into  Louisiana,  Tennessee,  Geor- 
gia, Alabama,  and  Texas. 

But  like  most  belts  it  did  not  long  re- 
main still,  and  it  has  now  migrated  to  the 
Northwest,  to  Oregon;  and  that  State,  which 
is  so  rich  in  scenery,  fruit,  timber  and  po- 
litical nostrums,  is  letting  the  world  know 
about  the  latest  shift.  Of  course,  when  the 
term  corn-belt  is  used,  it  does  not  mean 
the  nation's  center  of  corn-production,  but 
is  intended  to  include  those  sections  which 
rise  far  above  the  average  in  bushels  per 
acre  raised. 

And  where  the  corn  belt  is,  there  is  rural 
prosperity.  At  least,  the  farmers'  prospects 
of  buying  new  automobiles  are  considerably 
increased. 

A  SAGE-BRUSH  TRAGEDY       ^ 

Boston  Herald 

It  is  a  pity  that  Mark  Twain  is  not  living 
to  write  the  obituary  of  the  Virginia  City 
(Nev.)  Enterprise,  on  which  he  worked  in 
the  bonanza  days  of  long  ago.  A  brief 
news  item  chronicles  the  suspension  of  that 
newspaper;  its  passing  brings  back  the 
memory  of  the  remarkable  boom  city  where 
the  great  silver  fortunes  were  made,  a  city 
of  which  but  a  pitiful  ghost  survives  among 
the  sand  and  sage.  For  years  the  Enter- 
prise struggled  on  after  the  great  boom 
"busted,"  but  Virginia  City  could  not  "come 
back." 

In  all  the  romantic  story  of  the  West 
there  is  no  chapter  more  entrancing  than 
that  which  tells  of  the  rise  of  the  fabulously 
rich  mining-camp.  It  was  the  wildest  place 
that  the  wild  West  knew,  the  richest  center 
in  the  land,  where  millions  were  made  and 
lost  in  a  minute.  Its  days  of  glorious  pros- 
perity were  only  a  few  years  ago,  but  to 
the  occasional  visitor,  whom  curiosity  draws 
to  its  deserted  streets  and  tumbledown 
shacks,  its  glory  seems  further  in  the  past 
than  the  mysterious  civilization  of  the  Mesa 
Verde. 

The  West  is  full  of  lost  cities  and  dead 
towns,  not  only  the  mining  regions,  but  the 
prairie  states  as  well,  but  among  them  all 
Virginia  City  is  in  a  class  by  itself.  And 
the  tragedy  of  it  is  that  the  place  does  not 
know  that  it  has  long  been  dead,  and  the 
people  still  live,  or  exist,  there  who  cling  to 
hope  that  in  some  magic  way  the  boom  will 
come  back.  And  in  all  the  sovereign  State 
of  Nevada — by  the  way,  a  state  about  as 
large  in  area  as  all  New  England  and  New 
York  combined — there  are  fewer  persons 
than  in  the  city  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  and 
a  very  different  class  of  population  in  the 
main. 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


213 


THE  TERM  "TWO  BITS" 

Milwaukee    News 

The  discussion  over  the  origin  of  the  term 
"two  bits"  and  its  multiples  of  "four  bits," 
"six  bits,"  etc.,  may  arouse  as  much  com- 
ment as  the  Bacon-Shakespeare  controversy. 
To  Northern  and  Eastern  people  the  term 
sounds  like  a  popular  slang  expression,  but 
to  the  people  of  the  West  and  Southwest, 
it  is  common  if  not  provincial.  The  price  of 
"a  quarter"  is  seldom  used.  It  is  invariably 
"two  bits."  It  is  much  easier  to  say  "six 
bits"  than  75  cents. 

Explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  term 
"bit"  comes  from  the  reference  to  the 
monetary  system  in  1792,  when  the  Spanish 
milled  dollar  became  a  unit  of  money.  At 
that  time  there  happened  to  be  coined  under 
Spanish  authority  a  piece  of  silver  for  Mex- 
ico representing  the  eighth  part  of  a  dollar, 
called  a  "real,"  after  the  name  of  a  coin 
in  Spain,  and  with  the  same  value  as  the 
early  American  shilling.  Yankees  used  the 
shilling  as  a  common  expression,  and  some 
can  remember  when  farmers  in  the  Central 
and  Eastern  States  employed  their  extra 
help  at  so  many  shillings  a  day.  Six,  eight, 
ten  and  twelve  shillings  was  heard  in  all 
lines  of  trade. 

When  adventurers  went  to  California  and 
the  southwestern  part  of  the  United  States 
they  found  that  dos  reales  of  the  Mexican 
was  equivalent  to  two  shillings  in  the  United 
States.  Later  dos  reales  became  common 
as  a  quarter.  American  speech  has  ab- 
sorbed very  few  Spanish  words.  While  the 
language  is  filled  with  German  and  French 
words,  few  Spanish  words  are  found.  The 
American  never  learned  to  say  dos  reales, 
and  he  might  have  Americanized  that 
amount  by  saying  "two  bits."  Hence  it  may 
be  that  "two  bits"  is  of  Southwestern  and 
not  Eastern  origin. 

LABOR  UNREST  IN  JAPAN 

Boston  Transcript 
The  extent  to  which  Japanese  labor  is 
being  drawn  into  the  current  of  the  ideas 
which  prevail  among  the  working  classes  of 
Europe  and  America  is  revealed  in  a  recent 
interview  in  Tokio  from  Bunji  Suzuki,  the 
representative  of  the  Japanese  Government 
at  the  Versailles  labor  conference  and  the 
president  of  the  most  important  labor  union 
in  the  Mikado's  Empire.  Perhaps  Japan  is 
in  no  imminent  danger  from  an  "uprising  of 
labor,"  says  its  chief  spokesman  in  Japan. 
But  it  is  certain  that  the  workingmen  of 
Japan  have  become  conscious  of  their 
power;  that  they  are  restless,  and  no  longer 
content  to  remain  industrial  slaves,  without 
a   voice  in  the  formulation  of  capitalistic 


policies  or  share  in  the  material  profits  of 
capitalism.  Labor  in  Japan  is  alert,  aggres- 
sive, and  determined  to  achieve  the  rewards 
to  which  it  feels  entitled.  Its  policy  includes 
the  nationalization  of  the  main  industries  of 
Japan,  a  share  in  the  profits  now  monop- 
olized exclusively  by  the  capitalistic  class, 
and  in  general  the  reform  of  the  abuses  of 
the  existing  capitalistic  system,  by  heroic 
means  if  necessary. 

The  programme  thus  being  put  forward 
by  Japanese  labor  is  certain  to  prove  dis- 
turbing to  Premier  Hara  and  the  Japanese 
Government.  No  less  certain  is  it  to  cause 
uneasiness  in  the  ranks  of  the  capitalists, 
the  war  profiteers  and  the  possessors  of 
inherited  titles  of  nobility.  The  restlessness 
of  the  working  classes  of  Japan  is  the  basic 
condition  out  of  which  has  arisen  the  in- 
sistent demand  for  manhood  suffrage.  The 
cry  for  universal  suffrage,  which  so  long 
has  fallen  on  ears  which  heeded  it  not,  can- 
not much  longer  be  disregarded.  The  Jap- 
anese Diet,  which  was  recently  adjourned 
by  the  edict  of  the  Emperor  because  of  the 
deadlock  over  manhood  suffrage  between 
the  Government  and  the  forces  of  liberalism, 
is  shortly  to  reconvene,  after  a  general  elec- 
tion. It  will  come  together  then  with  a 
new  popular  mandate,  and  the  fight  for  man- 
hood suffrage  is  sure  to  be  renewed  imme- 
diately it  reassembles.  Manhood  suffrage  in 
Japan  is  inevitable  sooner  or  later.  The 
Mikado's  Government  cannot  hold  out  in- 
definitely against  the  tide  of  Western  lib- 
eralism. And  the  granting  of  manhood  suf- 
frage, by  giving  to  the  peasant  and  the 
laborer  a  share  in  the  Government,  may 
serve  to  prevent  the  present  labor  unrest  in 
Japan  from  developing  into  the  excesses  of 
radical  Socialism  or  out-and-out  Bolshevism. 

RUSSIA  AND  INDIA 

The  Outlook 
The  conjunction  of  the  names  Poland  and 
India  is  not  common,  but  it  may  become  so. 
Already  the  New  York  "Times"  says:  "The 
loss  of  Poland  might  be  a  greater  disaster 
for  England  and  the  world  than  the  loss  of 
India."  The  occasion  for  this  remark  was, 
first,  the  Bolshevist  success  in  conquering 
the  law-and-order  forces  in  Russia  repre- 
sented by  the  armies  under  Kolchak,  Deni- 
kene,  and  Yudenitch;  second,  Bolshevist 
penetration  to  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas; 
third,  Bolshevist  penetration  into  the  anti- 
Bolshevist  republics  of  Georgia  and  Azer^ 
baijan  (or,  Transcaucasia  and,  across  its 
southern  boundary,  the  adjoining  Persian 
territory),  which  are  now  pleading  at  Paris 
for  protection;  fourth,  Bolshevist  penetra- 
tion across  Transcaspia  into  Russian  Tur- 
kestan, where  the  infamous  Enver  Pasha 


214 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


is  trying  to  enlist  for  the  Bolshevists  a 
pan-Turanian  movement;  finally,  Bolshevist 
penetration  into  Afghanistan.  Thus  the 
borders  of  India  are  threatened. 

In  all  these  countries  German  and  Turkish 
agents  have  been  sedulously  cultivating  dis- 
trust of  the  Entente  Allies. 

At  a  moment  when  the  American  Govern- 
ment has  announced  the  withdrawal  of  its 
troops  from  Siberia,  the  menace  to  the 
countries  bordering  Russia  proper  to  the 
east,  to  the  south,  and  especially  to  the 
west,  is  greater  than  ever.  The  way  is 
open  for  the  invasion  of  eastern  Siberia, 
India,  Persia,  and,  above  all,  of  Poland. 
For  Poland,  as  we  declare  in  an  editorial 
on  another  page,  may  become  the  storm 
center  of  Europe. 

It  must  be  saved  from  a  strangling  to 
death  by  pincers  pressed  on  the  one  hand 
by  the  Bolshevists  and  on  the  other  by  the 
Germans.  With  characteristic  precision. 
Marshal  Foch  has  already  suggested  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  cordon  militaire,  to  be 
composed  of  the  forces  of  the  Baltic  States, 
Poland,  Czechoslovakia,  Rumania  and  Jugo- 
slavia, all  under  French  command — his 
own,  we  hope.  But  this  proposal,  which 
has  been  debated  by  the  Paris  Peace  Con- 
ference, was  rejected,  we  learn,  because  of 
the  refusal  of  the  only  power  which  could 
successfully  finance  it — America. 

THE  HIGH   COST  OF  PUBLISHING 

Scientific  American 

For  seventy-five  years  the  Scientific 
American  has  appeared  each  week,  despite 
printers'  strikes,  paper  shortage,  transporta- 
tion tie-ups,  and  the  thousand-and-one  other 
worries  that  confront  all  publishers  of  pe- 
riodicals. And,  too,  despite  the  constantly 
increasing  cost  of  such  materials  and  labor 
as  enter  into  the  manufacture  of  a  publica- 
tion, the  Scientific  American  has  steadfastly 
maintained  the  price  of  ten  cents  per  copy. 
Seventy-five  years!  A  long,  long  time  in- 
deed, as  affairs  go  in  the  publishing  world. 
It  is  a  record  of  which  we  are  justly  proud 
and  which  we  have  endeavored,  and  shall 
continue,  to  maintain  at  all  costs. 

The  past  six  months  have  witnessed  the 
problems  of  the  publisher  multiplying  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  Expenses  have  increased 
at  a  truly  alarming  rate.  Paper— the  basic 
raw-material  of  the  publishing  industry — 
has  been  increased  in  cost  every  thirty  days, 
until  at  this  writing  we  are  paying  more 
than  three  times  what  the  same  paper  cost 
in  1914.  Printing— the  most  essential  labor 
entering  into  the  manufacture  of  any  jour- 
nal— has  increased  twice  in  the  past  six 
months.  Inks,  lithographed  covers,  art 
work,  editorial  contributions,  office  salaries 


and  expenses — in  fact,  everything  that  con- 
tributes toward  this  weekly  publication  has 
greatly  increased  in  cost  in  the  short  space 
of  six  months. 

And  we  must  not  forget  to  mention  post- 
age. In  the  good  old  days,  not  so  long  ago 
in  point  of  time,  the  mailing  rate  for  all 
periodicals  was  one  cent  per  pound.  But 
Congress  has  seen  fit  to  change  this  system 
of  mailing  and  has  harnessed  publishers 
with  a  graduated  scale  for  various  distances. 
Thus  the  United  States  and  possessions  are 
subdivided  into  mailing  zones,  and  the  pub- 
lisher pays  according  to  the  distance  from 
the  mailing  point  to  the  subscriber.  Where- 
as the  rate  was  formerly  one  cent  per  pound, 
it  is  now,  in  many  instances,  three  cents, 
five  cents  and  even  seven  and  more  cents. 
The  mailing  costs,  it  is  obvious,  have  risen 
manifold — and  threaten  to  rise  much  higher. 

So,  all  in  all,  the  publisher  is  today  con- 
fronted with  the  problem  of  making  both 
ends  meet  or  relinquishing  his  periodical 
or  periodicals.  Despite  every  effort  to 
maintain  the  price  of  the  Scientific  Ameri- 
can at  10  cents  as  in  the  past  three-quarter- 
century  of  its  existence,  the  publisher  has 
at  last  been  compelled  to  increase  the  price 
per  copy  to  15  cents,  beginning  with  this 
issue.  The  annual  subscription  price  re- 
mains the  same — $5.00  per  year. 

It  is  a  matter  of  dire  necessity.  Other 
publishers  have  already  advanced  their 
prices,  in  some  cases  even  doubling  them. 
The  Scientific  American  has  reluctantly 
raised  its  per-copy  price  at  last,  but  only 
to  the  extent  of  meeting  the  added  costs  of 
publishing  it. 

PURE-BRED  ORANGES  FOR  BOSTON 

Florida    Times-Union 

The  announcement  that  the  first  shipment 
of  the  new  variety  known  as  the  Temple 
orange,  originated  by  Mr.  Gillett  in  the 
Buckeye  Nurseries,  sold  on  the  Boston  auc- 
tion at  $27  per  box,  will  be  received  with 
interest  by  every  orange  grower  in  Florida, 
as  this  is  the  recognized  high  price  paid  for 
any  oranges  produced  in  this  country  in 
the  regular  season  and  on  the  open  market. 

Florida  oranges  have  been  leading  in  the 
big  markets  all  winter,  and  even  where  the 
shipments  did  not  show  as  clear  in  skin  and 
attractive  in  appearance  as  those  from  Cal- 
ifornia, their  recognized  superiority  in  juice 
and  flavor  has  become  so  generally  recog- 
nized by  consumers  that  they  have  brought 
top  prices.  But  oranges  selling  for  $27  a 
box  are  a,  distinct  novelty. 

The  production  of  oranges  is  taking  on 
the  same  complexion  as  that  of  live  stock; 
the  purebreds  are  commanding  much  higher 
prices  than  the  grades  with  which  we  were 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


215 


content  in  the  main  until  the  past  decade 
or  two.  Now  it  is  a  mark  of  distinct  su- 
periority to  say  that  a  herd  is  all  pure- 
bred, and  when  a  shipment  of  purebred 
cattle  or  hogs  is  made  to  the  stock  yards, 
the  bidding  is  always  more  keen  and  they 
invariably  top  the  market  in  price  paid  for 
them  by  the  packers.  Oranges  and  grape- 
fruit are  getting  into  the  same  class.  They 
are  being  bred  up  to  perfection  and  the  per- 
fect types  are  being  improved  and  developed 
until  they  are  distinctly  superior  in  flavor 
and  quantity  of  juice  and  in  all  the  features 
that  go  to  make  them  so  desirable  to  the 
critical  consumer. 

The  Temple  orange  is  a  purebred,  al- 
though it  is  admitted  that  it  is  a  cross 
from  two  of  the  best  varieties  of  the  orange 
family.  The  King  orange  and  tangerine 
have  been  much  sought  because  of  the  fact 
that  they  can  be  eaten  from  the  hand  more 
readily,  without  danger  of  spilling  the  juice 
over  one's  clothes,  but  they  have  not  con- 
tained as  much  juice  as  the  regular  oranges. 
To  combine  the  kid-glove  feature  of  the 
King  orange  and  tangerine  with  the  splendid 
juice  qualities  and  quantities  of  the  best 
varieties  of  the  oranges,  has  evidently  been 
Mr.  Gillett's  plan  in  producing  this  new 
Temple  orange,  named  after  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Florida  Citrus  Exchange,  who 
was  one  of  the  leaders  in  orange  production 
a  decade  or  more  ago.  That  he  has  suc- 
ceeded has  been  amply  proven  by  the  testi- 
mony of  many  of  the  best  orange  growers 
in  the  State,  who  have  sampled  it,  and  now 
it  proves  its  selling  value  by  bringing  this 
almost  fabulous  price  on  the  Boston  open 
market. 

COURAGEOUS  FRANCE 

The    Outlook 

Anything  that  Professor  Tuffier,  of  Paris, 
says  bears  the  mark  of  authority.  The 
other  day,  at  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Surgical  Association  in  St.  Louis,  he  gave 
the  following  summary  of  "the  exact  state 
of  affairs  in  France": 

Of  the  8,400,000  men  drafted  into  the 
army  (this  figure  representing  89  per 
cent  of  possible  draftees)  3,000,000  were 
wounded,  770,000  permanently  muti- 
lated, and  1,864,000  killed  in  battle; 
this  figure  being  raised  to  more  than 
2,000,000,  counting  the  dead  of  disease 
and  missing.  We  can  appreciate  what 
this  mortality  means  if  we  imagine 
that  of  the  splendid  American  Army 
which  you  so  generously  sent  to  France 
in  the  cause  of  liberty  not  one  ever 
returned. 


As  regards  material  losses,  there  have 
been  destroyed — 

94  per  cent  of  our  woolen  mills. 

90  per  cent  of  our  linen  mills. 

90  per  cent  of  our  mineral  resources. 

83  per  cent  of  our  steel  mills. 

70  per  cent  of  our  sugar  industry. 

60  per  cent  of  our  cotton  mills. 

55  per  cent  of  our  coal  mines. 

45  per  cent  of  our  electrical  power. 

We  have  a  deficit  of  twelve  billion  francs 
revenue  unpaid  from  Russia,  Belgium, 
Turkey,  and  Rumania. 

Surgeons,  remarked  Dr.  Tuffier,  "are  ac- 
customed to  think  less  of  the  extent  of  the 
wound  but  rather  the  fashion  in  which  the 
injured  man  reacts.  What,  then,  have  we 
accomplished  since  the  war?  Since  fifty- 
seven  per  cent  of  the  drafted  men  between 
eighteen  and  thirty-four  years  have  been 
killed,  our  labor  has  been  greatly  crippled." 
Yet  France  has  restored  conditions  as  fol- 
lows : 

80  per  cent  of  the  railway  devastation. 

74  per  cent  of  the  bridges. 

18  per  cent  of  the  highways. 

49  per  cent  of  the  canals. 

30  per  cent  of  the  factories. 

33  per  cent  of  the  houses. 

"You  thus  see  exactly  what  our  losses 
have  been,"  said  Professor  Tuffier,  "and 
what  we  have  done  to  offset  them.  Not- 
withstanding this  tremendous  effort,  seven- 
ty-six non-devastated  departments  have 
paid  this  year  no  less  than  eighteen  billion 
francs  in  taxes." 

France,  he  concluded,  is  laboring  ener- 
getically. She  wishes  to  live.  "But  our 
material  resources  have  been  greatly  re- 
duced, and  all  our  energy,  all  our  produc- 
tion, all  our  exportation,  is  expended  towards 
the  reconstruction  of  our  lands  and  cities." 

Americans  will  join  in  Dr.  Tuffier's  wish 
expressed  in  these  words:  "I  hope,  for  the 
greatest  good  of  humanity,  that  the  under- 
standing and  co-operation  .  .  .  firmly 
established  between  our  two  countries  will 
continue,  and  even  become  still  more  in- 
timate." 

TWO  FRONTIERS 

Harvey's  Weekly 

General  Alvaro  Obregon  has  expressed  an 
admirable  ideal  for  the  relationship  between 
Mexico  and  the  United  States,  which  we  are 
certain  every  right-minded  American  would 
like  to  see  realized.  That  is,  "to  make  the 
international  border  like  the  Canadian  boun- 
dary, where  the  presence  of  troops  is  en- 
tirely unnecessary."  It  is  a  fact  that  for  a 
hundred  and  five  years  unbroken  peace  has 
prevailed  between  the  United  States  and  its 


216 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


northern  neighbor,  and  that  the  long  boun- 
dary line  from  ocean  to  ocean,  though  in 
parts  at  times  the  subject  of  dispute,  has 
never  in  all  that  time  been  a  military  fron- 
tier. There  is  nothing  that  this  country 
desires  more  sincerely  than  that  its  other 
frontier,  the  only  other  land  frontier  it  has, 
shall  be  equally  tranquil  and  pacific. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  with  regret  be 
said  that  it  is  not  so,  and  that  there  is  no 
reasonable  ground  for  expecting  it  imme- 
diately to  be  made  so.  We  shall  be  glad  to 
believe  that  General  Obregon  is  sincere  in 
his  expression  of  friendship  for  this  coun- 
try, and  to  note  from  time  to  time  the  prog- 
ress which,  under  his  influence,  is  made 
toward  transforming  abstract  friendship 
into  concrete  conditions.  Friendship  is  not, 
however,  enough  to  assure  the  realization 
of  his  fine  ideal,  desirable  as  it  may  be. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  upon  friendship  that  such 
conditions  depend.  We  have  been  at  peace 
with  Canada,  and  have  been  able  to  main- 
tain a  boundary  without  a  soldier,  for  other 
reasons  than  friendship.  Truth  to  tell,  we 
have  not  always  been  able  to  flatter  our- 
selves upon  the  possession  of  any  marked 
degree  of  Canadian  affection.  Certainly  in 
the  early  part  of  this  century  and  more  of 
peace,  the  old  resentment  of  the  outraged 
Loyalists  still  rankled  against  us  in  thou- 
sands of  Canadian  hearts  and  minds,  and  in 
later  years  there  were  some  acrimonious 
passages  over  North  Atlantic  fisheries,  the 
seals  of  Bering  Sea,  and  the  boundary  of 
the  Alaska  panhandle. 

The  cause  of  our  peaceful  relations  with 
Canada  is  found  in  the  fact  that  Canada 
and  the  United  States  come  of  the  same 
racial  stock  and  from  the  same  political 
and  juridical  antecedents.  We  have,  in  gen- 
eral, the  same  intellectual  disposition,  and 
regard  things  from  the  same  general  point 
of  view.  Moreover,  we  have  both  come 
from  many  centuries  of  self-governing  an- 
cestors. Marked  as  this  resemblance  is  be- 
tween us  and  Canada,  equally  marked  is  the 
contrast  between  us  and  Mexico.  We  are 
of  different  and  contrasting  races,  and  of 
different  and  contrasting  governmental  tra- 
ditions. We  have  entirely  different  ways 
of  looking  at  things.  We  have  different 
standards  of  esteem  for  law  and  order  and 
constitutional  authority.  It  would  be  un- 
reasonable to  expect  Mexico  instantly  to 
transform  herself  into  our  ways;  and  we 
have  not  yet  seriously  thought  of  Mexicaniz- 
ing  ourselves. 

Let  us  confess,  also,  that  there  is  a  vast 
difference  in  the  attitudes  and  tones  of  this 
country  respectively  toward  Canada  and 
toward  Mexico.  We  have  never  looked  upon 
Canadians  as   "damned   Greasers"  nor  re- 


garded the  natural  resources  of  their  coun- 
try as  objects  for  our  unlimited  exploita- 
tion. We  have  treated  our  northern 
neighbors  as  our  equals,  but  have  too  often 
treated  our  southern  neighbors  as  inferiors. 
The  reasons  for  that  attitude  need  not  now 
be  discussed;  the  fact  of  it  remains  indis- 
putable. And  the  existence  of  such  a  fact 
is  an  inevitable  cause  of  trouble.  These  are 
the  conditions  which  make  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two  frontiers.  They  are  not 
capable  of  being  immediately  abated.  They 
are  susceptible  of  material  amelioration, 
though  that  achievement  must  be  effected 
by  other  means  than  either  arrogant  dicta- 
tion or  "watchful  waiting."  What  is  neces- 
sary is  for  each  country  to  recognize  and 
to  respect  the  other's  differences  from  it- 
self, and  to  act  upon  the  perfectly  valid  and 
practicable  principle  that  differences,  even 
the  strongest  contrasts,  are  not  necessarily 
causes  of  hostile  conflict. 

TROUBLE 


A  Wail  from  the  Publisher 

Concrete 

There  is  the  trouble  experienced  by  the 
contractor  who  sharpens  his  pencil,  puts  in 
a  winning  bid  and  then  can't  get  his  ma- 
terials or  has  to  pay  enough  for  them  to 
break  him  financially. 

And  the  concrete  products  manufacturer 
whose  plant  is  mobbed  by  customers  clamor- 
ing for  his  goods,  at  a  time  when  he  can't 
get  cement. 

And  the  engineer  who  can't  revise  his  esti- 
mates fast  enough  to  keep  pace  with  chang- 
ing prices. 

And  the  cement  manufacturer  who  now 
has  to  figure  the  percentage  of  hydration 
in  a  gondola  car  of  cement  en  route  if  pro- 
tected by  a  tarpaulin — ^providing  he  can  get 
the  gondola  car. 

These  troubles  are  more  or  less  familiar — 
generally  more — to  the  readers  of  this  mag- 
azine.    But  there  are  other  troubles. 

The  backs  of  our  readers  are  not  the 
only  backs  that  are  aggravated  by  hair 
shirts. 

The  life  of  a  publisher  in  these  pestifer- 
ous times  is  not  all  sweetness  and  light. 

White  paper  costs  four  times  what  it  did 
ten  years  ago — that  is,  if  the  publisher  can 
find  any  to  buy.  This  issue  of  Concrete  is* 
printed  on  job  lots  of  paper,  of  varying 
quality,  picked  up  wherever  we  could  find 
it,  at  whatever  murderous  price  was  dic- 
tated. The  issue  was  delayed  while  we 
hunted  paper  on  which  to  print  it. 

A  zinc  cut  2  inches  square,  to  reproduce 
for  you  the  picture  of  a  house,  costs  $2.50. 
We  formerly  got  it  for  60  cents. 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


217 


We  hate  to  think  how  much  more  it  costs 
to  set  type  now  than  it  did  before  the  war — 
and  how  much  harder  it  'is  to  get  the  work 
done  at  all. 

A  copy  of  the  May  issue  of  Concrete, 
mailed  May  17  to  the  Editor  at  his  home 
in  Detroit,  just  four  miles  by  street  car 
from  the  printing  plant,  was  delivered  by 
the  postoffice  May  27. 

Now  this  is  in  no  sense  intended  as  an 
apology.  No  matter  what  the  difficulties 
are,  it  is  our  job  to  deliver  to  our  subscribers 
and  our  advertisers  the  kind  of  service  they 
have  been  led  to  expect  from  us. 

This  is  just  a  spontaneous  wail  that  es- 
capes us  as  we  close  the  forms  for  our 
June  issue  several  days  late. 

Trouble  is  not  confined  to  the  construction 
business — no  profession  has  a  monopoly  of 
agony. 

Patience  and  co-operation  will  do  a  lot  to 
help  conditions  until  the  Repubocrats  get 
into  office,  or  the  metric  system  is  adopted, 
or  the  single  tax  is  made  the  law  of  the 
land,  or  we  all  speak  Esperanto,  or  some 
other  cure-all  straightens  out  the  whole  ag- 
gravating, sob-starting,  profanity-instigat- 
ing set  of  circumstances  in  which  the  world 
is  trying  to  do  business  now. 

WAR  DEBTS  COMPARED 

New  York  Evening  Sun 

According  to  a  computation  made  with 
the  authority  of  the  British  Parliament,  the 
war  has  laid  upon  the  population  of  the 
United  Kingdom  almost  three  times  as  great 
a  burden  of  debt  per  head  as  upon  the 
people  of  the  United  States:  nearly  $790, 
as  against  $275.  Even  in  gross  additions 
to  their  debt,  the  British  Isles,  despite  their 
smaller  population,  much  exceeded  our 
country. 

America  entered  the  fight  when  the  going 
was  most  expensive  and  the  price  of  par- 
ticipation at  its  highest.  The  intensive 
quality  of  the  effort  swelled  the  expense. 
The  remoteness  of  the  base  from  the  scene 
of  action  added  another  generous  percentage 
to  the  cost.  But,  though  the  United  States 
attained  something  like  parity  with  French 
and  British  in  numbers  and  the  quality  of 
Equipment,  it  had  to  maintain  all  this  for 
only  a  relatively  short  time.  America's 
effort  involved  topmost  expenditure  during 
less  than  two  years.  The  period  of  British 
topmost  expenditure  ran  over  twice  as  long. 

When  we  consider  the  future  aspects  of 
bhe  great  debt  burden  resting  on  every  Brit- 
ish head,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  England 
may  to  some  extent  count  on  part  at  least 
Df  her  colonial  empire  for  help  in  bearing 
it.  The  greater  dominions,  with  their  own 
accumulations  of  war  debt,  may  not  care 


to  help  pay  the  mother  country's  besides. 
The  experience  of  1776  warns  against  press- 
ing them  tuo  hard  to  do  so.  Many  of  the 
colonies  remain,  however,  in  that  stage  of 
close  conjunction  with  the  parent  country 
where  the  accounts  can  hardly  be  kept  sep- 
arate. 

Germany,  which  expended  a  larger  total 
effort  from  first  to  last  than  any  other  par- 
ticipant, bears  only  $640  of  added  national 
debt  per  capita.  No  doubt  the  empire  would 
have  burdened  the  population  yet  more  se- 
verely if  it  had  been  able  to  extract  more 
effort  thereby.  The  former  standard  of 
costs  ran  lower  in  Germany,  and  a  stem 
system  of  paternalism  kept  the  figures  low 
until  the  very  end,  so  that  $640  per  German 
may  well  represent  more  in  the  equivalent 
it  purchased  than  does  $790  per  Briton. 

Likewise  for  the  French  does  $570  per 
head  in  war  debts  represent  a  greater  ex- 
penditure than  would  that  figure  here  or  in 
England.  All  the  debts  of  the  big  nations, 
in  so  far  as  they  are  good,  represent  obliga- 
tion to  pay  in  gold.  In  gold  therefore  they 
must  be  measured,  and  the  decline  of  paper 
money  does  little  to  lighten  the  per  capita 
burden.  Yet  oddly  enough,  in  the  case  of 
France,  the  burden  may  rest  less  severely 
than  that  of  any  of  the  other  chief  par- 
ticipants. The  French  colonial  empire,  un- 
like that  of  England,  stands  in  close  touch 
with  the  parent  country.  The  colonials  have 
proved  in  many  cases  their  sentiment  of 
common  interest  in  the  affairs  of  France, 
and  they  may  well  be  expected  to  accept  a 
considerable  share  of  the  burden. 

Viewed  together,  the  debts  of  neither  the 
British  nor  the  French  seem  of  a  magnitude 
that  need  permanently  check  their  national 
powers.  With  Germany  the  outcome  must 
partly  depend  on  the  trade  that  the  German 
industries  can  secure  wherewith  to  obtain 
the  means  to  meet  internal  obligations. 

BRITISH  COLUMBIA  HAS  TO 

SOLVE  DIFFICULT  PROBLEMS 

Spokane  Spokesman -Review 
British  Columbia  is  the  western-most 
province  of  Canada  and  the  Ultima  Thule 
of  its  expansion  westward.  Yet  it  is  not 
Canada's  far  west  as  are  Saskatchewan, 
Manitoba  and  Alberta.  It  still  holds,  as 
it  has  always  stood — isolated  from  the  rest 
of  Canada  by  its  mountains. 

Its  present  situation  is  peculiar  to  itself, 
and  it  is  devoted  to  a  destiny  all  its  own. 
The  Pacific  has  been  its  door  and  road  to  the 
world  without,  and  despite  the  transconti- 
nental railways  to  the  east  its  future  will 
mainly  develop  by  means  of  the  ocean. 

Discovered  and  settled  from  the  sea,  Brit- 
ish Columbia's  greatest  economic  asset  con- 


218 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


sists  of  the  ports  of  Victoria,  Vancouver, 
and  Prince  Rupert.  Its  large  industry  and 
its  richest  recourse  are  on  the  sunset  slope. 
There  are  the  forests  and  the  fisheries.  But 
the  railroads  through  the  interior  have  done 
much  to  promote  mining,  and  the  minerals 
and  metals  constitute  a  rapidly  developing 
resource.  The  handicap  of  British  Columbia 
is  that  the  easily  accessible  areas  of  fertile 
districts  are  few  and  that  producing  an 
adequate  supply  of  food  forms  one  of  its 
vital  problems. 

Potentially,  this  probably  is  the  richest 
province  in  Canada.  But  industry  in  Brit- 
ish Columbia  is  mainly  sustained  through 
the  industrial  demands  of  Alberta,  Mani- 
toba, and  Saskatchewan,  and  financial  de- 
pression, if  it  should  chance  to  ma- 
terialize, would  be  felt  more  in  this  maritime 
commonwealth  than  anywhere  else  in  Can- 
ada. Substantial  props  are  now  being  built. 
Since  1913  the  population  of  British  Colum- 
bia has  declined  from  400,000  to  300,000 
The  public  debt  for  railroads  exceeds  $80,- 
000,000.  The  municipal  debts  aggregate 
$165,400,000.  The  people  annually  spend 
over  $25,000,000  in  importing  foods  and  the 
production  of  farms.  The  provincial  budget 
presented  to  the  legislature  at  its  recent 
session  estimated  the  state  revenue  for  the 
current  fiscal  year  as  only  $5,944,015.  Dur- 
ing the  war  the  province  has  lost  millions 
of  possible  trade  because  it  lacks  adequate 
facilities  for  transportation  by  water  to 
ship  its  lumber  to  France  or  England. 

What  the  lumbering  interests  of  British 
Columbia  need  is  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem of  transportation.  What  the  farming 
business  requires  is  the  release  of  large 
areas  in  the  Peace  river  region  from  spec- 
ulators, and  unhampered  'iccess  to  markets. 

ACQUISITION  OF  THE 

DANISH  WEST  INDIES 

Tacoma    Ledger 

The  Danish  West  Indies,  negotiations  for 
the  sale  of  which  to  the  United  States  have 
practically  been  completed,  consist  of  three 
small  islands,  St.  John,  St.  Thomas  and  St. 
Croix  or  Santa  Cruz,  the  total  area  of  all 
of  them  being  only  about  138  square  miles. 
A  few  years  ago  their  total  population  was 
120,892.  Exports  and  imports  were  small. 
The  islands  are  not  regarded  as  having 
much  commercial  value,  and  that  is  prob- 
ably the  reason  Denmark  is  willing  to  dis- 
pose of  them.  They  are  valuable  to  the 
United  States  for  naval  reasons.  They  lie 
near  Porto  Rico,  which  is  a  possession  of 
the  United  States. 

Acquisition  of  the  Danish  West  Indies 
is  in  pursuance  of  a  policy  adopted  by  the 


United  States  several  years  ago.  In  1902 
a  treaty  for  the  purchase  was  negotiated. 
President  Roosevelt  signed  it  and  the  United 
States  senate  ratified  it,  but  the  landsthing, 
the  upper  branch  of  the  parliament  of  Den- 
mark, postponed  a  decision  and  then  prac- 
tically decided  against  sale.  One  of  the 
conditions  suggested  by  the  landsthing  was 
that  a  plebiscite  be  held  in  the  islands  to 
ascertain  whether  the  inhabitants  desired 
to  be  turned  over  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Danish  West  Indies  are  negroes. 

A  writer  who  traveled  in  the  West  Indies 
a  few  years  ago  observed  that  "as  we  sail 
down  the  eastern  islands  ...  we  find 
five  foreign  flags  and  no  less  than  a  dozen 
distinct  colonial  governments  with  no 
shadow  of  federation  between  them,  or  even 
co-operation  of  any  kind."  The  black  races 
of  the  West  Indies  were  gathered  from 
numerous  tribes  of  Africa,  and  they  show 
differences  in  inherited  qualities  as  well  as 
in  habits.  There  are  British,  French,  Dutch, 
and  Danish  islands.  One  island,  St.  Martin, 
is  divided  between  the  Dutch  and  the  French. 

Denmark  has  possessed  the  islands  we 
are  about  to  acquire  for  100  years.  St. 
Thomas  was  settled  by  the  Danes  in  1671, 
taken  by  the  British  in  1801,  restored  to  the 
Danes  in  1802,  taken  again  by  the  British 
in  1807,  and  finally  restored  to  the  Danes  in 
1815.  St.  John  was  transferred  back  and 
forth  at  the  same  time  as  St.  Thomas.  St. 
Croix  or  Santa  Cruz  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  Dutch,  British,  Spanish  and  French 
at  different  times.  France  ceded  it  to  Den- 
mark in  1733.  Great  Britain  took  it  in  1807, 
and  by  the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1814  it  was 
restored  to  Denmark. 

It  is  reported  that  the  United  States  is 
to  pay  $25,000,000  for  the  islands.  The 
price  under  the  proposed  agreement  of  1902 
was  $4,000,000. 

THE  CENTRE  DE  POPULATION 

The   Open  Road  ; 

It  is  an  interesting  reflection  that  the' 
Centre  of  Population,  though  he  is  one  of 
our  oldest  and  best-known  inhabitants,  has 
never  had  a  home  of  his  own  nor  any  per- 
manent abiding  place.  He  came  among  us 
with  the  first  settlers  and  will  be  with  us 
as  long  as  the  nation  lives,  yet  by  the  im- 
perious will  of  the  rest  of  us  he  is  con- 
stantly "moving  on";  a  sort  of  a  Wander- 
ing Jew,  condemned  to  a  never-ending 
migration. 

The  earliest  record  that  we  have  of  his 

place  among  us  is  the  census  of  1790,  the 

first  that  the  United  States  ever  took.    H( 

/as  then  in  latitude  39°-16'-30"  north,  anc 

longitude  76°-ll'-12"  west,  which  fixes 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


219 


residence   at    a    point    about    twenty-three 
miles  east  of  Baltimore. 

Nothing  more  was  heard  of  him  for  ten 
years.  Then  he  was  discovered  to  have 
moved  west  and  a  little  south,  to  a  point 
in  Virginia  about  forty  miles  northwest  of 
Washington,  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the  re- 
sults of  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  He  has 
been  pushing  west  ever  since,  and  for  a  time 
a  little  south,  too,  so  that  in  1810  he  was 
sixteen  miles  north  of  Woodstock,  Virginia, 
and  in  1820,  nineteen  miles  southwest  of 
Morefield,  West  Virginia.  There  he  ceased 
his  southern  drift  and  ever  since  has  moved 
only  west,  and  always  very  close  to  the  39th 
parallel  of  latitude. 

Crossing  West  Virginia,  he  entered  Ohio 
and  stayed  there  between  thirty  and  forty 
years,  then  passed  into  Indiana,  where  the 
census  enumerators  of  1910  found  him  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  in  the  west- 
em  end  ^of  Bloomington  City,  and  as  one 
conscientious  professor  figured  out,  under 
the  windows  of  a  furniture  factory.  In  all 
the  years  since  1790,  when  he  was  first  dis- 
covered, he  had  moved  only  five  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  miles.  In  a  little  while  those  in 
charge  of  the  present  census  will  tell  us 
how  far  he  has  travelled  since,  and  where 
he  is  now. 

The  process  is  simple. 

Imagining  the  whole  area  of  the  United 
States,  exclusive  of  Alaska  and  the  islands, 
to  be  a  plane  without  weight,  supporting  the 
whole  population,  each  member  of  which 
weighs  the  same  as  every  other  member, 
they  figured  where  the  plane  would  balance. 
At  that  point  is  the  centre  of  population. 
It  might  justly  be  called  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  population. 

The  idea  is  an  amusing  one  for  the  mind 
to  play  with.  It  is  evident  from  the  terms  of 
the  proposition  that  the  centre  of  population 
is  as  sensitive  to  movements  of  the  people 
as  the  seismograph  is  to  tremors  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth.  Not  only  does  it  re- 
spond instantly  to  great  popular  migra- 
tions, like  the  rush  to  California  in  '49  and 
the  opening  of  the  public  lands  in  Okla- 
homa, but  no  family  can  move  from  even 
one  end  of  a  city  to  another  without  affect- 
ing it.  And  since  it  is  coincident  with  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  people  as  a  whole, 
the  farther  away  the  family  is  from  that 
centre,  the  greater  will  be  the  shift  that  it 
will  cause  in  the  centre  of  population.  The 
struggle  of  the  Harvard  and  Oregon  foot- 
ball teams  up  and  down  the  gridiron,  and 
the  coming  and  going  of  the  crowds  that 
watched  them,  moved  the  centre  of  popula- 
tion back  and  forth  much  farther  because 
the  game  was  played  in  California  than  they 


would  have  moved  it  had  the  game  been 
played  in  Chicago;  for  California  is  near 
the  edge  of  the  plane  instead  of  being  near 
its  centre  of  gravity. 

Our  oldest  inhabitant  is  therefore  an  in- 
teresting personage,  whose  position  in  life  is 
inseparable  from  that  of  every  one  of  us. 
We  cannot  live  without  him,  we  cannot  even 
die  without  affecting  his  whole  subsequent 
career.    As  for  him,  he  is  immortal. 

WHAT   THE   GERMANS   THOUGHT   OF 
JUTLAND 

Scientific  American 

It  has  been  reserved  for  a  German  naval 
officer  to  expose  the  absurdity  of  the  Ger- 
man claim  that  the  battle  of  Jutland  was 
for  them  a  great  victory.  This  confession  is 
to  be  found  in  a  book  which  has  recently 
been  written  by  Commander  Georg  von 
Hase,  the  Chief  Gunnery  Officer  of  the 
battle-cruiser  Derfflinger,  which  was  in 
the  thick  of  the  great  battle  from  first  to 
last.  The  reader  does  not  proceed  very  far 
with  this  work  before  the  conviction  is 
borne  in  upon  him  that  it  is  a  straight- 
forward and  vivid  account  of  the  battle, 
written  in  a  sailor-like  manner  by  one  who 
was  an  eye-witness  of  the  dramatic  events 
which  he  records. 

Von  Hase  admits  that  the  British  "shot 
superbly  and  at  a  fabulous  speed."  "At 
times,"  he  says,  "so  effective  was  the  Brit- 
ish gun-fire  that  we  stood  powerless  before 
the  enemy,  unable  to  return  his  fire!"  The 
best  work  of  the  Germans  was  done  in  the 
earlier  phases  of  the  action,  when  the  Queen 
Mary  was  sunk.  To  quote  him  again: 
"About  6.26  p.  m.,  the  Queen  Mary  met  her 
doom.  For  two  minutes  our  salvos  had  been 
straddling  her  repeatedly,  and  ten  seconds 
after  the  last  had  fallen,  we  saw  a  huge 
red  flame  shoot  up  from  her  forepart.  Then 
followed  two  prodigious  explosions,  and 
amidst  the  smoke  we  saw  her  great  masses 
of  debris  rise  in  the  air." 

After  the  loss  of  the  two  battle-cruisers 
Queen  Mary  and  Indomitable,  he  remarks: 
"We  were  fighting  an  enemy  at  the  second 
stage  of  the  action,  inferior  in  numbers,  but 
superior  in  fighting  power,  which  was  de- 
pressing, nerve-racking  and  painful.  Our 
only  means  of  defense  was  to  sheer  out  of 
line  as  soon  as  the  enemy  found  our  range." 
In  his  discussion  of  the  last  phase  of  the 
battle  and  the  retreat  of  the  German  fleet, 
he  writes :  "Admiral  Scheer  had  realized  the 
perilous  situation  of  his  fleet.  Our  van 
was  enclosed  within  a  semicircle  of  hostile 
ships,  and  we  found  ourselves  in  the  soup 
(im  absoluten  Wurstkessel). 

"The  only  means  of  escape  was  to  turn 
the  whole  fleet  about,"  that  is,  for  each  ship 


220 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


to  execute  a  turn  through  sixteen  points. 
"It  was  decided  therefore  to  execute  the 
maneuver  unobserved  and  unmolested  by  the 
enemy,  and  this  could  only  be  done  by 
creating  a  diversion."  The  German  battle- 
cruisers  and  destroyers  were  ordered  to 
cover  the  retreat  of  the  main  body,  and  as 
Scheer  signalled  the  main  fleet  to  turn 
about,  he  ordered  the  battle-cruiser  force 
to  charge  the  enemy,  which  was  done. 

"Now,"  he  says,  "there  broke  upon  the 
Derfflinger,  as  leading  ship,  a  perfect  tor- 
nado of  fire.  .  .  .  One  15-inch  shell 
pierced  the  armor  of  C  turret  and  exploded, 
killing  seventy-three  of  the  seventy-eight 
men,  and  setting  the  ship  on  fire  at  that 
part.  Another  fifteen-inch  shell  penetrated 
a  roof  of  D  turret,  killing  eighty  men  in 
all,  instantly.  With  every  moment,  the 
British  fire  seemed  to  grow  more  intense 
and  accurate.  Another  shell  wrenched  two 
armor  plates  from  the  bows  of  the  Derf- 
flinger and  tore  a  hole  twenty  feet  by  six- 
teen feet  in  the  hull,  through  which  the 
water  poured  whenever  the  vessel  pitched. 
All  her  yards  were  shot  away,  the  flags 
burned  and  searchlights  wrecked,  and  all 
voice-pipes  and  telephone  cables  had  been 
shot  away." 

Again,  in  speaking  of  the  German  battle- 
cruiser  Lutzow,  he  says  she  was  "shot  to 
pieces  by  the  British  battle-cruisers  and  the 
Fifth  Battle  Squadron.  She  is  reported  to 
have  received  more  than  sixty  heavy  projec- 
tiles in  the  course  of  action."  Von  Hase 
tells  us  that  after  the  German  fleet  had 
retreated  toward  their  home  under  the  shel- 
ter of  the  night,  they  were  greatly  relieved 
when  dawn  broke  to  find  that  the  British 
fleet  had  been  eluded,  and  when  the  British 
did  turn  up  next  day,  the  Germans  were 
too  badly  wrecked  to  be  sent  out. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  comments 
which  the  Commander  makes  upon  the  fury 
and  destructive  effect  of  the  British  gun- 
fire; and  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  this,  only 
one  German  battle-cruiser  was  sunk,  proves 
how  excellent  were  the  defensive  arrange- 
ments, in  the  way  of  sub-division  and  armor, 
embodied  by  the  German  naval  architects  in 
their  capital  ships.  Thus,  in  their  battle- 
cruisers,  not  only  was  the  belt  and  turret 
armor  of  battleship  thickness,  but  there  was 
an  elaborate  protection  in  the  way  of  heavy 
deck  plating  against  that  plunging  fire  which 
sent  the  relatively  poorly  protected  British 
cruisers  to  the  bottom.  Commander  Von 
Hase,  as  we  have  said,  was  an  Ordnance 
officer,  and  this  fact  gives  particular  value 
to  his  observations  on  the  behavior  of  guns 
and  armor.  The  terrific  destruction  wrought 
on  the  German  ships  is  a  tribute  to  the 


value  of  the  heavy  gun  and  the  highly  ex- 
plosive armor-piercing  shell  of  big  caliber, 
such  as  the  13.5  and  15-inch  projectiles  with 
which  most  of  the  damage  to  the  German 
ships  was  done. 

LEAVES  FROM  THE 

BOLSHEVIST  "RED  BIBLE" 

Boston  Herald 

Evidence  just  given  before  the  Senate 
labor  committee  by  Lt.  Van  Buren,  a  mem- 
ber of  Gen.  Wood's  staff,  shows  that  the 
recent  "Red"  activities  at  Gary,  Ind.,  had 
their  direct  inspiration  in  Moscow  and  were 
aimed  at  the  overthrow  of  the  American 
government  by  armed  force.  The  witness, 
after  describing  the  attempt  to  organize  a 
"Red  guard"  on  the  soviet  pattern,  testified 
that  at  least  twenty  different  Bolshevist 
publications,  some  of  them  printed  in  Russia, 
one  issued  by  the  "Soviet  Workers  of  Phila- 
delphia," are  now  in  circulation  at  Gary 
and  may  be  found  in  radical  headquarters 
all  over  the  United  States.  From  this  litera- 
ture the  lieutenant  cited  sentences  urging 
"the  disarmament  of  the  bourgeoisie"  and 
"the  seizure  of  political  power"  by  "the 
destruction  of  capitalistic  armies,  govern- 
ment officials,  priests  and  all  bourgeoisie 
tools."  His  chief  sample  document  was 
the  so-called  "Red  Bible,"  a  reprint  of  the 
appeal  sent  out  from  Moscow  last  March  by 
Lenin  and  Trotzky,  calling  on  the  workers 
of  all  lands  to  unite  for  the  overthrow  of 
capitalism  and  capitalistic  governments. 
Many  tons  of  this  booklet  have  been  seized 
by  the  authorities,  yet  it  continues  to  be 
issued,  and  still  reaches  alien  workers  in 
such  numbers  that,  according  to  Van  Buren, 
"the  country  is  flooded  with  it." 

If  any  doubt  existed  as  to  Bolshevist 
propaganda  in  the  United  States,  the  Gary 
revelations  would  alone  suffice  to  dispel  it. 
There  is  the  same  kind  of  evidence  for  the 
existence  of  a  world  propaganda.  Working 
on  the  assumption  that  if  sovietism  is  to 
triumph  in  Russia,  it  must  be  imposed  on 
all  other  countries,  Lenin  has  spread  his 
net  literally  over  the  two  hemispheres.  The 
results  have  been  most  conspicuous  in  Ger- 
many, Austria,  France,  Great  Britain,  Italy, 
Belgium,  Holland  and  Switzerland,  yet  there 
is  scarcely  a  European  country  which  has 
escaped  disorder  stirred  up  by  the  Bolshevist 
emissaries.  It  has  been  charged  that  the 
Egyptian  troubles  of  a  few  months  ago 
came  largely  from  the  same  source;  to  the 
Bolshevists  have  also  been  traced  certain 
extreme  phases  of  the  nationalist  movement 
in  India.  Only  so  recently  as  last  June 
Russian  agents  were  found  conducting  an 
extensive  propaganda  throughout  Afghanis- 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


221 


tan.  In  an  address  delivered  at  Moscow,  the 
soviet  commissary,  Lunacharsky,  described 
the  proletariat  of  China  and  India  as  "the 
natural  ally  of  the  soviet  republic,"  and  in 
August  last  Lenin  formally  invited  the  Chi- 
nese people  to  ally  themselves  with  the 
Bolshevists,  declaring  that  the  "Red"  forces 
were  on  the  way  with  the  gift  of  "freedom 
to  the  people,  liberation  from  foreign  bay- 
onets and  emancipation  from  the  yoke  of 
foreign  gold  which  is  throttling  the  en- 
slaved peoples  of  the  east,  particularly  the 
great  Chinese  nation." 

Lenin  has  his^  own  Chinese  bodyguard  at 
Moscow,  and  it  is  from  China  that  he  hopes 
to  draw  recruits  for  the  "Red"  armies; 
something  more  than  rumor  also  credits 
him  with  the  ambition  to  use  the  Orient  for 
the  subjugation  of  the  west.  Bolshevist 
Moscow  prints  a  newspaper  for  circulation 
in  China  and  carries  on  Chinese  propaganda 
through  a  Chinese  department  headed  by 
Chun  Yun  Sun.  Each  envoy  sent  out  by 
him  is  instructed  to  spread  through  China 
the  statement  that  Lenin  is  a  reincarnation 
of  Chinghis-Khan,  come  to  life  again  to  lead 
Asia  to  the  conquest  of  Europe.  Portraits 
of  Lenin  in  Asiatic  attire  are  being  distrib- 
uted broadcast  among  the  Chinese,  with  the 
effect,  it  is  said,  of  convincing  the  ignorant 
among  them  that  he  is,  in  truth,  "their 
legendary  national  hero."  The  great  mass 
of  China's  population  are,  of  course,  proof 
against  these  wiles;  many  an  oriental  there 
must  be  who  will  remember  that  it  was 
Chinghis-Khan  who  with  fire  and  sword 
scourged  Asia  as  well  as  Europe.  And 
there  is  also  a  picture  propaganda  in  our 
own  land,  for  the  people  whom  Lt.  Van 
Buren  found  with  Bolshevist  literature  in 
their  possession  "usually  had  a  big  picture 
of  Lenin  and  Trotzky.  We  saw  literally 
thousands  of  these  photographs."  How  long 
will  the  misguided  devotees  of  the  soviet 
system  at  Gary  and  elsewhere  remain  blind 
to  the  difference  between  tyrants  and  lib- 
erators ? 

CANDIDATES  OF  OLD  CAMPAIGNS 

Christian    Science   Monitor 

The  United  States  convention  system  of 
nominating  candidates  for  the  presidency 
allows  the  presentation  of  the  names  of 
many  estimable  gentlemen  who  are  very 
little  known  to  the  world.  To  be  mentioned 
for  the  presidency  is  to  achieve  an  honor 
which  is  worthy  of  at  least  a  phrase  in 
"Who's  Who  in  America";  but  if  there  were 
to  be  a  society  of  those  so  mentioned  it 
could  easily  have  a  very  large  membership. 
The  student  of  history,  comparing  the 
balloting  in  conventions  today  with  the  ac- 


counts of  older  campaigns,  finds  much  to 
think  about.  How  strange  seem  today  the 
names  of  some  men  who  were  ardently  sup- 
ported for  the  presidency  only  a  few  years 
ago.  One  wonders  if  they  were  ever 
seriously  considered;  and  yet  the  writers 
of  history  tell  us  that  some  of  them  were 
among  the  chief  pre-convention  candidates. 
All  this  may  well  be  especially  interesting 
at  a  time  like  the  present,  when  the  selec- 
tion of  nominees  has  been  made  from  a 
particularly  large  field. 

Suppose  a  man  or  woman,  in  order  to 
qualify  as  a  voter  today,  had  to  give  some 
information  about  Benjamin  H.  BristoW, 
Horace  Boies,  or  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk!  Yet 
for  many  a  ballot  Mr.  Bristow  had  more 
than  a  hundred  votes  in  the  Republican 
convention  which  met  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
in  1876.  As  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  he 
had  prosecuted  the  notorious  "Whisky 
Ring"  and  earned  an  excellent  reputation  as 
a  reformer,  so  that  he  was  certainly  one 
of  the  main  figures  in  the  Republican  Party 
of  his  time.  Horace  Boies,  Governor  of 
Iowa,  was  a  leading  candidate  for  the 
Democratic  nomination  up  to  the  time  of 
the  convention  in  1896,  at  which  he  received 
a  very  considerable  number  of  votes.  Much 
of  his  fame  came  from  his  opposition  to 
the  Republican  tariff  policy.  Jeremiah  M. 
Rusk,  Governor  of  Wisconsin,  was  the 
"favorite  son"  of  his  State  in  the  campaign 
of  1888.  Afterward  he  became  Secretary 
of  Agriculture  under  President  Benjamin 
Harrison.  All  three  of  these  gentlemen 
thus  accomplished  much  in  their  own  ways, 
and  yet  they  never  reached  the  presidency. 

A  host  of  other  names  could  be  men- 
tioned. William  Windom  of  Minnesota, 
Elihu  B.  Washburn  of  Illinois,  and  Senator 
George  F.  Edmunds  of  Vermont  received 
votes  in  the  Republican  convention  of  1880. 
Walter  Q.  Gresham  of  Indiana,  E.  H.  Fitler 
of  Pennsylvania,  Richard  P.  Bland  of 
Missouri  and  Senator  Thomas  F.  Bayard 
of  Delaware  were  repeatedly  mentioned  with 
a  considerable  degree  of  enthusiasm  at  one 
time  or  another.  Marshall  Jewell,  Hamil- 
ton Fish,  and  many  another  were  talked 
of,  but  never  received  the  nomination.  The 
history  of  each  party  shows  numerous 
worthy  names.  Every  four  years,  of  course, 
adds  a  new  group  of  those  who  have  been 
eagerly  presented  for  the  attention  of  the 
nominating  conventions.  It  is  an  interest- 
ing pastime  to  look  over  these  names,  and 
to  comprehend  something  of  what  a  party 
convention  involves.  Yet,  after  ^  all,  the 
names  themselves  amount  to  but  little,  and 


222 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


are  soon  forgotten.  Whatever  of  progress 
was  really  achieved  remains,  even  while  the 
names  lose  their  meaning.  What  was  truly 
worth  while  twenty  years  ago  has  by  now 
become  merged  into  the  general  experience 
of  the  many.  One  who,  in  the  present 
campaign,  is  either 

Lifted  high. 
Conspicuous  object  in  a  nation's  eye, 
Or  left  unthought-of  in  obscurity, 

might  be  interested  to  consider  something 
of  the  history  of  the  candidates  of  the  past, 
and,  along  with  this  study,  to  read  again 
that  favorite  poem  of  many  a  president, 
Wordsworth's  "Character  of  the  Happy 
Warrior."  In  the  long  run,  it  is  the  thing 
done,  and  not  merely  the  person  doing  it, 
that  counts.  Favorite  sons  can  continue 
pleasantly  to  be  worthy  of  honor;  but  they 
need  not  congratulate  themselves  unduly  on 
the  mere  fact  of  having  been  mentioned  for 
the  presidency. 

STOPPING  WILD  SPECULATION 

New    York    Journal    of    Commerce    and    Commercial 
Bulletin 

Ever  since  the  organization  of  the  Federal 
Reserve  system  there  have  been  hasty 
thinkers  who  have  expressed  the  opinion 
that  panics  have  been  made  inevitable  or 
impossible.  Some  of  these  might  now  see 
fit  to  revise  their  opinion  or  to  put  it  a  little 
less  positively  in  view  of  the  post-war  de- 
velopments in  banking  and  credit;  never- 
theless it  is  a  fact  that  even  with  the 
extreme  stress  of  war  conditions  and  in  the 
midst  of  alarming  episodes  our  new  bank- 
ing system  has  stood  up  well  under  the 
strain.  The  question,  however,  recurs  and 
is  of  live  and  direct  interest  today,  whether 
this  or  any  other  system  can  put  panics 
out  of  the  question. 

Probably  the  old  style  panic  in  the  money 
market  so  familiar  to  the  traders  of  a 
decade  ago  is  now  fairly  well  out  of  the 
run  of  things  expected.  True,  call  money 
rates  have  shown  a  disposition  to  fluctuate 
and  to  reach  levels  which  have  been  believed 
to  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  is  nevertheless 
true  that  these  great  fluctuations  have  not 
induced  the  anxiety  that  would  have  been 
caused  in  former  days.  We  may  conclude 
that  panics  or  money  disturbances  will  not 
be  likely  to  take  exactly  the  same  form  in 
the  future  that  they  have  in  the  past.  To 
say  that  they  can  never  occur  in  any  form 
is  quite  a  different  thing  and  could  be  true 
only  in  the  event  that  human  nature  had 
materially  changed  or  that  methods  of  do- 


ing business  were  quite  different  from  those 
of  earlier  years. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Federal  reserve 
or  any  other  banking  system,  however 
strong  it  may  be,  to  neutralize  the  undue 
inflation  of  credit  or  the  disturbance  and 
anxiety  which  accompanies  such  a  condition. 
Many  think  that  we  should  not  have 
reached  our  present  inflated  level  of  bank- 
ing and  credit  had  it  not  been  for  the 
facilities  extended  by  the  Federal  Reserve 
system.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  inflation 
has  taken  place  and  the  results  of  disturb- 
ances which  have  accompanied  it  have. been 
greater  than  any  others  ever  witnessed  in 
the  history  of  this  country  or  perhaps  any 
other  country  where  solvency  and  pros- 
perity existed.  The  dollar  is  worth  only 
about  50  per  cent  of  its  pre-war  value,  or 
in  other  words  the  standard  of  our  money 
has  been  reduced  even  more  than  during  the 
bulk  of  the  greenback  period  of  the  Civil 
War.  As  inflation  increased  and  as  the 
margin  between  reserves  and  the  minimum 
reserve  percentage  has  declined  the  ques- 
tion has  naturally  occurred:  What  will 
happen  when  the  legal  minimum  is  reached, 
as  it  easily  may  be  in  the  near  future? 
The  inevitable  outcome  in  that  event  would 
be  either  a  continued  expansion  due  to  the 
suspension  of  reserve  requirements  or  else 
a  sharp  and  sudden  contraction  of  credit 
due  to  the  enforcement  of  reserve  require- 
ments and  the  consequent  cutting  off  of  the 
possibility  of  relief  for  hard-pressed  banks. 

It  is  just  this  kind  of  jar  or  shock  to 
credit  due  to  the  sudden  withdrawal  of 
support  that  in  that  past  has  caused  busi- 
ness depression  and  at  times  "panic."  In 
former  days  banks  lost  deposits  by  reason 
of  lack  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
public;  they  became  unable  to  meet  the 
demands  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  and 
they  either  failed  or  joined  together  with 
other  banks  in  a  suspension  of  payments 
mitigated  by  an  artificial  kind  of  currency 
issue  in  the  form  of  "clearing  house  cer- 
tificates." When  the  critical  time  arrived 
credit  was  contracted  and  business  suffered 
accordingly. 

If  our  reserves  today  were  to  reach  a 
minimum  figure  they  might  be  suspended, 
but  such  suspension  could  take  place  only 
to  the  accompaniment  of  a  very  drastic 
curtailment  of  credit.  Bank  failures  would 
not  occur  where  institutions  were  sound  and 
hence  able  to  rediscount,  but  the  shock  to 
business  would  be  just  the  same  as  that  of 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


223 


former  years.  Values  would  collapse  as  ad- 
ditional loans  were  withheld  and  as  a  result 
weak  houses  would  probably  go  to  the  wall. 
This  might  not  be  a  panic  in  the  old- 
fashioned  sense,  but  it  would  be  a  serious 
curtailment  or  collapse  of  credit,  and  its 
consequences  would  be  about  as  bad  in 
their  general  effects  as  those  of  former 
times.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  no 
such  situation  as  this  may  come  to  pass. 
There  is  no  reason  why  it  should;  for  the 
machinery  of  banking  which  we  now  have 
makes  it  possible  to  apply  the  brakes  and 
prevent  our  credit  machinery  from  attain- 
ing too  great  a  speed.  They  have  not  been 
set  before,  but  they  are  being  set  now  and 
if  a  proper  grip  on  them  is  maintained  it 
ought  to  be  effective.  Yet,  if  no  limits 
should  be  enforced,  but  expansion  should  go 
on,  accompanied  by  speculation  and  rising 
prices,  the  time  of  reaction  and  retribution 
cannot  be  very  long  deferred.  There  is  no 
artificial  machinery  for  avoiding  the  con- 
sequences of  over  trading  and  unwise  busi- 
ness policy,  and  it  would  not  be  wise  to  put 
such  a  mechanism  into  operation,  even  if 
it  could  be  devised. 

TOPICS   OF   THE  DAY 

Providence  Journal 

Not  quite  a  foregone  conclusion,  perhaps, 
but  certainly  a  result  to  be  expected,  was 
the  presentation  of  "an  entirely  new  theory 
of  matter"  at  the  annual  gathering  of  the 
National  Academy  of  Science  at  Washing- 
ton last  week.  To  set  forth  a  new  defini- 
tion or  conception  of  matter  seems  to  have 
become  a  periodical  stunt  on  the  part  of 
science.  The  lay  mind  no  sooner  gets  itself 
adjusted  to  one  new  idea  on  this  subject  than 
some  enterprising  theorist  comes  along  with 
a  brand-new  and  more  intricate  theory  and 
asks  the  world  to  accept  it. 

And  of  course  we  all  accept  it,  because 
there  is  nothing  else  to  do.  A  mere  igno- 
ramus cannot  afford  to  dispute  any  claim 
that  is  advanced  by  an  expert  of  physical 
science.  But  it  is  all  tremendously  baffling 
and  bewildering.  By  the  time  we  get  our 
mental  equilibrium  adjusted  in  these  re- 
spects the  scientists  invite  our  attention  to 
a  new  conception  and  the  whole  dish  of 
beans  is  spilled. 

When  those  of  us  who  are  now  old  enough 
to  vote  were  going  to  school  we  were  re- 
liably informed  that  matter  was  composed 
of  atoms,  molecules  and  particles.  The 
smallest  portion  of  matter  visible  to  the 
naked  eye  was  a  particle,  a  "grain  of  dust," 


for  instance.  But  the  particle  was  com- 
posed of  a  great  number  of  molecules,  and 
each  molecule  in  turn  consisted  of  an  in- 
finite number  of  atoms.  So  we  learned  to 
think  of  matter  as  composed  of  a  mass  of 
particles,  each  of  which  was  a  universe  in 
itself  composed  of  a  great  number  of 
separate  units  or  atoms. 

That  theory  is  still  good  as  far  as  it 
goes,  but  it  is  only  a  beginning  in  the 
analysis  of  matter.  A  few  years  ago  science 
introduced  us  to  electrons.  Personally  we 
have  always  understood  that  the  electron 
was  a  sub-division  of  the  atom,  but  from 
some  of  the  scientific  stuff  that  has  been 
printed  lately  we  are  not  sure  whether  an 
atom  is  composed  of  electrons  or  whether 
an  electron  is  a  collection  of  atoms.  Any- 
way, at  best  the  thought  of  an  electron 
was  disturbing,  for  working  microscopically 
the  task  of  getting  our  mind  down  to  a 
smaller  conception  than  that  of  an  atom 
was  absolutely  impossible.  By  a  desperate 
effort  of  the  imagination  we  are  able  to 
atomize  our  mind,  but  beyond  that  it  will 
not  go. 

But  apparently  there  is  no  stopping  place 
for  the  scientific  mind.  It  goes  on  and 
on  in  the  reduction  of  the  absolute  minimum 
until  the  ordinary  mind  gets  positively 
dizzy.  The  notion  of  the  electron  was  bad 
enough,  but  Dr.  Iriving  Langmuir  has  now 
introduced  us  to  the  "quantel."  So  now 
when  you  consider  the  tremendousness  of  a 
grain  of  dust  you  have  to  let  your  imagina- 
tion split  it  up  into  molecules,  and  then  into 
electrons  and  atoms  and  quantels.  When 
you  get  to  the  quantel  you  have  reached 
the  ne  plus  ultra  of  the  indivisibility  of 
matter.  That  is,  you  have  reached  it  so 
far  as  anybody  knows  today,  but  of  course 
it  is  an  accepted  fact  that  scientific  progress 
is  still  in  its  infancy.  Everything  we  know 
today  is  merely  a  kindergarten  exercise 
compared  with  what  will  be  known  fifty  or 
a  hundred  years  hence,  and  we  are  going 
ahead  steadily  in  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge. No  doubt  even  by  the  time  the  Na- 
tional Academy  of  Science  meets  next  year 
someone  will  have  dug  out  a  still  more  in- 
tricate theory  of  the  composition  of  in- 
numerable woozigrams  or  something  else. 
And  so  on  and  so  on,  through  the  years 
to  come. 

Dr.  Langmuir  explains  the  quantel  by 
saying  that  it  consists  of  two  parts,  posi- 
tive and  negative,  and  that  it  is  present  m 
all  matter  and  throughout  space,  moving 
in  all  directions  with  the  velocity  of  light. 


224 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


It  is  declared  to  be  capable  of  "passing 
through  matter,"  and  hence  we  may  con- 
clude that  while  it  is  an  integral  part  of 
matter  the  quantel  is  not  confined  to  matter 
but  is  capable  of  passing  in  and  out  at  will. 
Therefore,  is  it  not  logical  to  conclude  that 
with  this  phenomenal  fluidity,  as  it  might 
be  called,  it  is  possible  for  all  the  quantels 
in  any  given  mass  of  matter  to  absent 
themselves  from  that  mass  simultaneously, 
leaving  a  specimen  of  matter  in  which 
for  the  time  being  there  would  not  be  a 
single  quantel  ?  In  that  case,  it  would  seem 
that  there  may  be  much  matter  in  which, 
temporarily  at  least,  there  are  no  quantels. 

But  no  doubt  there  is  a  natural  law  which 
governs  the  behavior  of  quantels  and 
prevents  any  erratic  conduct  of  this  sort. 
If  there  is  a  "balance  of  trade"  and  a 
"balance  of  power"  in  the  childish  economic 
affairs  of  man,  it  is  perhaps  reasonable  to 
assume  that  nature  holds  a  balance  of 
quantels.  But  it  is  an  interesting  and 
rather  disconcerting  thought  that  with  the 
powers  of  movement  thus  ascribed  a  half- 
dozen  quantels  residing  in  or  on  your 
thumb-nail,  for  instance,  might  show  a 
flighty  disposition  and  fly  off  into  space 
without  a  moment's  warning.  And  as  they 
move  with  the  velocity  of  light  there  is  no 
telling  where  or  how  far  they  may  go.  A 
quantel  that  is  in  your  thumb-nail  now  may 
be  on  the  moon  a  second  or  two  later. 
Perhaps  that  is  what  happens  when  you 
hit  your  thumb  with  a  hammer,  the  in- 
stantaneous agony  being  caused  by  the 
flight  of  quantels. 

There  are  many  dazzling  speculations  as 
to  symptoms,  causes  and  effects  which  seem 
to  be  opened  up  by  this  theory.  Dr.  Lang- 
muir  makes  the  subject  a  little  clearer  by 
saying  that  quantels  constitute  what  has 
heretofore  been  known  as  the  "ether  of 
space,"  and  that  they  are  the  responsible 
cause  of  all  phenomena  of  light,  electricity, 
mass  and  energy.  He  also  declares  that  his 
new  conception  proves  that  "space  and  time 
have  a  structure  analogous  to  that  of 
matter."  Now  just  to  entertain  yourself 
please  speculate  a  bit  on  that  idea.  Try  to 
consider  the  distance  across  the  room  in 
which  you  are  sitting,  the  interval  between 
two-thirty  and  three  p.  m.,  daylight-saving 
time,  and  a  generous  section  of  apple  pie 
as  being  "analogous  in  structure."  When 
you  can  do  that  in  a  way  that  is  convincing 
to  yourself,  perhaps  you  may  be  regarded 
as  having  mastered  the  elementary  principle 
of  the  quantel. 

F.  H.  Young. 


BECLOUDING  THE  ISSUE 
Scientific  American 

The  Congressional  investigation  of  the 
criticism  of  the  first  four  months  of  our 
naval  co-operation  in  the  war,  as  made  by 
Admiral  Sims  in  a  private  letter  to  the 
Secretary,  has  developed  very  much  along 
the  lines  which  we  had  expected.  Taken 
by  and  large,  the  testimony  of  the  line 
officers  who  fought  the  war  upon  the  high 
seas  has  been  an  endorsement  of  Admiral 
Sims'  criticism;  whereas  the  defense  of  Sec- 
retary Daniels  and  the  group  of  bureau 
chiefs  with  which  he  has  surrounded  himself 
has  followed  the  expected  course  of  becloud- 
ing the  issue  by  dealing  in  vague  general- 
ities. 

In  what  way  have  Mr.  Daniels  and  the 
faithful  few  in  Washington  beclouded  the 
issue  ?  First,  by  giving  the  impression  that 
Admiral  Sims  had  criticized  the  whole  con- 
duct of  the  war  from  the  time  we  entered 
until  the  signing  of  the  armistice;  and, 
second,  by  conveying  the  impression  that 
not  only  was  such  criticism  undeserved, 
but  that  any  criticism  whatsoever  of  the 
Navy  was  as  unpatriotic  as  it  was  unjust. 
We  do  not  say  that  these  charges  were  made 
categorically,  but  we  do  say  that  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Daniels  and  his  bureau 
chiefs  has  tended  to  discredit  Admiral  Sims 
in  the  eyes  of  the  lay  public,  by  suggesting 
that  this  gallant  officer  had  cast  a  slur  upon 
the  Navy  to  which  he  belongs  by  criticizing 
its  record  throughout  the  whole  eighteen 
months  of  the  war.  Whether  this  result 
was  intended  we  do  not  know,  but  this  we 
do  know — that  by  throwing  so  much  dust  in 
the  air  in  the  endeavor  to  becloud  the  real 
issue,  a  gross  injustice  has  been  done  to  one 
of  the  truest-hearted,  most  hard-working 
and  most  brilliant  officers  that  ever  brought 
honor  and  credit  to  the  United  States  Navy. 

As  a  matter  of  fact — and  Secretary 
Daniels  knows  this  just  as  well  as  we  do — 
Admiral  Sims'  criticisms  were  aimed  at  the 
amazing  and  baffling  delay  and  lack  of 
aggressive  action  which  marked  the  first 
three  months  of  the  war — for  the  work  of 
the  Navy  both  in  the  Department  at  Wash- 
ington and  on  the  high  seas  after  those 
first  few  months  of  hesitation,  Admiral 
Sims  has  nothing  but  the  very  highest 
praise.  Of  this  fact,  his  written  and  spoken 
words  bear  abundant  proof. 

The  Admiral's  letter  was  a  letter  of  con- 
structive criticism  addressed  to  the  Secre- 
tary and  intended  for  the  most  secret 
archives  of  the  Department.  That  the 
existence  of  such  a  letter  became  known 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


225 


to  the  public  is  largely  the  fault  of  the 
Secretary  himself,  and  that  it  was  read  be- 
fore the  Committee  is  not  in  any  sense 
chargeable  to  Admiral  Sims,  but  to  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  before  whom 
the  Admiral  was  giving  testimony — and  the 
Chairman,  by  the  way,  has  publicly  ac- 
cepted full  responsibility  for  the  reading 
of  the  letter.  It  is  the  duty  of  officers  of 
the  Navy  to  write  such  letters  of  con- 
structive criticism;  they  come  into  the  De- 
partment all  the  time,  and  it  is  the  privilege 
even  of  the  youngest  ensign  to  send  in  a 
letter  of  this  kind,  if  he  thinks  he  has 
criticisms  or  suggestions  to  offer,  which 
may  add  to  the  sum  total  of  technical  in- 
formation in  the  Department  files  and  serve 
to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Navy  as  a 
whole. 

There  has  always  been  a  large  body  of 
men  in  the  Navy  who,  thank  Heaven,  believe 
that  our  Navy  is  never  so  good  but  that  it 
can  be  greatly  improved,  and  among  these 
Admiral  Sims  has  always  been  conspicuous. 
He  believes  that  a  navy  thrives  best  in  a 
bracing  atmosphere  of  friendly,  helpful 
criticism,  and  that  nothing  is  so  hurtful  to 
its  progress  as  the  atmosphere  of  everlast- 
ing and  overdone  adulation  with  which  a 
secretary  of  strongly  political  instincts  is 
prone  to  surround  his  navy. 

That  the  Navy  was  ill-balanced  and  in  no 
condition  immediately  to  enter  a  great  war 
was  well  known  and  universally  admitted 
by  the  officers  of  the  Navy  in  the  period  of 
1913-1914.  When  Admiral  (then  Captain) 
Sims  bent  every  effort  to  awaken  the  nation 
to  our  state  of  unpreparedness,  it  was 
largely  in  answer  to  this  appeal  that  the 
Scientific  American  wrote  a  series  of  ten 
articles  under  the  caption  "The  Needs  of  the 
United  States  Navy,"  which  appeared  in 
the  spring  of  1914  and  therefore  only  a  few 
months  before  the  war.  Secretary  Daniels 
not  only  gave  the  editor  every  facility  to 
acquire  the  necessary  data  as  to  our  un- 
preparedness, but  he  himself  crowned  his 
approbation  by  contributing  one  of  the 
articles.  Now,  the  remarkable  facts  which 
we  wish  to  bring  out  are  that  the  most 
stringent  of  the  Admiral's  criticisms  were 
mild  compared  to  the  facts  as  to  our  un- 
preparedness which  were  revealed  in  that 
series  of  articles;  and  that  such  criticisms 
as  he  made  of  our  first  four  months  of 
participation  in  the  war  show  that  what  did 
happen  was  about  what  we  predicted  would 
happen,  when  we  were  disclosing  the  needs 
of  the  Navy  early  in  1914. 


We  are  writing  this  in  the  interests  of 
truth  and  justice  and  in  the  hope  that  it 
may  serve  to  blow  away  the  dust  of  un- 
generous innuendo  and  misrepresentation 
with  which  the  real  issue  has  been  beclouded 
and  the  record  of  a  brilliant  and  highly 
patriotic  naval  officer  besmirched. 

Let  us  get  this  thing  straight;  for  the 
facts  are  simple  and  they  are  of  record. 
For  several  months  at  the  most  critical 
period  of  the  naval  war,  America's  partici- 
pation was  confined  to  a  single  executive 
representative  in  London,  with  only  one 
assistant  to  help  him;  and  the  repeated,  ur- 
gent recommendations  of  this  representative 
that  our  Navy  Department  get  into  the  war 
at  once  by  sending  every  possible  destroyer 
and  anti-submarine  craft  to  the  theater  of 
operations,  were  either  refused  or  ignored. 

Would  it  not  be  advisable  for  the  Secre- 
tary to  stop  making  smoke  screens  and  get 
down  to  the  business  of  explaining  this 
most  amazing  situation? 

SCREEN  VERSUS  STAGE 

Boston  Transcript 

There  is  a  vast  amount  of  chatter  just 
now  about  the  encroachment  of  the  "movies" 
upon  the  legitimate  territory  of  the  theater. 
Much  of  it  belongs  to  that  order  of  gossip 
of  which  there  is  apt  to  be  an  outbreak  at 
the  approach  of  each  successive  "silly  sea- 
son." Some  of  it,  in  the  absence  of  more 
serious  matter,  may  justify  a  few  words 
of  comment.  The  recent  jeremiad  of  a 
prominent  manager  predicting  the  ultimate 
extinction  of  the  theatre,  or  its  survival 
simply  as  a  subservient  handmaid  to  the 
film,  was,  of  course,  the  negligible  utterance 
of  unreflecting  impulse  or  sheer  panic.  The 
theatre  as  a  dramatic  institution  is  in  no 
sort  of  danger.  Between  it  and  the  moving 
picture  show  the  difference  in  aims  and  re- 
sources is  so  great  that  any  real  competi- 
tion between  them  is  almost  inconceivable. 
There  will  always  be  a  demand  for  the 
better  sort  of  acted  and  spoken  drama, 
which  the  movies  cannot  even  attempt  to 
supply.  But  that  the  commercial  develop- 
ment of  the  shadow  drama  constitutes  a 
serious  menace  to  the  occupation  and  the 
pockets  of  commercial  speculators  in  va- 
rious inferior  forms  of  theatrical  entertain- 
ment seems  to  be  entirely  credible,  although 
scarcely  a  cause  for  profound  lamentation. 
It  is  likely,  indeed,  in  the  long  run  to  prove 
highly  beneficial  to  the  theatre. 

It  may  be  as  well,  before  going  further, 
to  disavow  any  intention  of  speaking  dis- 
paragingly of  the  movies  in  general. 
Many  of  them  are  highly  admirable,  not 


226 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


only  from  a  pictorial  point  of  view  but  for 
various  other  sterling  qualities.  They  are 
interesting,  artistic  and  instructive.  Others 
are  sensational  and  somewhat  silly,  but,  on 
the  whole,  comparatively  harmless,  while 
among  the  cheaper  varieties  not  a  few  are 
irredeemably  stupid  or  bad.  Much  the  same 
might  be  said  truthfully  of  the  various  ex- 
hibitions in  the  regular  theatres.  In  fact, 
between  the  products  of  the  picture  and 
the  acting  stages  there  are  points  of  simili- 
tude as  well  as  radical  and  irreconcilable 
differences.  And  these  differences,  it  should 
be  noted,  grow  wider  and  wider  as  each 
of  the  rival  enterprises  makes  an  advance 
in  its  especial  province,  the  movie  stage  in 
the  marvels  of  spectacle  and  the  theatre  in 
the  finest  achievements  of  the  spoken 
drama.  This  must  always  continue  to  be 
the  case  so  long  as  the  shadow  actors  re- 
main dumb,  which  will  be  until  the  occur- 
rence of  some  new  mechanical  miracle.  And 
even  that  could  not  abolish  the  need  of 
properly  trained  actors.  In  short,  the  movie 
stage  must  always  be  more  or  less  depend- 
ent upon  the  theatre,  with  which  it  cannot 
compete  upon  equal  terms,  although  it  may, 
and  doubtless  will,  interfere  very  seriously 
with  the  receipts  of  many  theatrical  box 
offices. 

This  is  where,  for  the  moment,  it  has 
great  and  obvious  advantages.  In  the  first 
place,  it  can  make  cheap  "releases."  No 
doubt  the  initial  cost  of  an  elaborate  spec- 
tacle is  very  great,  but  when  the  pictures 
have  once  been  made  they  can  be  reproduced 
simultaneously  in  as  many  places  as  is  de- 
sirable and  transported  with  a  minimum  of 
trouble  or  expenditure,  piling  up  profits  at 
every  turn.  It  can  give  fifty  or  a  hundred 
performances  where  the  theatre  can  only 
give  one,  while  from  many  of  the  incidental 
daily  expenses  of  the  theatre  it  is  almost 
entirely  free.  Moreover,  it  has  no  difficulty 
in  finding  suitable  places  of  exhibition  in 
almost  every  locality.  Thus  it  can  furnish 
entertainment  close  at  hand  for  innumerable 
groups  of  population  and  adapt  the  nature 
of  the  show  to  local  conditions ;  and — a  most 
important  consideration — it  can  provide 
popular  performances  at  prices  suited  to 
the  purses  of  its  prospective  patrons.  In- 
cidentally, in  its  borrowings  from  the  drama 
it  can  reap  the  benefit  of  the  preliminary 
advertisements  which  have  been  paid  for  by 
the  theatrical  manager.  It  is,  from  almost 
every  point  of  view,  a  most  attractive  busi- 
ness proposition — for  the  present  at  any 
rate — and  it  is  in  the  hands  of  shrewd  pro- 
moters, quick  to  make  the  best  use  of  exist- 
ing opportunities. 


When  the  circus  comes  to  town  there  is 
apt  to  be  a  notable  decrease  in  the  receipts 
at  many  box  offices.  In  the  movie  houses 
theatre  managers  have  to  deal  with  a  per- 
petual circus  of  constantly  increasing  ca- 
pacity and  attractiveness.  They  are  con- 
fronted with  an  organization  of  rival 
showmen  who — to  quote  their  own  favorite, 
but  fallacious  phrase — are  giving  the  people 
what  they  want  and  charging  them  very 
much  less  for  it.  Some  of  them  seem  to 
think  that  the  fact  that  amusement  seekers 
will  go  where  they  get  most  fun  for  their 
money  is  a  sign  that  it  is  about  time  for 
the  theatre  to  shut  up  shop.  Of  course  it 
is  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  does  not  appear 
to  occur  to  these  hitherto  lucky  profiteers 
that  it  is  possibe  to  fight  the  movies  with 
their  own  weapons,  or  that  the  theatre  is 
possessed  of  resources  which  are  peculiarly 
and  exclusively  its  own.  They  are  scared 
out  of  their  wits  at  the  mere  notion  of  a 
legitimate  competition  outside  their  own 
domain,  which  they  have  for  so  many  years 
conspired  to  smother  within  it.  The  answer 
to  the  menace  of  the  movies  such  as  it  is, 
may  be  found  in  a  policy  of  better  plays — 
and  more  of  them — better  acting  and  more 
reasonable   prices. 

Financial  success  of  the  most  substantial 
kind  has  attended  the  plays  to  which,  by 
common  consent,  the  chief  artistic  honors 
have  been  accorded.  They  were  not  de- 
serted for  the  movies.  The  lesson  here  is 
plain  enough  for  any  one  to  read,  and  shows 
in  what  way  the  prosperity  and  progress 
of  the  theatre  may  be  most  certainly  se- 
cured. There  would  be  no  cause  for  anxiety 
even  if  more  good  pictures  were  substituted 
for  inferior  plays,  and  this  would  certainly 
happen  if  the  theatrical  managers  should  be 
foolish  enough — at  this  time  of  all  others — 
to  make  any  attempt  to  raise  their  prices 
without  any  corresponding  improvement  in 
the  quality  of  their  goods. — J.  Ranken 
Towse    in    The    New    York    Evening    Post. 

The  fact  that  the  moving  picture  mag- 
nates are  rapidly  extending  their  control 
over  the  producing  playhouses  of  Broadway 
has  its  significance,  certainly.  In  its  char- 
acter as  an  industry,  as  distinguished  from 
an  art,  the  screen  is  asserting  its  control 
over  the  spoken  drama.  Plot  rises  supreme 
above  the  varied  and  delicate  portrayal  of 
character,  mere  bodily  action  above  the  in- 
finitely subtle  revelations  of  human  speech 
— above  dramatic  literature,  in  short. 

The  triumph  of  the  moving  picture  indus- 
try is  signalized  by  the  fact  that  it  has  won 
the  citadels  of  the  Empire  and  the  Lyceum 


REVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


227 


Theatres.  This  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
American  stage,  no  less.  These  are  the 
houses  in  which  contemporary  drama  first 
became  literate.  The  elder  stock  companies 
of  Wallack,  Palmer  and  Augustin  Daly  had 
their  glory  of  the  Shakespearean  repertory, 
which  has  never  since  been  equaled;  but 
for  their  modern  pieces  they  relied  mainly 
upon  the  melodrama  of  Paris,  the  comedy 
of  Berlin.  In  the  old  Lyceum  and  the  Em- 
pire the  "new  school"  of  English  comedy 
came  to  us — Pinero,  Barrie,  Henry  Arthur 
Jones,  Oscar  Wilde  and  their  fellows.  It 
was  a  drawing-room  world  they  lived  in, 
and  their  theme  was  the  motions  of  the 
delicate  heart,  expressed  in  the  speech  of 
the  socially  elect.  Clyde  Fitch  and  Augus- 
tus Thomas  applied  their  manner  to  Ameri- 
can life.  But  the  new  school  is  new  no 
longer.  In  Am.erican  life  the  drawing  room 
is  a  mere  incident,  and  mainly  exotic  at 
that.  Later  playwrights  portrayed  the 
great  public  in  its  habits  as  it  lived — in 
business  office,  commercial  hotel,  State 
House  and  State's  Prison.  In  emotion  and 
lirmor  what  was  delicate  became  racy,  vig- 
orous. High  comedy  gave  way  to  popular 
farce,  drama  to  melodrama.  The  subtleties 
and  distinction  of  educated  speech  were 
supplanted  by  the  great  American  "Slan- 
guage"— the  subtleties  and  distinctions  of 
which  are  fewer  but  perhaps  no  less  real. 
In  a  word,  the  drama  met  its  conquerer 
half  way — marched  forth  from  the  citadels 
of  polite  comedy  to  capitulate.  The  real 
conqueror  was  not  the  moving  picture  nor 
its  backers  in  Wall  Street;  it  was  the  in- 
stinctive demand  of  the  American  people 
to  see  itself  depicted  in  its  native  moods. 

Scorn  not  the  movie — nor  yet  its  blood 
brothers,  the  farce  of  bedroom  and  hotel 
lobby,  the  melodrama  of  Tenderloin  and 
criminal  court.  Their  virtues  may  be  few, 
but  they  are  fundamental,  even  in  the  most 
literate  drama.  They  deal  in  basic  passions 
and  racy,  familiar  character.  They  tell  a 
story  nimbly  and  with  rapid,  cumulative 
effect.  Aristotle  himself  found  the  primary 
value  of  a  drama  in  its  "fable" — salient 
character  in  action.  The  "literary"  qualities 
were  subordinate  to  plot,  as  sculpture  and 
painting  are  subordinate  to  the  rhythms  of 
great  architecture.  Shakespeare  himself  took 
his  best  plots,  perhaps  all  of  them,  from  the 
current  drama  and  literature  of  his  day. 
His  masterpieces,  as  Victor  Hugo  said,  are 
each  a  soul  tragedy  impaled  upon  the  frame- 
work of  a  popular  melodrama.  Even  his 
dramaturgy  was  that  of  the  screen  rather 
than  of  the  modern  stage.    There  are  many 


of  his  plays,  as  for  example,  "The  Tempest" 
and  "Macbeth,"  the  swift  development  and 
moving  climax  of  which  are  identical  in 
technique  with  the  rapidly  changing  screen 
and  cannot  be  realized  in  the  theatre  except 
by  reverting  to  the  nimbler  shifts  of  his 
own  unhampered  stage.  That  our  plays  are 
produced  with  more  than  one  eye  upon 
their  subsequent  availability  for  the  screen 
is  not  an  unmitigated  loss.  The  basic  ele- 
ments of  drama  will  be  valued  and  rec- 
ognized as  never  before.  In  point  of  fact, 
our  public  is  far  from  scorning  the  movie, 
whatever  the  pseudo-literary  may  say. 

It  is  possible  that  a  more  exalted  drama 
will  be  achieved  by  investing  the  popular 
fable  with  the  raiment  of  exalted  poetry  and 
passion,  so  that,  reversing  the  progress  of 
Greek  and  Elizabethan  drama,  the  great 
play  may  descend  to  humbler  spheres, 
stripped  of  its  literary  quality.  As  yet 
this  has  not  been  definitely  accomplished. 
The  ruling  spirit  is  antagonism.  When  the 
Broadway  theatres  capitulated,  the  more 
literate  comedy  and  drama  took  refuge  in 
lanes  and  byways,  to  lead  there  an  obscure 
and  fitful  life — the  Washington  Square 
Players,  the  Provincetown  Players,  the 
Theatre  Guild.  Of  three  distinguished  pro- 
ductions of  the  present  season,  Booth 
Tarkington's  "Clarence"  is  incapable  of 
transfer  to  the  screen  without  loss  of  all 
its  essential  quality;  St.  John  Ervine's  "Jane 
Clegg"  and  Eugene  O'Neill's  "Beyond  the 
Horizon"  contain  more  viable  stories,  but 
not  of  a  distinctly  popular  character.  The 
problem  of  making  the  straddle  between 
drama  and  movie  is  probably  insoluble  ex- 
cept by  the  rarest  genius. — John  Corbin  in 
the  New  York  Times. 

HOUSES  FOR  HARMONY 

AN  OPPORTUNITY  TO  QUELL  UNREST 
Congressman  Tinkham  of  Massachusetts 
Has  a  Plan  Which  Representatives  of 
National  Organizations  Believe  Would 
Do  Much  to  Make  the  Country  Contented 
— Ten  Million  Families  Live  in  Rented 
Houses  in  the  United  States — Decline  in 
Ownership  of  Homes — Plans  for  Twenty 
Thousand  Houses  Available — A  Federal 
Agency  Necessary,  and  Valuable  Infor- 
mation at  Hand 

Regular    Correspondent    of    the    Boston    Transcript 

Washington,  Nov.  13. 
Congress,  in  the  opinion  of  represent- 
atives of  scores  of  national  organizations, 
will  stem  the  tide  of  unrest  and  at  the 
same  time  please  both  capital  and  labor  if 
it  acts  promptly  on  the  bill  introduced  by 


228 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Congressman  George  Holden  Tinkham  of 
Boston  to  create  a  Bureau  of  Housing  and 
Living  Conditions  in  the  Department  of 
Labor.  These  representatives  seemed  to 
have  convinced  the  congressional  committee 
which  has  heard  their  arguments  that  better 
housing  conditions  will  improve  the  coun- 
try-wide situation,  that  the  owner  of  a 
home  is  not  so  likely  to  be  carried  away 
by  the  hue  and  cry  of  radicals  as  the  man 
who  has  nothing  at  stake.  A  question  up- 
permost in  the  minds  of  the  committee 
members,  however,  is  whether  the  Tinkham 
bill,  which  limits  the  activities  of  the 
proposed  bureau  to  research,  experimenta- 
tion and  the  giving  of  advice,  goes  far 
enough.  This  question  will  be  settled  dur- 
ing the  coming  month  when  some  plan  will 
be  evolved  to  solve  the  vexing  housing 
problem  which  faces  practically  every  city 
in  the  United  States. 

10,000,000  Families  Live  in  Rented  Homes 

The  housing  shortage  is  pictured  as  being 
more  acute  now  than  at  any  other  time  in 
the  history  of  the  country.  It  is  estimated 
that  there  is  a  deficiency  of  one  million 
homes  at  the  present  time.  No  less  than 
100,000  business  blocks  have  been  turned 
into  tenement  houses  since  the  war  began 
and  the  persons  who  have  crowded  into 
these  buildings  are  living  under  the  worst 
possible  conditions.  Surveys  made  in  the 
large  cities  reveal  that  practically  10,000,000 
people  are  living  under  conditions  which 
make  for  deterioration  of  the  human  race. 
The  next  generation  is  suffering.  Statistics 
laid  before  the  committee  reveal  that  the 
death  rate  of  children  under  five  years  of 
age  in  one  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country 
is  three  times  as  large  as  the  death  rate  of 
children  in  the  communities  adjoining  that 
same  city.  Official  figures  show  that  of 
20,255,000  families  in  the  United  States, 
10,697,000  live  in  rented  houses. 


Home  Ownership  Is  Declining 

One  reason  for  the  shortage  of  homes 
is  that  home  building  practically  ceased  in 
the  early  days  of  the  war.  The  situation 
has  been  made  more  acute  since  the  signing 
of  the  armistice  by  the  difficulty  in  secur- 
ing loans  for  building  purposes.  Another 
factor  is  the  rapid  growth  of  urban  popu- 
lation which  would  have  forced  the  housing 
problem  on  the  attention  of  the  nation  even 
though  construction  had  not  been  stopped 
by  the  war.  The  urban  population  was  46 
per  cent  of  the  whole  in  1910  according  to 
the  census  taken  that  year,  and  the  rate 


of  increase  since  then  has  been  so  great 
that  the  1920  census  is  expected  to  show 
that  more  than  50  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion is  in  cities.  Slum  conditions  are  pic- 
tured as  being  worse  than  they  were  a  few 
years  ago  and  home  ownership  is  said  to 
be  declining  steadily.  The  increasing  land 
values,  the  increasing  cost  of  construction, 
the  increasing  cost  of  maintenance  and 
the  increasing  cost  of  transportation  are 
rendering  more  and  more  difficult  the 
problem  of  the  working-man  to  provide 
adequate  shelter  for  his  family  within  a 
reasonable  distance  of  his  work. 

A  Clearing  House  of  Information 

Persons  who  have  made  a  study  of  the 
situation  say  it  is  significant  that  the  man 
whose  dissatisfaction  with  the  Government 
leads  him  to  propose  revolutionary  meas- 
ures is  usually  the  homeless  man  who 
comes  from  intolerable  living  conditions, 
the  man  who  has  nothing  to  lose  by  de- 
stroying order.  In  their  opinion  the  solu- 
tion lies  in  the  Government  making  a  care- 
ful investigation  of  conditions  in  all  parts 
of  the  country;  in  scientific  study  and  ex- 
perimentation to  find  means  of  relief;  and 
in  wide  dissemination  of  the  experience  of 
each  community  and  of  experts.  They  have 
seized  upon  the  Tinkham  bill  as  the  best 
means  of  securing  the  desired  results.  This 
measure  provides  for  the  creation  of  a 
bureau  to  conduct  these  investigations,  re- 
searches and  experimentations  and  directs 
it  to  serve  as  a  clearing  house  of  informa- 
tion on  housing  and  living  conditions.  To 
the  proposed  bureau  would  be  transferred 
the  collections  of  plans,  books,  pamphlets, 
reports  and  other  material  gathered  by  the 
United  States  Housing  Corporation  and  by 
the  Housing  and  Transportation  Division 
of  the  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation.  The 
bureau  would  be  authorized  to  expend 
$250,000  in  conducting  its  work. 

A  Federal  Agency  Imperative 

W.  B.  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Labor,  heartily 
approves  of  the  creation  of  the  bureau.  In 
a  letter  to  Congressman  John  W.  Langley, 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Build- 
ings and  Grounds,  Mr.  Wilson  says  that 
the  shortage  of  houses  and  the  prevalence 
of  unwholesome  living  conditions  have  as- 
sumed proportions  which  make  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Federal  agency  for  advice  and 
research  imperative.  "It  is  important," 
says  the  Secretary,  "that  th^e  should  be  a 
clearing  house  for  information  on  housing 
and  living  conditions,  in  order  to  handle  the 


KEVIEW  AND  SURVEY  EDITORIALS 


229 


scores  of  requests  coining  to  this  depart- 
ment daily  from  Chambers  of  Commerce, 
builders,  manufacturers,  committees  and 
individuals  intending  to  build  homes.  I 
cordially  approve  both  the  principle  and  the 
detailed  provisions  of  the  bill  and  hope  that 
such  a  measure  will  be  passed  at  this  ses- 
sion, in  order  that  such  an  advisory  bureau 
may  be  established  at  once.  There  is  no 
doubt  the  housing  shortage  in  America  will 
be  more  acute  this  winter  than  it  has  been 
at  any  other  time  in  the  history  of  this  na- 
tion, and  every  effort  should  be  tried  to 
stimulate  the  building  of  homes  and  to  as- 
sist communities  in  making  available  hous- 
ing facilities  in  order  that  the  hardships 
may  be  reduced  to  a  minimum." 

Plans  of  20,000  Houses  Available 

During  the  war  the  Government  spent 
something  like  $100,000,000  on  housing.  In 
the  possession  of  wartime  boards  are  plans 
for  no  less  than  twenty  thousand  houses 
which  were  drafted  by  hundreds  or  archi- 
tects who  stopped  drawing  plans  of  sky- 
scrapers and  great  buildings  of  all  kinds  to 
design  houses  which  the  Government  could 
build  for  from  $3000  to  $6000  each.  It  is 
argued  that  the  country  will  get  its  greatest 
salvage  out  of  the  war  if  it  makes  use  of 
these  plans  for  peace-time  purposes.  If  the 
plans  are  not  used  they  will  be  sold  eventu- 
ally for  junk  at  approximately  one  cent  a 
pound.  The  proposal  in  the  Tinkham  bill 
to  utilize  these  plans  is  not  novel.  Con- 
gress in  the  past  has  provided  bureaus  for 
several  departments  similar  to  the  proposed 
bureau.  The  Interior  Department  has  its 
general  land  office  in  the  Geological  Survey; 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  its  Bureau 


of  Animal  Industry,  the  Forest  Service  and 
the  Insect  Bureau;  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce has  its  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Service  and  the  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey;  while  the  Department  of 
Labor  has  a  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  and 
the  Children's  Bureau. 


26  Countries  Encouraging  Building 

What  is  proposed  for  the  United  States 
is  already  being  done  in  25  countries. 
Every  European  nation  and  most  of  the 
British  colonies  have  taken  governmental 
action  to  enable  the  city  worker  to  provide 
his  family  with  a  house  and  decent  living 
conditions.  Even  before  the  war  Great 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Den- 
mark, Hungary,  Italy,  Norway,  Sweden, 
Roumania  and  half  a  dozen  other  countries 
had  provided,  either  through  loans  from 
public  funds,  through  subsidy  or  through 
some  other  form  of  government  aid,  the 
decent  housing  necessary  to  maintain  the 
health  and  vigor  of  their  people.  Great 
Britain  now  has  before  Parliament  a  bill 
extending  the  housing  acts  of  1890  and  1909, 
by  making  it  mandatory  for  local  govern- 
ment authorities  to  provide  housing  for  in- 
dustrial workers.  In  case  the  local  author- 
ities failed  to  act,  the  Government  board 
may  step  in,  take  the  necessary  action  and 
charge  the  cost  to  the  local  community. 
The  bill  is  expected  to  pass  substantially 
in  the  form  in  which  it  was  introduced. 
Canada,  since  the  armistice,  has  provided  a 
fund  of  $25,000,000  to  be  loaned  through 
the  provincial  governments  to  local  govern- 
ments, building  societies  and  individuals  to 
build  homes. 


CHAPTER    VI 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


The  editorials  in  this  division  have 
as  their  common  characteristic  the 
employment  of  interpretation,  with 
the  aim  of  clarifying  and  explaining, 
or  of  imparting  direct  instruction,  or 


of  otherwise  considering  and  com- 
menting upon  the  matter  involved  in 
such  ways  as  will  produce  a  better 
understanding  of  the  subject.  See 
Part  I,  Chapter  VI. 


THE  BUDDING  OF  MARSHALL 

flichmond    Times-Dispatch 

Vice-President  Marshall  has  grown  tre- 
mendously in  public  as  well  as  party  favor 
in  the  last  few  months.  As  Governor  of 
Indiana  he  was  one  of  the  party  stalwarts; 
then  the  vice-presidency  seemed  to  swallow 
him  up.  But  recently. he  has  emerged  from 
the  shadow  of  his  office  and  today  he  stands 
four-square  to  the  world,  a  big  man  and  a 
big  Democrat,  and  whether  he  intends  it  so, 
a  clever  politician.  The  Times-Dispatch  has 
said  before,  and  repeats  it  now,  that  the 
party,  when  it  convenes  in  San  Francisco, 
could  go  much  further  and  do  much  worse 
than  to  make  him  its  standard-bearer.  Cer- 
tainly he  can  have  Virginia's  electoral  vote, 
provided  its  own  favorite  son  is  not  in  the 
running. 

THE  FACULTY  OF  LOOKING  AHEAD 

Syracuse     Post-Standard 

Herbert  Hoover  knows  more  about  eco- 
nomic conditions  in  the  United  States  and 
abroad  than  any  other  man.  He  knows  not 
because  of  super-intelligence,  but  because  he 
has  studied  and  figured  upon  these  condi- 
tions. What  is  the  value  of  this  habit  of 
study  and  of  application  of  its  results? 
Listen: 

Mr.  Hoover  proposed  a  year  ago  that  the 
United  States  should  purchase  the  Cuban 
sugar  crop,  which  was  selling  at  about  one- 
half  its  present  prices.  He  saw  what  was 
coming,  not  because  he  has  the  gift  of 
clairvoyance,  but  because  he  had  the  facts 
in  front  of  him  and  he  looked  ahead.  If 
Mr.  Hoover's  counsel  had  been  followed  the 
saving  to  the  American  public  would  be 
about  $100,000,000  a  month. 

LABOR  AND  FALLING  PRICES 

Fibre  and  Fabric 

No  one  expects  a  return  of  the  prices  that 
ruled  five  years  ago,  but  there  must  be  a 
general  markdown  all  along  the  line  and 
labor  must  bear  its  share  as  it  has  benefited 


by  the  advance.  What  form  the  labor  re- 
adjustments will  take  is  problematical,  but 
just  now  the  four-day  week  in  numerous 
places  answers  the  question,  and  complete 
shutdowns  have  quite  a  tendency  toward  re- 
adjustment in  other  places. 

In  times  past  many  mills  accumulated 
stock  during  dull  periods,  to  keep  their  help 
employed.  But  the  attitude  of  labor  during 
the  past  two  years  has  eliminated  any  sym- 
pathy and  now  it  narrows  down  to  cold 
business,  and  the  plants  will  run  on  profita- 
ble orders  and  shut  down  when  such  orders 
are  not  forthcoming. 

DISCIPLINE  THE  LAW  OF  LIFE 

Omaha    Bee 

In  all  the  movements,  individual  or  collec- 
tive, professedly  having  mitigation  of  the 
horrors  of  matrimony  for  their  purpose,  the 
underlying  idea  is  found  to  spring  from  re- 
bellion against  duty,  responsibility  and 
discipline. 

Human  life  is  a  course  in  discipline,  from 
childhood  to  old  age.  Marriage  is  discipline, 
as  is  school,  business  and  the  profession. 
Without  discipline  man  would  be  merely  a 
selfish  savage.  Seclusion  from  the  trials 
that  develop  character  and  strength  un- 
doubtedly promote  individuality,  but  it  is 
the  individuality  whose  characteristic  trait 
is  selfishness  that  totally  disregards  the 
comfort,  happiness  or  welfare  of  others. 

Society  cannot  patiently  contemplate  a 
2.75  brand  of  near-matrimony. 

CHICAGO'S  DAYLIGHT  GRIEVANCE 

Capper's    Weekly 

Chicago  banks  are  compelled  to  open  an 
hour  earlier  and  close  an  hour  earlier  that 
they  may  have  time  to  transact  the  neces- 
sary business  with  New  York  banks  under 
New  York's  Daylight-Saving  Law.  The  re- 
sult is  that  business  houses  in  Chicago  and 
in  fact  all  persons  who  make  a  daily  de- 
posit in  a  Chicago  bank,  are  compelled  to 
make  this  deposit  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


231 


;hen  carry  overnight  all  the  receipts  of  the 
afternoon,  thereby  adding  the  high  cost  of 
jurglary  to  other  expenses  of  doing  busi- 
aess.  The  difference  in  standard  time  be- 
tween New  York  and  Chicago  is  one  hour. 
When  the  clock  was  moved  forward  another 
hour  that  the  bankers  and  Wall  Street 
irokers  may  have  an  extra  hour  of  golf, 
;hat  makes  two  hours'  difference  in  time. 
A>nd  as  Chicago  bankers  do  an  enormous 
3usiness  with  New  York  banks  every  day, 
it  is  easy  to  see  what  a  nuisance  this  is  to 
Chicago  business  men. 

SOUND  BRITISH  POLICY 

Harvey's  Weekly 

The  clear  thinking  and  straight  speaking 
which  characterized  the  Prince  of  Wales  in 
lis  intercourse  with  Americans  while  he  was 
Dur  guest  are  evidently  a  fixed  habit,  and 
lo  not  desert  him  when  he  is  among  his  own 
people.  Some  echo  of  the  silly  chatter 
ivhich  is  periodically  raised  about  sale  of 
tihe  British  West  Indies  reached  his  ears 
while  he  was  in  Barbados  a  few  weeks  ago, 
•ind  moved  him  to  say,  in  an  after-dinner 
speech: 

You  have  probably  heard  that  it  was 
suggested  the  other  day  that  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  might  pay  off  some  of  its 
war  debt  by  selling  part  of  the  British 
West  Indies.     What  an  idea!     I  need 
hardly  say  to  you  that  the  king's  sub- 
jects are  not  for  sale  to  other  govern- 
ments, and  that  their  destiny,  as  free 
men,    is    in    their    own    hands.      Your 
future  is  for  yourselves  to  shape. 
So  long  as  the  sovereign  or  his  spokes- 
nan   cherishes   such  sentiments,  it  will  be 
juite  safe  for  him  to  say  of  every  colony, 
IS  the  Prince  added  concerning  Barbados: 
I  am  sure  that  Barbados  will  never  waver 
n  its  loyalty  to  the  British  Crown."     And 
the  Prince  is  in  the  fifth  generation  from 
leorge  III. 

MAKING  A  STATUE  IN  BUTTER 

The   New   Republic 

In  his  heart  the  spellbinder  campaign 
peaker  knows,  during  those  intervals  of 
eisure  when  he  is  neither  delivering  nor 
neditating  his  specialty,  that  at  nine  con- 
ventions out  of  ten  the  result  would  be  the 
;ame  if  there  were  no  nominating  nor  sec- 
onding speeches.  Knowing  this,  he  must 
'or  the  next  few  weeks  behave  as  if  he  did 
lot  know  it.  It  is  his  duty  to  behave  as  if 
le  did  not  know  it.  His  aim  is  to  make,  at 
Chicago  or  San  Francisco,  a  crescendo  nom- 
nating  speech,  which  near  its  beginning  will 
)e  punctuated  by  cheers,  near  its  middle  will 
}e  interrupted  by  a  storm  of  cheers,  and 
after  it  is  over  will  be  followed  by  a  per- 


fect storm  of  cheers,  also  called  pandemo- 
nium. His  hero  may  be  as  uninspiring  as 
Senator  Knox,  as  drab — though  this  seems 
no  longer  possible — as  Senator  Harding.  No 
matter.  No  difficulty  is  too  formidable  for 
the  spellbinder.  Never  does  his  task  appal 
him,  though  it  be  to  make  a  statue,  some- 
thing in  the  marmorschoen  or  aere  peren- 
nius  line,  of  a  sitter  for  whom  butter  would 
be  an  unduly  imperishable  medium. 

BULGARIA  ARRANGES  TO  GO  CRAZY 

New    York    Tribune 

It  is  reported  that  Bulgaria  is  about  to 
go  Bolshevist.  Genuine  or  imitation  va- 
riety ? 

A  disagreeable  treaty  has  arrived  from 
Paris,  and  it  has  become  diplomatic  tech- 
nique to  go  or  threaten  to  go  Bolshevist 
under  such  circumstances.  Berlin  kept  the 
skeleton  dangling  for  three  months  while 
her  representatives  sought  better  terms. 
Karolyi  stepped  aside  at  Budapest  on  the 
theory  that  Bela  Kun  could  drive  a  better 
bargain.  Vienna  experimented  with  the 
same  plan  until  it  appeared  that  the  Reds 
would  steal  more  than  the  Allies  would 
exact.    Sofia  thus  treads  a  well  beaten  path. 

Not  all  is  Bolshevist  which  flies  its  ban- 
ners. Lenine,  taken  in  by  the  Bela  Kun 
fraud,  has  indignantly  declared  he  will  not 
be  "stung''  again.  To  pretend  to  be  crazy 
is  a  familiar  device  for  avoiding  the  con- 
sequences of  crime,  and  Bulgaria  may  rage 
furiously  until  convinced  that  the  mas- 
querade does  not  deceive.  The  Balkan  coun- 
try is  a  land  of  peasant  proprietors,  who 
are  little  likely  to  nationalize  their  home- 
steads, although  patriotically  willing  to 
allow  their  city  dervishes  to  dance  a  little 
if  the  spectacle  will  soften  the  peace  terms. 

CONSUMERS  WHO  WERE  PRODUCERS 

Southwestern  Telephone  News 

Every  time  a  farm  boy  decides  to  become 
a  city  feller,  the  food  problem  gets  tougher. 

One  man  who  has  sat  up  nights  figuring 
it  all  out  says  that  the  high  cost  of  food- 
stuff is  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  fact 
that  they  haven't  been  able  to  "keep  'em 
down  on  the  farm." 

Some  of  the  farm  boys  have  been  think- 
ing that  it  might  be  easier  to  go  to  the 
city,  where  they  are  shortening  the  hours 
and  increasing  the  pay,  than  to  get  up  be- 
fore daylight  to  sneak  up  on  the  wild  oats. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  there  has 
been  a  constant  stream  of  labor  from  the 
farm  to  the  big,  industrial  works  in  the 
cities.  The  result  is  that  there  have  been 
more  mouths  to  feed  with  fewer  farmers 
producing  the  food;  hence  the  shortage; 
hence  increased  cost. 


232 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


The  world  must  eat,  and  in  so  far  as 
each  individual  provides  some  of  the  food 
that  he  must  eat,  so  far  will  the  problem 
of  feeding  the  world  be  simplified. 

Every  back  yard  is  an  undeveloped  gar- 
den. Every  potato  raised  in  the  back  yard 
is  so  much  added  to  the  common  fund. 

Besides,  there  is  fun  and  health-givmg 
exercise  in  hoeing  potatoes.  Let's  consider 
seriously  the  kitchen  garden.  Now  am  the 
time. 

MEN  WORTH  WHILE 

Forbes  Magazine 

Every  employer  is  looking  for  men  who 
are  wide  awake,  alert,  quick  to  see  trends, 
quick  to  recognize  profitable  opportunities. 

One  very  large  employer  recently  en- 
gaged an  executive  at  a  salary  in  excess  of 
half  a  million  dollars  a  year.  In  one  of  his 
first  tours  of  inspection  throughout  the 
plant  he  saw  a  means  of  effecting  an  econ- 
omy which  would  amount  in  the  course  of 
twelve  months  to  fully  one-third  of  a 
million  dollars.  Within  two  months  from 
the  date  of  his  employment  he  saw  another 
opportunity  for  saving  almost  as  much. 

Why  was  this  man  and  the  others  here 
mentioned  able  to  see  the  things  they  did 
see? 

Because  they  fitted  themselves  to  see 
things  not  discernible  by  careless  eyes  and 
indifferent  minds. 

The  best  way  to  learn  to  see  more  is  to 
learn  more. 

The  Japanese  have  a  proverb  which  says 
that  "A  look  is  better  than  a  thousand 
words.'* 

Keen,  eager  observation  is  one  of  the 
standard  methods  of  increasing  one's  knowl- 
edge. Keeping  one's  eyes  wide  open  helps 
to  open  one's  mind. 

WORLD  SALVATION  BY  PRODUCTION 

Shoe  and  Leather   Reporter 

As  a  result  of  the  meetings  of  the  Na- 
tional Chamber  of  Commerce  the  idea  of 
increased  production  will  be  vitalized  and 
nationalized.  Labor  will  everywhere  be  im- 
pressed by  the  necessity  for  intensified  pro- 
duction to  save  the  world.  It  will  be  ex- 
plained that  there  is  no  desire  to  return  to 
pre-war  wages,  or  to  demand  more  and 
more  work  without  additional  compensation. 
In  many  instances  wages  may  be  inordinate- 
ly high,  but  that  is  not  the  immediate  con- 
sideration. The  urgent  problem  is  one  of 
work,  without  special  regard  to  remunera- 
tion. If  civilization  is  to  be  restored,  if  the 
wounds  of  war  are  to  be  healed,  men  must 
work.  The  world  is  suffering  for  food, 
clothing,  furniture  and  homes.  Given  ade- 
quate  transportation    and   credit    facilities 


there  vnll  be  markets  for  everything  our 
mills  and  factories  can  turn  out.  Over- 
production will  continue  to  be  a  remote  con- 
tingency for  years  to  come. 

HEALTH  IN  BUSINESS 

Haverhill    Gazette 

A  business  man  walked  into  a  doctor's 
office  the  other  day. 

He  looked  in  the  pink  of  condition. 

"I  want  a  thorough  physical  examina- 
tion," he  said. 

The  doctor  accommodated  him.  Heart 
was  sound,  lungs  were  healthy,  kidneys  and 
all  the  other  organs  functioning  properly. 

"You're  the  most  splendid  specimen  I've 
seen  in  a  long  time,"  said  the  doctor. 

"Thanks;  I  intend  to  remain  so,"  said  the 
client.  "You  shall  go  over  me  like  this 
every  six  months.  And  I  propose  to  have 
every  man  in  a  responsible  position  in  my 
organization  undergo  a  similar  examination 
twice  a  year. 

"A  competing  firm  recently  put  a  man  into 
an  important  job  who  looked  as  well  as  I. 
He  broke  down,  and  in  the  demoralization 
of  the  firm's  business  that  came  with  his 
breaking,  our  firm  has  taken  over  one  of 
their  biggest  and  best  accounts.  A  condi- 
tion of  twenty  years'  standing,  which  he 
thought  completely  overcome,  caused  that 
man's  breakdown. 

"I  don't  propose  that  my  firm  shall  suffer 
through  any  such  experience." 

Cold,  hard  business  applied  to  health. 
Doesn't  personal  interest  recommend  to 
every  man  such  prudence? 

How  many  men  can  you  recall  who  have 
discovered  a  serious  state  of  health  too  late 
to  mend? 

THE  DENIM-CRATIC  PARTY 

Cincinnati  Times-Star 

The  "overall"  movement  that  is  sweeping 
across  the  country  is  more  significant  than 
it  seems.  There  is  more  in  it  than  the 
spirit  of  a  sartorial  prank.  It  means  that 
at  last  there  is  a  popular  appreciation  of 
the  inexorable  truth  that  to  cut  down  the 
high  cost  of  living  we  shall  have  to  cut  out 
some  of  the  high  living. 

There  was  a  time,  not  so  long  ago,  when 
the  boys  of  a  neighborhood  wore  trousers 
that  were  things  of  patches,  if  not  of  shreds. 
And  they  weren't  ashamed  of  them.  But 
the  general  tide  of  prosperity  swept 
patched  trousers  into  the  discard.  The  boy 
whose  trousers  are  of  more  than  one  ma- 
terial is  now  a  social  pariah.  He  belongs 
to  the  juvenile  proletariat,  whose  parents 
are  not  able  to  buy  him  a  new  suit  when 
time  has  abraded  the  seat  of  his  trousers. 
But  don't  blame  the  boys.    This  feeling,  this 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


233 


class  distinction,  is  a  heritage  from  fathers 
who  formerly  walked  or  rode  in  street  cars, 
but  who  now  "tour"  to  and  from  work,  and 
from  mothers  who  are  not  satisfied  so  long 
as  Mrs.  Jones  next  door  has  a  car  of  more 
expensive  make. 

The  American  people  have  not  been  living 
as  they  used  to.  But  they  are  going  to  live 
more  and  more  as  they  used  to.  The  "over- 
all" movement  is  a  picturesque  harbinger 
of  the  days  that  are  on  their  way. 

THE  BOY  IN  THE  APPLE  TREE 

San    Antonio    Express 

In  the  old  blue-back  spelling  book  there 
was  the  story  (with  illustration)  of  the 
small  boy  in  the  apple  tree,  and  the  owner 
pelting  him  from  the  ground  with  tufts  of 
grass  in  an  effort  to  persuade  him  to  come 
down  and  surrender.  The  effort  being  of 
no  avail,  the  owner  of  the  orchard  finally 
concluded  that  if  the  tufts  of  grass  would 
not  fetch  him  he  would  try  what  virtue 
there  might  be  in  stones.  The  result  was 
that  the  boy  quickly  capitulated,  when  the 
missiles  that  meant  something  began  to 
come  his  way  and  he  realized  that  the  man 
hurling  them  meant  business. 

The  story  is  recalled  by  the  firmer  official 
and  managerial  tone,  and  the  more  drastic 
action  that  is  being  taken  publicly,  or  is 
threatened,  to  bring  about  a  change  in  rail- 
road operation  conditions  that  are  intoler- 
able. There  are  two  sides  to  every  question, 
and  there  always  ought  to  be  a  way  of  de- 
termining which  is  the  wrong  side.  When 
reason  and  fair  argument  fail,  something 
else  must  be  tried.  "It  is  a  poor  sort  of 
bow  that  has  only  one  string."  The  trans- 
portation situation  that  causes  distress  to 
great  numbers  of  people  who  are  in  no  wise 
responsible  for  it,  must  not  continue  if  there 
be  any  legal  and  practical  means  of  correct- 
ing it,  no  matter  what  the  grievance  on  one 
side  or  the  stubbornness  on  the  other.  The 
general  public  has  rights  which  the  "in- 
terests" directly  involved  must  be  made  to 
respect;  and  if  they  will  not  "come  down" 
for  fair  words,  the  suffering  public  is  not 
and  should  not  be  without  means  to  substi- 
tute something  effective  for  fair  words. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  DINNER  PAIL 

New   Bedford  Standard 

After  overalls,  the  dinner  pail. 

That  is  only  natural.  The  two  go  together 
or  used  to  before  lunch  counters  became^  so 
numerous.  If  Mr.  Coupon  Cutter  is  going 
down  town  for  the  day's  work,  dressed  in 
blue  jeans  or  khaki,  why  shouldn't  he  carry 
his  dinner?  All  he  would  need  then  would 
be  a  paper  cap  to  become  a  real  proletarian. 
The  lunch  box  is   in  some  ways   a  better 


idea  than  the  overalls.  Each  one  to  his 
taste,  of  course,  but  in  many  cases  a  light 
repast  such  as  could  be  packed  in  a  box 
would  be  better  for  the  worker  than  a  meal 
grabbed  off  the  counter  of  a  restaurant. 

If  a  man  lives  any  distance  from  his  work 
it  takes  most  of  his  meal  hour  to  go  back 
and  forth  and  even  then  he  has  to  hurry. 

Where  going  home  is  impossible,  recourse 
to  a  restaurant  means  a  quick  lunch,  or,  if 
he  goes  at  it  leisurely,  the  loss  of  a  good 
deal  of  time  while  his  order  is  being  filled, 
and  a  temptation  to  eat  more  heartily  than 
is  good  for  him.  Nothing  is  so  conducive 
to  afternoon  lethargy  as  a  heavy  dinner — 
nothing,  that  is,  except  alcoholic  indulgence. 

The  danger  of  a  dinner-pail  lunch  is  that 
one  would  be  inclined  to  eat  it  quickly  and 
then  resume  working.  The  noon  hour  is 
even  more  essential  for  rest  and  repose  than 
it  is  for  sustenance.  If  a  man  would  eat 
sparingly  and  then  devote  the  rest  of  his 
hour  to  a  walk  or  a  rest,  the  dinner-pail 
fashion  would  have  its  advantages. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

Spokane  Spokesman-Review 

The  church  is  just  beginning  to  pay  a 
long  overdue  debt  to  the  Sunday  school. 
There  is  a  general  realization  that  without 
good  Sunday  schools  church  membership  will 
fall  off  rapidly.  The  Sunday  school  not  only 
gives  boys  and  girls  spiritual  instruction, 
but  it  fixes  in  them  firmly  the  habit  of 
church-going.  This  means  that  when  they 
grow  up  they  are  not  nearly  so  likely  to 
join  the  great  number  of  men  and  women 
who  have  a  theoretical  church  membership 
but  accept  none  of  its  privileges  or  re- 
sponsibilities. 

Church  leaders  today  say  that  the  Sunday 
school  brings  more  active  members  than 
any  other  form  of  religious  activity.  A  man 
is  more  apt  to  join  a  church  because  his 
children  are  going  to  Sunday  school  than 
because  he  likes  the  preacher  or  the  music. 

Yet  for  many  years  it  has  been  difficult 
to  get  the  average  church  to  pay  proper 
attention  to  the  children.  Bishop  Page  of 
the  Spokane  Episcopal  district  tells  of  a 
parish  that  willingly  appropriated  several 
hundred  dollars  a  year  to  pay  a  tenor  soloist, 
but  begrudged  the  much  smaller  amount  it 
gave  to  the  Sunday  school.  Yet  the  money 
spent  for  music  was,  in  terms  of  active 
membership,  a  losing  investment,  while  that 
spent  in  the  Sunday  scho'ol  paid  large  div- 
idends. 

That  point  of  view  is  disappearing.  The 
Sunday  schools  are  beginning  to  get  what 
is  due  them,  and  this  is  a  good  omen  for 
the  whole  church. 


234 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


NEW  DISCOVERIES  EVERY  DAY 

Reno   Gazette 

A  cure  for  typhus  was  announced  in  the 
dispatches  yesterday,  and  gradually  cures 
for  all  the  epidemic  diseases  are  being  pro- 
claimed by  physicians,  but  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  none  has  yet  been  discovered  for  cholera 
or  for  infantile  paralysis.  Yellow  fever 
still  flourishes  wherever  there  are  proper 
conditions,  though  it  appears  to  have  been 
conquered  in  Cuba,  Mississippi,  and  Louisi- 
ana. For  leprosy  there  is  no  known  cure, 
and  for  the  great  curse  of  the  Orient,  the 
true  plague,  no  cure  has  been  found. 

Recently  a  correspondent  of  an  Eastern 
paper  suggested  that  perhaps  many  of  the 
cures  attributed  to  serums  were  really  due 
to  improved  conditions,  such  as  the  drainage 
of  swamps  and  the  removal  of  centers  of 
miasmatic  exhalations.  Maybe  he  is  right, 
and  perhaps  the  next  generation  will  find 
that  what  has  been  taken  as  the  final  word 
in  bacteriology  was  really  only  a  symptom. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  the  bacteria  them- 
selves were  blamed.  Now  it  is  the  toxins 
that  they  create. 

Medical  discoveries,  like  those  in  every 
other  branch  of  science,  are  in  the  plastic 
stage.  There  is  nothing  discovered  that  to- 
morrow may  not  change. 

WHO  WILL  SUCCEED  HADLEY? 

New  Haven  Journal-Courier 

The  task  assigned  the  Yale  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  corporation  of  examining  the 
field  of  presidential  prospects  is  a  huge  one 
and  will  require  a  concentration  of  thought 
perhaps  never  before  necessarily  exercised. 
Aside  from  the  scarcity  of  material  from 
which  to  draw,  there  is  the  greater  problem 
of  finding  for  President  a  man  who  com- 
bines scholarship  with  administrative  abil- 
ity. It  is  not  enough  to  have  a  love  of 
scholarship  to  counteract  the  influences  of 
an  administrative  and  executive  mind.  It 
must  be  real  scholarship  in  its  understand- 
ing and  application  to  the  conduct  of  the 
affairs  of  this  great  institution.  The  opin- 
ion is  not  unjustified  that  the  work  of  the 
committee  will  be  aided  in  spirit  if,  in  the 
search  for  Dr.  Hadley's  successor,  presi- 
dential prospects  are  considered  regardless 
of  Yale  origin,  not  that  the  right  one  may 
not  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  Yale  men,  but 
that  the  premise  that  only  Yale  men  can  be 
considered  may  naiTow  the  committee's 
vision  and  interrupt  the  further  mastery  of 
this  venerable  seat  of  learning. 

V/e  have  faith  that  the  modem  spirit  of 
what  for  a  better  term  must  be  called  the 
commercial  spirit  will  not  be  permitted  to 
influence  the  judgment  of  the  committee  and 
the  corporation.    It  is  because  the  commer- 


cial spirit  is  so  strong  in  all  walks  of  life, 
touching  even  the  dignity  of  the  professors 
to  their  disadvantage,  that  Yale  should 
utilize  all  of  her  energies,  traditions  and 
high-mindedness  to  restore  a  normal  bal- 
ance, which  is  no  balance  at  all  if  cultural  in- 
fluences and  passions  are  to  be  omitted. 
It  is  only  by  holding  fast  to  her  ideals  that 
Yale  can  continue  to  fulfill  her  superb  mis- 
sion in  life. 

AN  ADLESS  COUNTRY 

Successful   Farming 

Suppose  there  was  no  advertising.  Would 
that  condition  appeal  to  you? 

Suppose  everything  was  sold  in  bulk  with- 
out a  name  or  a  brand  or  any  mark  to 
identify  it?  Would  you  like  to  go  into  that 
kind  of  a  market  to  buy  the  things  you 
need? 

The  man  who  invented  trade-marks  and 
brands  and  advertising  was  as  great  a  bene- 
factor to  us  all  as  the  man  who  invented 
names  by  which  to  distinguish  animals  and 
plants. 

Suppose  you  wanted  to  buy  an  animal  that 
would  give  milk  in  large  enough  quantities 
to  supply  your  family  and  there  was  no  word 
to  identify  that  animal.  Suppose  there  was 
no  such  word  as  "cow"  and  no  word  to  take 
the  place  of  the  word  "cow."  Wouldn't  it 
be  awfully  inconvenient  to  have  nothing  but 
the  word  "animal"  to  describe  your  wants? 
The  same  thing  is  true  with  merchandise. 
You  wouldn't  want  to  go  back  to  the  time 
when  "flour"  was  just  "flour"  and  there 
was  no  way  to  identify  the  different  kinds 
so  you  could  be  sure  of  their  quality  before 
you  baked  your  bread  or  cake. 

The  old  "nameless"  method  was  a  gamble. 
It  was  like  taking  a  chance  on  a  grab  bag. 
The  newer,  better  method  is  to  have  each 
article  of  merchandise  named  and  marked 
with  a  trade-mark  and  have  the  merits  of  the 
article  carrying  that  name  or  trade-mark 
honestly  and  clearly  set  forth  in  publica- 
tions that  guarantee  the  honesty  of  their 
advertisers. 

This  newer,  better  method  eliminates  the 
gamble  so  that  our  money  can  be  paid  out 
for  merchandise  with  a  reasonable  assur- 
ance that  we  will  get  what  we  want  to  get 
when  we  make  the  purchase. 

SPIRITUAL  OVERALLS 

Sun  and  New  York  Herald 

To  wear  overalls  not  merely  in  the  flesh 
but  in  the  spirit  should  mean  to  waste  not 
of  anything  so  that  we  shall  want  not  of 
anything.  Waste  neither  silks  nor  woolens, 
neither  satins  nor  cottons — neither  conven- 
tional garb  nor  overalls.  Waste  neither 
canvasback  duck  nor  beefsteak,  neither  ter- 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


235 


rapin  nor  corned  beef  and  cabbage.  Waste 
neither  our  working  hours  nor  our  working 
minutes. 

To  be  in  overalls  in  the  spirit  means  in 
the  bigger  and  the  truer  sense  for  every 
worker  to  put  in  the  hardest  licks  he  knows 
how  at  production,  whether  digging  coal, 
hoeing  potatoes,  spinning  textiles,  building 
houses  or  whatever  be  his  share  of  the 
task  of  earning  his  living  and  contributing 
to  the  world's  store  of  necessaries  of  life. 
Such  "overall"  labor  will  be  worthy  of  every 
American — the  man  who  scratches  out  his 
daily  bread  either  with  his  pickaxe  or  with 
his  pen,  the  man  who  is  a  builder  of  rail- 
roads and  of  steel  plants  or  of  chicken 
coops  and  beanpoles.  Such  "overall"  pro- 
duction will  make  more  of  everything,  how- 
ever we  dress;  it  will  make  everything 
cheaper — even  overalls. 

To  be  in  overalls  in  spirit  means  to  get 
back  to  the  fundamentals  of  economics,  to 
the  grass  roots  of  Americanism,  to  the  bed 
rock  of  honest  and  honorable,  stout  and 
clean  manhood. 

In  that  sense  let  us  all  get  into  our  over- 
alls forthwith  and  wear  them  proudly. 

SQUEEZE  THE  WATER  OUT  OF  LABOR 

Leslie's 

At  seventy-three,  Thom.as  A.  Edison  said 
he  was  glad  the  eight-hour  day  had  not 
been  invented  when  he  began  to  v/ork,  and 
that  there  was  no  agitator  to  prevent  his 
putting  his  best  into  every  day's  work.  No 
one  would  wish  to  return  to  the  twelve  or 
fourteen-hour  day.  A  reasonably  short  day 
has  been  found  to  be  profitable  to  employer 
as  well  as  just  to  employee.  But  the  day 
may  be  made  so  short  as  to  overstep  the 
bounds  of  justice  and  to  wipe  out  profit. 
That  is  the  situation  at  present.  The  de- 
mand for  higher  wages,  coupled  with  the 
demand  for  a  shorter  day  (which  means 
lowered  production),  spells  economic  dis- 
aster. 

What  the  world  needs  now  above  every- 
thing else  is  extra  production,  to  feed  the 
starving,  clothe  the  naked  and  refill  the 
'empty  storehouses.  That  can't  be  done  on 
a  short  day.  British  labor  leaders,  who 
have  been  preaching  high  wages  linked  with 
low  production,  have  begun  to  see  their 
error.  James  Henry  Thomas,  secretary  of 
the  British  Railwaymen's  Union,  has  been 
telling  the  workers  they  must  increase  their 
outpi  t,  that  the  British  workman  must  work 
a  quarter  harder  than  before  the  war,  the 
French  twice  harder  and  the  German 
eighteen  times  harder.  Yet  in  all  those 
countries,  as  in  the  United  States,  produc- 
tion is  lower  than  it  was  before  the  war. 
The  second  National  Industrial  Conference 


at  Washington  regarded  favorably  the  uni- 
versal eight-hour  day.  If  generally  adopted, 
the  eight-^hour  day,  packed  full  of  honest 
work,  will  do  more  than  any  other  single 
factor  to  bring  down  prices  by  increasing 
the  supply.  Watered  labor  is  fully  as  bad 
as  watered  capital. 

FROM  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  PRESENT 

Boston   Evening  Globe 

Because  he  refused  to  go  to  church,  a 
17-year-old  lad  was  shot  by  a  policeman  in 
a  religious  community  on  Tangier  Island, 
Chesapeake  Bay,  and  is  dying  in  a  hos- 
pital at  Chrisfield,  Md.  The  boy  was  on 
the  front  porch  of  his  home,  when  the  po- 
liceman ordered  him  to  church.  The  youth 
refused,  the  policeman  grappled  with  him, 
and  when  the  boy  got  away,  the  officer  of 
the  law  fired. 

Only  a  political  upheaval,  and  an  election 
of  a  municipal  board  from  the  younger 
element,  can  bring  about  a  change  in  the 
law,  we  are  told,  which  "is  essential  to  the 
religious  welfare  of  the  community."  The 
ordinance  under  which  the  boy  was  shot 
represents  the  sincere  sentiment  of  the 
majority  of  the  old  heads  of  the  com- 
munity, who  believe  it  entirely  legitimate 
to  instill  religious  principles  into  the  people 
in  that  m.anner.  Should  a  dissenting  resi- 
dent of  the  community  dare  to  violate  the 
ordinance  tomorrow,  the  one  police  official 
of  Tangier  would  find  a  majority  of  the  older 
natives  supporting  him,  should  he  deem  it 
necessary  to  kill  the  violator. 

Thus,  a  few  hours  from  Philadelphia  and 
Washington,  is  a  picture  of  life  reminiscent 
of  the  old  days  of  the  weekly  news  letter. 
There  was  a  time  in  our  history  when  laws 
compelling  Sunday  observance  were  gen- 
eral throughout  the  Provinces.  The  minis- 
ter of  the  Gospel  was  oftentimes  an  officer 
of  the  Goviernment.  In  Virginia,  a  fine  of 
tobacco  was  imposed  for  absence  from 
church.  New  England  had  a  pleasant  pen- 
alty of  branding  and  whipping. 

Oftentimes  we  acquire  a  fatigued  way  of 
looking  at  incidents  in  the  past,  until  his- 
tory repeats  itself  at  our  doorstep. 

DETAILS,  IDEALS  AND  PRINCIPLES 

New  York  Tribune 

An  illuminating  phrase  was  dropped  by 
Mrs.  Rose  Pastor  Stokes  in  the  course  of 
her  examination  in  the  Gitlow  case.  She 
could  not  remember  much  that  was  asked; 
and  in  particular  she  could  not  recall 
whether  she  had  signed  a  check  for  $345  to 
pay  for  printing  The  Revolutionary  Age. 
By  way  of  explanation  she  added:  "I  carry 
few  details  in  my  head.  I  remember  ideals 
and  principles." 


236 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


A  wealth  of  sad  and  painful  truth  resides 
in  this  chance  boast.  Not  only  Mrs.  Stokes 
but  many  parlor  radicals  suffer  from  this 
same  malady.  The  professed  ideals  of 
Lenine  and  Trotzky,  for  example,  they  carry 
in  their  heads.  Such  details  as  that  com- 
munism in  factories  doesn't  work  and  that 
there  never  was  less  free  speech  anywhere 
than  under  Bolshevism  in  Russia,  and  that 
communism,  socially  speaking,  means  not 
more  freedom  but  lan  unspeakably  compli- 
cated and  elaborate  system  of  petty  regula- 
tion— such  details  as  these  no  worshipper  of 
the  soviet  carries  in  his  or  her  head. 

The  distinction  is  fundamental.  For  a 
century  and  a  third  the  American  type  of 
mind  has  been  that  of  Lincoln,  who  held 
fast  to  his  ideals  and  principles,  but  who 
knew,  as  he  knew  his  letters,  that  govern- 
ment, progress,  reform,  all  life,  were  mat- 
ters of  detail.  It  is  precisely  this  ability  of 
the  American  to  keep  his  feet  on  the  ground 
that  has  made  our  government  the  sure  and 
steadily  progressing  instrument  that  it  is. 
"Idealistic"  is  often  applied  to  the  American 
people;  but  the  strain  of  practicality  that 
Franklin  so  marveiloulsly  personified  and 
that  no  really  great  American  has  ever 
lacked  belongs  on  a  level  with  it.  That  this 
is  still  true  our  amateur  Bolshevists  are 
finding  to  their  gloom,  we  are  glad  to  say. 

WILLIAM  DEAN  HOWELLS 

Indianapolis   News 

William  Dean  Howells,  who  died  today, 
was  for  many  years  the  foremost  figure  in 
American  literature.  His  numerous  novels 
are  thoroughly  American,  though  this  has 
been  denied  by  later  writers  who  think 
that  nothing  can  be  American  that  is  de- 
cent. Those  who  became  familiar  in  their 
youth  with  the  work  of  Mr.  Howells  have 
never  lost  their  sense  of  its  charm.  Unlike 
many  of  his  successors,  Howells  had  a  keen 
sense  of  humor,  humor  not  lof  the  biting, 
but  kmdly  type.  He  was  a  realist— and  a 
clean  one.  There  were,  and  are  many,  who 
thmk  that  he  did  not  give  a  large  enough 
place  to  romance,  but  his  theory  was  that 
there  was  and  could  be  nothing  more  ro- 
mantic than  life  itself,  as  lived  by  ordinary 
men  and  women,  such  as  we  meet  every  day 
No  one  can  read  his  books  without  feeling 
that  his  people  are  "our  kind."  That  as  not 
true  of  the  characters  of  some  of  the  pres- 
ent-day writers.  Mr.  Howells  was  a  realist 
from  conviction.  His  artistic  conscience 
would  not  permit  him  to  be  anything  else. 

As  a  craftsman  he  stood  very  high.  His 
style  was  clear,  forceful  and  often  elegant, 
without  any  striving  for  effect.  The  books 
were  all  well  constructed.  He  never  wrote 
B  story  that  was  not  interesting.    Nor  did 


he,  for  the  sake  of  popularity,  ever  lower 
his  standard.  There  will  be  much  discussion 
as  to  his  place  in  literature,  discussion 
that  will,  as  usual,  settle  nothing.  It  is 
enough  now  to  know,  and  to  say,  that  he 
reflected  distinction  on  American  literature, 
and  affected  very  deeply  the  thought  of  a 
whole  generation.  The  volume  of  his  work 
was  amazingly  large,  and  he  kept  at  it  to 
the  very  end.  He  was  a  kindly,  cheerful, 
optimistic  man,  who  always  saw  what  was 
best  in  people,  and  who  did  much  to  make 
fashionable  the  gospel  of  hope  and  courage. 

WILLIAM  DEAN  HOWELLS 

Oranfire    (Texas)    Leader 

The  death  of  William  Dean  Howells  is  re- 
gretted not  only  in  the  circle  of  his  literary 
friends  and  associates;  it  is  mourned  by  the 
American  people.  The  bereavement  fis  no 
more  keenly  felt  by  those  who  write  than 
by  those  who  read.  Americans  in  all  walks 
of  life  unite  at  his  bier  in  common  sorrow 
at  the  passing  of  a  life  of  surpassing 
achievement  and  service,  whose  influence 
touched  every  hamlet  in  every  State  of  the 
great  Republic  he  knew  and  loved  so  well. 
Unquestionably  he  was  the  foremost  inter- 
preter of  American  life  in  this  or  any  other 
generation — ^and  his  active  years  compre- 
hended all  that  period  since  Lincoln,  before 
the  war.  "The  Rise  of  Silas  Lapham,"  pub- 
lished in  book  form  in  1888,  is  still  regarded 
by  many  as  the  greatest  American  novel, 
and  continuously,  since  his  delightful  "Vene- 
tian Sketches"  of  1866,  succeeding  volumes 
have  not  merely  eiihanced  his  standing  in 
the  realm  of  letters,  but  have  immeasurably 
enriched  that  literature  which  is  represen- 
tative of  the  best  in  the  development  of  the 
Nation. 

WILLIAM  DEAN  HOWELLS 

Springfield   Union 

William  Dean  Howells  held  not  merely  a 
high  place  in  American  literature  of  this 
generation,  but  a  place  of  peculiar  favor  in 
the  hearts  of  American  literary  people.  He 
loved  literature  and  for  more  than  fifty 
years  was  busy  planting  and  cultivating  in 
its  gardens  and  plucking  its  choicest  flowers. 
What  he  may  have  lacked  in  brilliancy,  he 
made  up  in  the  nicety  and  accuracy  of  his 
judgment,  and  the  sympathetic  friendship 
he  had  for  every  effort  from  any  quarter 
for  the  development  of  higher  standards  in 
our  literature.  He  became  the  dean  of  our 
literary  profession,  the  mentor  of  literary 
people,  the  wise  and  faithful  teacher,  guide 
and  friend. 

It  is  eight  years  ago  last  March  since  a 
company  of  300  of  the  leading  literary  i)eo- 
ple  of  America  gave  a  dinner  in  honor  of 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


237 


his  seventy-fifth  birthday  in  New  York.  For 
most  men  such  an  event  might  have  seemed 
the  culmination  of  a  notable  career.  Yet  it 
proved  but  the  beginning  of  a  golden  twi- 
light of  his  days,  during  which  he  strolled 
on  among  the  gardens  of  literary  ideals; 
regularly  from  the  "Editor's  Easy  Chair"  of 
Harper's  magazine  giving  expression  to  that 
genial  philosophy  and  unwavering  optimism 
that  were  the  natural  results  of  his  tempera- 
ment and  of  his  life-long  habit  of  looking 
only  for  the  best  and  finding  something  of 
it  in  everything. 

QUALITY 

Country  Gentleman 

Drop  into  almost  any  community  in  the 
United  States  and  ask  for  the  farmer  who 
is  making  the  best  and  surest  profits  and 
about  nine  and  three-quarters  times  out  of 
ten  you  will  find  a  man  who  is  producing  a 
quality  article  of  some  kind.  It  may  be 
com,  cranberries,  ducks,  steers,  cotton, 
apples,  oranges  or  watermelons,  but  it  is 
just  a  little  better  than  the  average  and  it 
sells  for  more  because  of  its  extra  quality. 

Such  producers  by  climbing  a  few  rungs 
above  the  average  avoid  the  competition  of 
the  majority.  They  do  not  have  to  compete 
with  the  farmers  who  do  not  know  the 
value  of  their  product;  they  are  not  pitted 
against  the  alien  farmer  and  the  labor  of 
his  wife  and  numerous  children,  nor  do 
they  have  to  stand  in  the  selling  line  with 
the  lazy  and  leave-it-to-luck  fellows. 

Last  year  a  lot  of  money  was  dropped  on 
hogs  and  the  swine  population  fell  off  ma- 
terially, but  not  pure-breds.  Robert  J. 
Evans,  president  of  the  National  Swine 
Growers*  Association,  says  in  a  recent  state- 
ment: 

"During  the  present  bred-sow  season  just 
closed  better  prices  have  prevailed,  a  better 
sentiment  pervades  the  breed  interests,  there 
has  been  a  better  fellowship  between  breed- 
ers of  the  various  breeds  and  there  has  been 
a  more  friendly  rivalry  in  the  sales  of  the 
various  breeds.  None  has  gone  backward; 
the  movement  has  been  to  the  front,  and 
more  men  have  made  money  from  their 
sales  this  season  than  has  been  known  in 
the  history  of  hog  production." 

"GASHED  AND  GULLIED  FIELDS" 

Breeder's  Gazette 
Our  recent  references  to  the  loss  by  sur- 
face drainage  of  the  "cream"  of  agricultural 
soils  in  the  foremost  farming  states  have 
elicited  several  expressions  of  approval  of 
the  remedial  measures  suggested.  A  sub- 
scriber writes  that  in  the  course  of  a  trip 
last  week  through  a  number  of  Indiana 
counties  he  observed  "hundreds  of  gashed 


and  gullied  fields."  He  remarks  that  on 
his  own  farm  he  prevents  the  washing  away 
of  the  best  or  topsoil  by  spreading  straw 
and  the  residues  of  corn-stover  and  shredded 
fodder  upon  surfaces  subject  to  erosion,  and 
in  the  low  places  toward  which  the  water 
runs  off  the  land.  "I  try  especially  to  pre- 
vent the  formation  of  gullies  in  my  fields," 
he  says,  "and  to  keep  my  soil  from  wash- 
ing away  into  streams,  where  it  is  i>erma- 
nently  lost  to  agriculture.  The  best  prac- 
tice is  to  establish  a  perpetual  sod  on  either 
side,  and  upon  the  floors  if  possible,  of 
gullies  and  gashes.  There  are  strips  and 
areas  in  all  undulating  fields  iwhich  should 
be  kept  permanently  in  grass,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  formation  of  gullies,  and  the 
consequent  loss  of  soil." 

Grass  roots  in  the  soil  and  a  mat  of  grass 
upon  the  surface  make  the  erosion  of  roll- 
ing land  practically  impossible.  Grass  re- 
stores the  "heart"  of  soils;  it  puts  fiber  into 
them.  An  old  sod  is  full  of  fiber.  Its  soil 
particles  are  held  together  so  firmly  by  a 
network  of  roots  that  serious  washing  can- 
not take  place.  Our  combelt  cropping  sys- 
tems, in  which  grass  growing  is  notoriously 
neglected,  have  taken  the  bulk  of  the  fiber 
out  of  our  best  soils.  Lay  down  more  land 
to  grass,  and  raise  more  live  stock  to  graze 
it.  There  ds  no  other  way  to  prevent  the 
loss  of  soils  by  washing,  and  conserve  their 
fertility. 

THE  LEFT  WING  OF  DISCONTENT 

Pittaburg    Press 

There  is  no  warrant  for  getting  alarmed 
because  a  few  radical  leaders  in  the  ranks 
of  organized  labor  are  trying  to  stampede 
the  American  workingman.  Every  labor 
movement  throughout  the  world  has  its  left 
wing  of  discontent.  Nature  abhors  unanim- 
ity of  opinion. 

In  Great  Britain,  where  the  Labor  party 
is  politically  very  strong,  it  is  not  as  a 
whole  socialistic.  A  left  wing,  consequent- 
ly, has  developed,  known  as  the  Independent 
Labor  party.  Its  program  is  the  establish- 
ment of  a  socialistic  society. 

In  Germany,  where  the  Socialists  are  in 
power,  a  left  wing  also  has  developed.  It 
is  called  the  Independent  Socialist  -party.  It 
wants  to  go  farther  than  mere  Socialism 
and  establish  a  soviet  government. 

Even  in  Russia,  where  the  Soviets  rule, 
there  is  a  left  wing.  It  is  the  Anarchist 
party.  It  is  constantly  working  to  overturn 
the  Bolsheviki  and  to  substitute  a  form  of 
government  consisting  of  no  government. 
If  an  Anarchist  government  is  ever  estab- 
lished anywhere,  it  will  undoubtedly  have  a 
left  wing  of  its  own.  Probably  its  program 
will  demand  the  execution  of  good  babies 


238 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


who  never  cry,  and  the  careful  rearing  of 
all  howling  little  protestants  against  life. 

No  new  phenomenon,  therefore,  has  been 
created  by  America's  left  wing  labor  lead- 
ers. Every  country  has  the  like.  And  per- 
haps, after  all,  it  is  well  that  it  should  be 
so.  The  left  wing  is  the  yeast.  In  small 
amounts  its  activity  is  beneficent.  It  saves 
the  mass  from  the  stagnation  which  causes 
decay. 

ELIMINATING  THE  FARMER 

National  City  Bank  Circular 
The  most  serious  feature  of  the  agricul- 
tural situation  is  the  continued  loss  of  labor 
from  the  farms.  The  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, on  the  basis  of  reports  from  all 
sections  of  the  country,  estimates  a  reduc- 
tion of  12  per  cent  in  hired  labor  from  a 
year  ago  and  that  the  amount  of  hired  labor 
is  only  72  per  cent  of  what  it  was  before 
the  war.  The  rise  of  wages  and  the  shorter 
hours  of  labor  in  the  town  industries  are 
accountable  for  this  constant  drain. 

It  does  not  require  an  argument  to  con- 
vince any  thoughtful  person  that  this  drift 
away  from  agriculture  to  the  town  indus- 
tries is  the  result  of  artificial  conditions  and 
fundamentally  wrong.  Men  are  not  worth 
so  much  more  to  society  in  the  town  in- 
dustries than  upon  the  farms  as  to  justify 
this  situation  in  the  present  state  of  world 
affairs. 

If  the  crops  are  short  and  prices  go 
higher,  presumably  the  wage-earners  of  the 
city  will  want  further  increase  of  pay  to 
compensate  them,  and  this  will  raise  indus- 
trial costs  still  higher.  Perhaps  by  that 
time,  also,  the  demands  for  a  44  or  40-hour 
week  will  be  due,  and  another  installment  of 
farmers  will  move  to  town,  where  the  living 
conditions  are  so  attractive.  Then,  with 
still  higher  prices  for  farm  products,  wages 
in  the  towns  will  have  to  be  lifted  again, 
until  the  last  farmer  has  been  convinced  of 
the  folly  of  resisting  the  movement,  and 
wages  for  everybody  in  town  are  finally 
high  enough  to  enable  them  to  live  without 
any  crops! 

The  Farm  Demonstrator  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  located  at  the  State 
Agricultural  College  of  New  Hampshire, 
says  that  this  year  practically  completes 
the  elimination  of  hired  labor  for  the  farms 
of  New  Hampshire.  The  next  effect  he  says 
will  be  the  elimination  of  small  farmers  and 
of  men  working  with  restricted  capital. 
Such  men  simply  sell  off  their  stock  and 
hire  out  by  the  day  at  the  nearest  mill  or 
job  that  pays  wages.  After  making  fairly 
careful  estimates  in  six  leading  counties, 
it  is  his  opinion  that  this  year  will  see  the 


elimination  of  at  least  1000  farmers  in  New 
Hampshire,  so  far  as  their  being  producers 
of  surplus  food  products. 

MUSIC  AND  LANGUAGE 

The  Villager 

General  Mangin  urges  the  resumption  of 
Wagner  at  the  Paris  Opera;  lah,  yes,  but 
that  means  Wagner  in  French  and  by 
Frenchmen!  Few  of  us  will  disagree  with 
General  Mangin's  abstraction  that  music 
has  nothing  to  do  with  patriotism.  At  our 
own  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  Parsifal  is 
being  given,  and  at  Covent  Garden  Sir 
Thomas  Beecham  is  presenting  Tannhaeuser 
and  Tristan;  German  music,  to  be  sure,  but 
it  is  in  the  English  language  and  without 
German  singers;  let  it  be  announced  that 
Parsifal  will  be  sung  in  New  York  or  Lon- 
don in  the  German  tongue  and  by  Germans, 
and  there  you  have  an  altogether  other  pair 
of  shoes. 

Music  does  not  touch  patriotism,  but  lan- 
guage touches  it  all  over;  music,  when  it  is 
unmixed  with  some  other  art,  is  not  inter- 
national but  universal.  Language  is  the 
essence  of  particularism;  without  it  there 
cannot  be  nationality,  and  it  is  the  recogni- 
tion exactly  of  this  that  has  made  us 
suddenly  awake  to  the  menace  of  the  for- 
eign-speaking groups  in  America.  The 
repugnance  of  patriots  is  not  for  Wagner 
the  composer,  any  more  than  it  is  for  Bach 
or  Beethoven  or  Brahms;  it  is  for  the  moth- 
er tongue  of  German  ambitions,  the  lan- 
guage of  German  purposes. 

The  consideration  arises,  of  course, 
whether  Lohengrin  in  French  and  Parsifal 
in  English  are,  after  all,  Lohengrin  and 
Parsifal.  We  all  know  what  Wagner's  busi- 
ness sense  led  him  ultimately  to  concede 
about  operas  in  translation,  but  his  aesthetic 
sense  said  something  different.  "A  poetic 
idea  which  I  have  conceived  as  amid  certain 
surroundings  and  with  certain  relation- 
ships," he  wrote  in  A  Communication  to 
My  Friends,  "can  only  achieve  its  whole 
effect  when  it  is  reproduced  in  the  same 
surroundings  and  with  the  same  relation- 
ships." To  Wagner,  poetry  was  the  male 
half  of  music,  and  poetry  "is  shaped  by  the 
deep  working  force  of  speech  itself."  The 
speech,  of  course,  was  the  German  speech. 

KEEPING  UP  THE  VICIOUS  CIRCLE 

Iron   Trade  Review 

Restriction  of  output  by  labor  organiza- 
tions is  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  the 
present  high  level  of  prices.  This  restric- 
tion is  not  only  a  result  of  the  shortening 
of  the  workday  and  the  multiplying  of  men 
on  the  job,  but  also  is  a  result  of  the  con- 
stant strikes  and  walkouts. 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


239 


With  the  country  hun^y  for  all  forms  of 
manufactured  articles  and  raw  material  as 
a  result  of  the  war  demand  extending  over 
several  years  past,  production  is  far  under 
normal  in  most  lines  as  a  result  of  unrest 
and  lack  of  effort  on  the  part  of  workers. 
The  average  worker  has  a  false  viewpoint 
on  this  situation,  exactly  opposite  from  the 
truth.  He  seems  to  feel  that  if  he  divides 
his  job  with  another  worker,  but  gets  full 
pay  for  his  half -work  they  both  profit  by 
the  act-  But  he  does  not  consider  that  he 
and  his  fellow  workers  are  consumers  also, 
buying  what  has  been  produced  by  like 
workers  in  other  lines.  With  a  double 
wage  bill  to  pay  for  the  normal  production 
of  one  man  the  price  on  the  things  the 
workman  needs  likewise  is  increased  to 
that  extent  or  more.  As  things  have  worked 
out,  the  increase  in  price  more  often  than 
not  has  included  other  additions  commen- 
surate with  that  in  the  wage  item.  Conse- 
quently the  workman  himself  actually  is 
obliged  to  pay  out  in  a  larger  proportion 
than  he  receives.  If  the  average  workman 
would  speed  up  and  produce  twice  as  much 
as  formerly  he  would  find  that  what  he  buys 
would  cost  him  on  a  correspondingly  de- 
creasing scale.  By  his  present  attitude  he 
simply  is  defrauding  himself  as  well  as  his 
employer  and  the  public. 

JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY 

Milwaukee   Journal 

To  a  few  men  it  is  given  to  make  their 
brothers  laugh,  and  they  are  a  dear  posses- 
sion whom  we  mourn.  To  some  comes  the 
g^Ift  to  move  men  to  tears  that  with  their 
sadness  bring  heart-cleansing.  And  others, 
all  too  few,  have  the  magic  touch  that  moves 
to  smiles  that  are  close  akin  to  tears — 
smiles  at  the  things  we  ourselves  did  in 
almost  forgotten  days;  heartaches  that  those 
days  of  long  ago  passed  so  swiftly,  never  to 
return.  Of  these  was  James  Whitcomb 
Riley,  the  Hoosier  poet,  whose  too  early 
death  leaves  the  world  poorer. 

Riley's  work  was  to  remind  us  that  the 
common  was  not  always  the  commonplace. 
To  familiar  everyday  things  he  brought  the 
glory  of  the  love  that  lighted  them.  He 
showed  us  humble,  humdrum  lives  trans- 
figured by  the  nobility  of  human  kindness. 
He  spoke  to  the  hearts  of  children  and  to 
the  childlike  hearts  of  simple  men  and 
women  and,  who  knows,  to  many  who  would 
give  all  other  treasures  to  become  again  as 
a  little  child. 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  that  only  last  au- 
tumn, the  nation  was  celebrating  his  birth- 
day— that  before  he  left  us  he  learned  from 
thousands  of  the  place  he  had  made  himself 
in   their   hearts.     Would   he   ask   a   better 


requiem  than  one  of  his  own  homely  poems  ? 
Could  he  return  to  hear  our  eulogies,  would 
not  the  best  tribute  be,  that  we  remember 
the  things  he  wi'ote  for  us  ?  We  may  think 
of  him  as  answering  the  message  that  he 
sent  in  that  well-loved  poem.  Out  to  Old 
Aunt  'Mary's : 

For  my  brother  so  far  away, 
This  is  to  tell  you — she  waits  today 
To  welcome  us — Aunt  Mary  fell 
Asleep  this  morning,  whispering  "Tell 
The  boys  to  come    .    .    .    And  all  is  well. 

ADVERTISING    CUTS    SELLING    COSTS 

Popular  Storekeeper 

The  high-cost-of-living  is  the  universal 
hardship  of  the  present  day.  So  great  and 
so  frequent  have  these  rises  been,  few  peo- 
ple stop  to  realize  there  have  been  any 
exceptions  to  the  general  rule.  The  fact  is 
that  there  have  been  numerous  exceptions, 
and  all  of  these  exceptions  belong  to  the 
same  great  class — that  of  nationally  adver- 
tised goods. 

The  old  idea  that  the  cost  of  advertising 
raised  prices  dies  hard,  but  the  business- 
man knows  better.  He  knows  that  selling 
goods  is  costly  business — no  matter  what 
the  goods  or  what  the  selling  methods.  He 
knows  that  anything  which  creates  demand 
on  a  large  scale,  and  thus  makes  selling 
easier,  is  bound  to  reduce  selling  costs  and 
thus  helps  to  reduce  prices.  Evidence  is 
better  than  argument;  facts  are  better  than 
theories;  a  few  representative  cases  are  all 
that  is  necessary  to  bear  out  these  state- 
ments. 

A  producer  of  a  well-known  food  spe- 
cialty is  selling  his  goods  at  twenty-five  per 
cent  less  to  the  wholesale  grocery  trade  than 
four  years  ago.  When  the  manufacturer  of 
another  famous  breakfast  food  began  ad- 
vertising, his  goods  sold  at  fifteen  cents  a 
package.  Today  the  package  is  fifty  per 
cent  larger  and  the  price  remains  the  same. 
The  makers  of  a  famous  photographic 
camera,  when  they  began  advertising  years 
ago,  made  one  camera  which  took  a  very 
small  picture  and  sold  at  $25.  Today  they 
make  a  far  better  camera  which  isells  for 
$10;  another,  which  took  a  4x5  picture,  sold 
for  $68;  they  sell  a  far  better  camera  now 
for  $20;  and  so  on  through  the  line. 

Then  take  the  most  conspicuous  example 
of  them  all — ^the  automobile  business;  and 
compare  the  $5,000  or  $10,000  cars  of  ten 
years  ago  with  the  equally  good  cars  of 
today,  selling  for  a  fraction  of  the  money. 
In  every  case  the  manufacturer  either  has 
been  able  to  lower  the  price  or  improve  the 
quality  at  no  increase  in  price. 

How  has  he  done  it  ?  By  means  of  adver- 
tising, which  has  created  demand  on  a  larger 


240 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


scale  and  thus  permitted  production  and  dis- 
tribution on  a  larger  scale.  Result — im- 
proved manufacturing  efficiency  and  reduced 
selling  costs.  All  of  this  in  face  of  a  steady 
increase  in  the  cost  of  labor  and  raw  ma- 
terials, which,  with  advertising  eliminated, 
might  in  many  cases  have  fairly  doubled 
the  price  of  the  goods.  "A  triumph  of  eco- 
nomical marketing,"  is  the  only  possible 
verdict  in  the  face  of  these  facts. 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  SPLIT 

New    York    Evening    Sun 

We  decline  to  take  a  pessimistic  view  of 
the  consequences  of  the  snapping  of  rela- 
tions between  the  labor  group  and  the  rest 
of  the  Industrial  Conference  at  Washington. 
Mr.  Gompers  put  on  his  hat  and  stalked  out, 
breathing  smoke  if  not  fire.  He  said,  "The 
die  is  cast,"  a  portentous  outgiving,  but 
we  all  know  Mr.  Gompers,  and,  when  he  got 
outside,  we  imagine  he  had  a  very  sober- 
ing sense  of  responsibility  for  the  step  he 
had  taken  and  its  possible  results. 

As  for  the  thing  that  happened  and  pro- 
voked the  "walk-out"  of  ithe  labor  delega- 
tion, it  is  easy  to  impute  blame.  But  there 
was  an  open  vote  and  presumably  it  repre- 
sents the  convictions  of  the  majority  of 
the  Conference,  whether  right  or  wrong. 
Supposing  it  had  gone  the  other  way,  that 
the  majority  had  been  for  labor's  proposi- 
tion, and  supposing  that  the  employers' 
group  had  picked  up  their  hats  and  seceded, 
what  would  Mr.  Gompers  have  then  said  ? 

In  other  words,  if  things  don't  go  labor's 
way,  Mr.  Gompers  won't  play  any  more,  but 
if  they  do  go  labor's  way,  every  one  else 
must  acquiesce  smilingly.  This  looks  strik- 
ingly like  an  absurdity.  It  is  an  attitude 
not  calculated  to  appeal  to  the  horse  sense 
or  the  spirit  of  fair  play  of  the  man  in  the 
street. 

Now  as  to  the  hints  at  industrial  war 
which  some  of  Mr.  Gompers's  associates 
muttered  in  the  ears  of  the  reporters,  it 
need  only  be  said  that  at  least  a  condition 
of  guerrilla  warfare  exists  already.  With 
strikes  pervading  the  country  and  the 
miners  grimly  resolved,  what  use  is  there 
in  shaking  any  raw-head-and-bloody-bones 
threats  in  the  public  face.  Would  or  could 
Mr.  Gompers  have  called  a  universal  armis- 
tice, off-hand,  had  his  collective  bargaining 
resolution  been  passed? 

We  rather  think  not.  Things  would  have 
gone  on  pretty  much  as  they  were  and  as 
they  will  be.  Perhaps  the  chief  difference 
may  be  that  Mr.  Gompers,  a  trifle  dis- 
quieted over  his  own  somewhat  adventurous 
plunge,  may  interest  himself  behind  a  verbal 
barrage,  very  earnestly  in  the  real  cause 


of  peace  and  adjustment.  We  do  not  ap- 
prehend any  (great  disaster  from  the  hitch 
in  the  conversations  of  the  last  few  days. 

THE    2.75    PER    CENT    CONCURRENCE 

Springfield   Union 

Just  what  is  to  be  the  effect,  if  any,  of 
the  2.75  per  cent  beer  bills  that  various 
States,  including  our  own,  are  engaged  in 
passing  is  entirely  uncertain  because  of  the 
increasing  cloudiness  of  the  whole  situation 
regarding  the  enforcement  of  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment.  While  in  this  State  it  is  said 
to  be  the  purpose  to  hold  over  the  measure 
pending  the  receipt  of  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  test  cases,  in  New 
York  the  State  excise  department  is  pre- 
pared to  issue  licenses  under  the  2.75  per 
cent  act  of  the  Legislature  without  await- 
ing the  action  of  the  court.  The  excise 
commissioner  announces  that  he  will  be 
guided  solely  by  the  laws  of  the  State  and, 
if  they  conflict  with  the  Federal  laws,  it 
will  be  entirely  up  to  the  Federal  agents  to 
enforce  the  Federal  act. 

To  the  uncertainties  involved  in  this  view 
may  be  added  those  of  the  different  view 
taken,  for  instance,  by  Judge  Heady  of  our 
Police  Court,  that,  while  the  Federal  law 
supersedes  all  State  liquor  laws,  a  State 
court  has  no  jurisdiction  until  State  laws 
are  passed  in  concurrence.  If  a  State  court 
has  no  jurisdiction  unless  State  laws  con- 
cur, it  of  course  follows  that  its  courts 
could  have  no  jurisdiction  over  cases  under 
a  2.75  per  cent  act  if  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature. 

The  whole  trouble  inevitably  comes  from 
the  provision  for  concurrence  in  the  amend- 
ment itself,  which  fails  to  specify  whether 
the  concurrence  must  be  complete  or  may 
be  one  of  degree.  If  the  amendment  gives, 
or  rather  leaves,  the  States  any  discrimina- 
tion at  all  in  the  matter,  it  implies  that  a 
State  may  exercise  its  judgment  in  the  de- 
gree of  concurrence  and  thus  may  concur  in 
the  amendment  to  the  extent  of  a  2.75  per 
cent  act.  But  all  this  is  only  symptomatic 
of  the  complete  uncertainty  of  the  whole 
matter,  and  it  by  no  means  follows  that  if 
the  Supreme  Court  determines  all  questions 
relating  to  the  cases  now  before  it,  all  the 
brooding  uncertainties  will  be  thereby  re- 
moved. 

HOW  THEY  VOTED  FOR  "CAL" 

New  York  Evening  Post 
"I  calculate,"  said  a  woodohopper  in  the 
aggregation  of  structures  known  as  Florida, 
Mass.,  "to  walk  five  miles,  come  election, 
and  back  to  the  wood  lot.  I'm  votin'  for 
Cal  Coolidge." 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


241 


Several  others,  as  it  turned  out,  were  of 
the  same  mind,  and  yet  when  on  the  eve 
of  election  a  gentleman  frequenting  the  lob- 
bies of  Boston  hotels  offered  $1000  on 
Coolidge  to  $400  on  Long,  he  found  no  one 
willing  to  take  him.  At  the  last  minute  a 
Boston  paper  cautiously  remarked  that  "the 
pendulum  of  political  fortune  swung  a  little 
further  in  favor  of  Governor  Coolidge  than 
it  had." 

There  was  hardly  a  hamlet  in  the  state, 
however,  which  did  not  have  its  Coolidge 
rally  on  "the  night  of  November  3,  and  men 
who  had  "quit  bothering  about  politics," 
aroused  by  this  singular  occasion,  went 
through  the  countryside  getting  votes  for 
the  governor,  ably  assisted  by  their  wives. 

Springfield  gives  credit  for  the  over- 
whelming result  there  to  "our  quiet  Repub- 
lican reserve."  "The  Senate  may  'just  as 
well  work  today,"  said  the  Republican  on 
the  election.  "Nothing  that  any  senator 
says  can  be  as  important  in  the  news  as 
what  Massachusetts  does."  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Newton  M.  Hall,  of  Springfield,  contributed 
this  call  to  the  "Men  of  Massachusetts": 

O  men  of  Massachusetts! 

The  clarion   call  goes  forth. 
From  Bunker  Hill  to  Grey  lock. 

Stand  up  and  show  your  worth! 

Stand  up  and  fight  for  freedom, 
As  your  fathers  fought  of  old, 

For  the  honor  of  the  Bay  State, 
For  freedom's  flag  unrolled. 

There  are  those  who  hate  the  banner 
For  which  your  sons  have  bled; 

They  would  smirch  its  sacred  colors, 
They  would  flaunt  their  rag  of  red. 

We  fight  for  law  and  order. 
For  the  safety  of  the  state; 

We  storm  the  walls  of  evil, 
The  citadel  of  hate. 

The  skies  of  cold  November 
Now  shine  with  clearer  light. 

When  the  men  of  Massachusetts 
Shall  vindicate  the  right! 

The  nation  waits  your  verdict; 

Then  sound  it  full  and  strong! 
"No  treason  in  the  Bay  State, 

No  place  for  cowardly  wrong!" 

0  men  of  Massachusetts! 

The  ancient  call  goes  forth; 
From  Plymouth  Rock  to  Berkshire 

Stand  up  and  prove  your  worth! 


But  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts victory  was  the  aftermath  of 
comment  in  the  press.  It  was  as  if  the 
whole  country  joined  in  a  sigh  of  relief 
and  a  shout  of  triumph.  Little  papers  and 
big  hastened  to  say  that  while,  of  course, 
they  had  been  sure  of  it  all  the  while,  they 
still  felt  mighty  glad. 

THE  NEWSPAPER  REPORTER 

Nashville  Tennesseean 

It  is  the  custom  for  the  layman  of  limited 
knowledge  of  the  world  and  the  people  in  it 
to  speak  of  a  newspaper  reporter  disparag- 
ingly; to  talk  with  him  condescendingly; 
and  to  take  unto  himself  an  air  of  su- 
periority when  one  is  near.  Reporter? — ^he 
says  so  himself — Oh,  a  reporter  is  a  young 
chap  trying  to  make  an  honest  living  until 
he  gets  into  some  more  businesslike  line  of 
work.  In  other  words,  a  creature  to  be  tol- 
erated.   Thus  is  his  own  ignorance  shown. 

Yet  we  wonder,  does  the  "average  busi- 
ness man"  fully  understand  the  functions  of 
a  reporter,  his  business  ideals,  and  the  power 
which  he  may  wield  at  times?  Not  all  re- 
porters are  young  chaps  "trying  to  make  an 
honest  living."  Some  are  old  men  making 
magnificent  incomes. 

Several  years  ago  we  were  traveling  with 
one  of  these  older  men,  who  has  reported 
every  great  world  event  in  the  last  genera- 
tion, a  man  who  knows  intimately  some  of 
the  great  statesmen  of  five  countries,  and  a 
person  who  paid  an  income  tax  on  a  yearly 
salary  of  over  $25,000.  A  fussy  little  chap, 
who  looked  as  though  he  might  be  a  vendor 
of  suspender  buttons  on  commission,  came 
puffing  into  the  smoker  and  inquired: 
"What's  your  line,  brother?" 
And  the  man  whose  name  was  a  house- 
hold word  among  readers  in  America  and 
England  answered  casually:  "Oh,  I'm  just 
a  reporter." 

"Must  be  pretty  bad  to  be  a  reporter  at 
your  age,"  was  the  response.  "Well,  I  live 
in  Cincinnati,  and  if  I  can  ever  do  you  a 
good  turn,  come  in  and  see  me."  The  older 
man  thanked  him  gravely.  Half  an  hour 
later  the  fussy  little  man  was  telling  the 
smokingroom  crowd  that  "so-and-so  is  one 
of  the;  (biggest  writers  in  America."  And 
there  was  "so-and-so"  sitting  opposite  him, 
having  been  ignored  after  the  opening  sen- 
tence, because  he  had  had  the  modesty  to 
label  himself  "just  a  reporter." 

Reporters?  Yes — ^they  range  from  the 
youngster  just  out  of  college  to  the  veteran 
Frederick  Palmer,  who  calls  more  famous 
generals  by  their  first  names  than  any 
other  living  man;  from  the  quiet  fellow  in 
the  small  town  who  goes  about  his  business 


242 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


without  puffing  out  his  chest,  to  genial 
Irvin  S.  Cobb,  whom  the  Germans  thought 
important  enough  to  be  sentenced  to  death 
in  1914— but  whom  they  didn't  dare  shoot. 

We've  read  many  interesting  books,  but 
we  believe  that  the  most  interesting  volume 
that  could  be  written  just  now  would  be 
one  compiled  by  one  of  our  reporters,  who 
could  write  with  facility  on  "The  Four- 
Flushers  I  Have  Met."  To  the  average  man 
chronicling  the  day's  activities  for  the 
press,  brass  is  seldom  mistaken  for  glitter- 
ing gold,  though  the  rest  of  the  public  may 
frequently  be  deceived. 

Knowing  reporters  as  we  do,  if  we  were 
in  business  the  last  thing  we  would  think 
of  doing  would  be  to  condescend  to  a  re- 
porter. Sometimes  the  latter  has  the  mem- 
ory of  an  elephant,  which  may  be  used  on 
occasion. 

THE  KANSAS  SYSTEM 

Indianapolis  News 
The  attack  on  the  Kansas  system  of  in- 
dustrial courts  made  under  dramatic  circum- 
stances by  Alexander  M.  Howat,  president 
of  District  No.  14,  United  Mine  Workers 
of  America,  was  by  no  means  unexpected. 
In  fact,  it  is  only  an  incident  in  a  series  of 
attacks  in  which  Howat  has  taken  a  leading 
part.  The  bill  creating  the  industrial  rela- 
tions court  was  opposed  by  a  lobby  gathered 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  a  circum- 
stance to  which  Governor  Allen  attributes 
the  precipitate  passage  of  the  bill;  and  two 
days  after  the  bill  was  passed  the  miners, 
under  Howat,  went  out  as  a  protest  against 
the  act,  but  returned  to  work  when  the 
state's  attorneys  began  an  investigation. 

The  law  which  has  so  deeply  offended 
Howat's  school  of  economists  does  nothing 
more  alarming  than  introduce  a  compulsory 
step  between  a  proposed  wage  agreement 
and  the  strike  or  lockout.  It  obliges  no  one 
to  work.  It  provides  for  the  incorporation 
of  unions  or  associations  of  workers,  recog- 
nizes the  right  of  collective  bargaining  and 
gives  full  faith  and  credit  to  contracts  made 
in  pursuance  of  this  right.  It  protects 
workers  who  bring  a  grievance  to  the  court 
and  provides  a  severe  penalty  for  an  em- 
ployer who  seeks  to  influence  the  testimony 
of  a  worker  by  threats  of  discharge  or 
wage  reduction.  Neither  employer  nor  em- 
ploye shall  hold  up  production  until  the 
court  has  been  consulted. 

Thus  it  is  not  the  court  against  which 
Howat  and  his  kind  rail,  but  the  assumption 
by  the  people  of  Kansas  of  the  right  to 
compel  quarreling  men  to  give  cool  thought 
to  their  differences  before  they  deprive  the 
people  of  their  right  to  necessary  commodi- 


ties. Kansas  has  taken  a  step  toward  plac- 
ing the  right  to  food,  shelter  and  fuel  above 
the  right  to  strike.  Only  incidentally  has 
it  snatched  Howat's  favorite  club  away,  but 
that  is  all  he  sees  in  the  law.  Without  his 
club,  he  roars  and  is  rather  a  pathetic 
figure,  but  withal  a  comparatively  harmless 
one  and  not  to  be  taken  too  seriously  by 
those  who  see  his  present  plight  as  only  an 
incident  in  his  career. 
"ROSY  RAPTURE"  AT  THE 

DUKE  OF  YORK'S 
Illustrated  London  News 
Not  even  the  brilliant  talents  of  a  Barrie 
can  convert  a  revue  into  something  else 
than  its  inconsequent  self,  nor  does  the  at- 
mosphere of  home  and  baby  which  he  affects 
in  his  example  harmonize  too  well  with  the 
machinery  of  burlesque,  wild  dancing,  and 
beauty-chorus.  The  material  in  which  an 
artist  works  cannot  but  influence  his  lart, 
and  so,  notwithstanding  the  piquancy  of  a 
combination  of  Sir  J.  M.  Barrie  as  author 
and  Gaby  Deslys  as  actress,  with  its  conse- 
quence of  this  embodiment  of  gaiety  being 
involved  in  scenes  of  domestic  sentiment, 
we  hardly  get  the  best  sort  of  satire  or  the 
prettiest  fancy  of  which  our  English  Puck 
is  capable  under  these  conditions.  His 
travesty  is  devoted  to  stage  devices  and 
stage  fashions  which  are  already  rather 
demodes,  and  which  soon  exhaust  their 
humorous  possibilities.  Skits  on  the  prob- 
lem play  and  the  triangle  of  sex,  on  stage 
husbands  who  hide  dn  wardrobes,  and 
heroines  of  melodrama  who  shiver  in  the 
snow,  are  a  bit  old-fashioned  nowadays;  and 
the  Barrie  travesties  of  David  Copperfield 
and  Sir  Herbert  Tree  are  no  better  and  no 
less  superficial  than  average  burlesques  in 
revues.  The  best  thing  in  Rosy  Rapture  is 
the  little  episode  in  which  Mile.  Deslys  as 
French  peasant  girl  and  Mr.  Jack  Norworth 
as  English  Tommy  make  love  with  the  help 
of  a  phrasebook  and  with  Lord  Kitchener's 
homily  to  soldiers  in  mind,  and  give  us  also 
a  new  version  of  Sally  dn  Our  Alley;  that 
is  the  daintiest  of  ideas — Barrie  at  his  best. 
No  less  happy  is  the  set  of  moving  pictures 
describing  the  adventures  of  the  baby  in 
his  perambulator  discovering  for  his  actress 
mother  "how  to  be  happy  though  at  home." 
There  are  songs  and  dances  and  jokes  to  be 
sure,  and  a  beauty-chorus  which  is  beau- 
tiful, and  "Gaby"  herself  is  delightfully 
vivacious,  and  Mr.  Norworth  has  a  tongue- 
twisting  ditty,  and  Mr.  Eric  Lewis  is  fine 
fun  as  a  butler  urging  the  chorus  to  fling 
themselves  into  a  polka — in  fact,  it  would 
be  quite  a  good  revue  if  we  had  not  ex- 
pected something  so  superlatively  good  from 
a  Barrie  revue. 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


243 


LIKES  TO  HEAR  SLANG 

Buffalo    Express 

There  is  one  college  professor  who  is  not 
appalled  when  he  encounters  slang.  He  is 
Thomas  A.  Knott,  of  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago.   He  says: 

"In  the  presence  of  slang  I  stand  un- 
appalled,  because  slang  does  not  corrupt  the 
English  language,  and  as  long  as  there  re- 
mains a  cultivated  group  of  men  to  speak 
it,  slang  never  will  corrupt  the  English  lan- 
guage. Slang  is  not  abnormal.  It  is  a  sort 
of  vagabond  speech  that  is  all  the  time  cross- 
ing the  boundary  of  our  conventional  dia- 
lect. It  is  often  merely  certain  words  which 
suggest  undignified  aspects  of  an  idea  or 
object  otherwise  dignified. 

"One  of  the  most  fertile  sources  of  slang 
is  found  in  our  sports.  When  a  man  breaks 
a  shoelace  when  he  is  in  a  hurry,  he  goes 
to  the  golf  game  for  the  expression  *I'm 
stymied.' 

"Other  expressions  which  have  their 
origin  in  sport  are  *to  get  by,'  from  foot- 
ball; 'serve  a  hot  one,'  from  tennis,  and 
'slip  one  over,'  from  baseball.  Then  from 
the  great  national  game  we  draw  such 
phrases  as  'ante  up,'  'stand  pat,'  'raw  deal,' 
aaid  'all  in.' 

"Some  slang  consists  of  ingenious  meta- 
phors. In  this  class  are  'He's  got  a  flat 
tire.'  'He  is  a  false  alarm,'  and  'He  has 
slipped  his   trolley.' " 

Ajnong  the  words  which  got  their  start 
from  slangy  metaphor,  Professor  Knott  cites 
the  following:  "Inculcate,  literally  to  grind 
in  with  the  heel;  instigate,  literally  to  stick 
a  goad  into  a  steer;  companion,  literally  a 
simultaneous  eater  of  bread;  and  threat,  lit- 
erally to  eat  voraciously. 

"Slang  denotes  growth.  The  only  lan- 
guage that  has  no  slang  is  the  language 
that  men  have  ceased  to  speak,  a  language 
that  is  dead." 

OUR  COMING  AMERICAN 

Wichita    Beacon 

A  girl  in  passing  a  car  wanted  a  news- 
paper. When  the  car  stopped  she  called  a 
newsboy  and  reached  out  a  coin. 

The  car  started  too  soon.  The  girl  drew 
in  her  hand  disappointedly.  But  she  stopped 
in  amazement,  then  thrust  out  her  hand  and 
stretched  it  farther  as  she  got  up  and 
leaned  out  of  the  window. 

That  little  barefoot  newsboy  was  running 
alongside  the  car,  holding  up  his  paper  to 
the  girl! 

A  good,  hard  spurt,  a  thrust  forward,  and 
up  went  the  little  arm  with  the  newspaper. 
The  girl  caught  it  and  threw  back  the  coin 
as  the  car  speeded  ahead. 

The  coin  fell  to  the  ground. 


It  was  only  a  cent,  but  it  meant  so  much 
to  the  newsboy.  He  did  not  know  he  had  es- 
caped being  crushed  between  the  car  and 
an  auto  as  he  ran  along  to  sell  his  paper. 
He  did  not  realize  his  tender  little  bare 
feet  had  been  endangered  by  running  over 
cobblestones  where  nails  and  glass  might 
have  cut  them. 

All  he  did  know  was,  he  hadn't  caught 
that  cent.  So  he  bent  down  to  look  for  it. 
He  looked  and  groped,  but  that  cent  seemed 
to  have  passed  into  the  great  beyond  for  all 
he  was  concerned. 

Suddenly  the  boy  stood  up,  took  a  short 
glance  at  the  spot  of  exploration,  then  at  the 
papers  under  his  arm,  smiled  and  ran  back 
to  his  corner. 

"Whut  d'ye  read?     Poipers." 

There  was  an  American  business-man  in 
the  making! 

CIVILIZATION:  A  VENEER? 

Youth's  Companion 

.  The  events  of  the  last  few  years  have 
caused  many  people  to  ask  themselves 
whether  civilization,  though  the  product  of 
centuries,  is  not  merely  a  coating  over  the 
natural  passions  and  cruelties  of  man,  and 
whether  it  has  not  now  been  worn  so  thin 
that  it  cannot  be  expected  to  last  much 
longer.  Although  this  view  seems  to  us 
unwarranted,  we  cannot  hold  the  belief  that 
mankind  is  destined  inevitably  to  advance 
in  civilization.  The  one  clear  lesson  of  the 
war  is  that  if  civilization  is  to  be  preserved 
and  improved,  it  can  be  only  through  man- 
kind's unflagging  effort.  It  is  not  a  spon- 
taneous growth  of  nature.  Untended,  it 
will  deteriorate  and  wither  away. 

How  many  people  have  seriously  asked 
themselves  what  civilization  is?  How 
many,  if  asked  to  define  civilization,  would 
vaguely  reply  that  it  meant  luxuries  and 
conveniences,  labor-saving  inventions,  rail- 
ways, aeroplanes,  automobiles — progress  in 
the  arts  and  sciences?  But  civilization  is 
barren  of  results  if  its  achievements  are  to 
be  measured  only  or  chiefly  in  such  terms. 

The  essence  of  civilization  is  that  it  shall 
enable  men — races  of  men — to  live  together 
on  terms  of  common  understanding  and 
mutual  forbearance.  Progress  lin  the  arts 
and  sciences,  improvement  in  means  of 
transportation,  communication  and  trade 
should  facilitate  common  understanding  and 
mutual  forbearance.  But  they  are  only  in- 
struments, and  if  people  use  them  stupidly 
or  wickedly,  they  are  instruments,  not  for 
good,  but  for  evil.  It  is  the  task  of  educa- 
tion to  teach  people  to  use  those  instru- 
ments  in  the   right  way  and  for  a   good 


244 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


purpose.  The  Germans  had  a  system  of 
education,  thorough  as  far  as  it  went,  but 
they  had  no  vision  of  the  true  aim  of  educa- 
tion. They  glorified  a  thing  that  was  not 
civilization.  They  did  not  desire  civiliza- 
tion. 

In  America,  as  elsewhere,  people  have  be- 
come habituated  to  violent  methods  of 
settling  controversy.  Riots,  strikes,  blood- 
shed, lynchings,  the  vile  brutalities  of  the 
mob,  are  of  such  frequent  occurrence  as  to 
cause  grave  anxiety  to  every  thoughtful 
American.  The  law  is  framed  to  give  pro- 
tection to  all  citizens;  it  is  the  concrete  ex- 
pression of  the  effort  and  struggle  of  men 
to  achieve  civilization;  upon  obedience  to 
the  law  civilization  rests. 

THIS  BUSINESS  OF  BORING 

Saturday  Evening  Post 

It's  a  poor  auger  that  won't  bore  both 
ways. 

When  the  stanch  American  workingman 
finds  that  imported  mossy-chinned  tinkers 
in  his  labor  organizations  are  boring  from 
within  he  promptly  reverses  the  process  and 
bores  from  without  into  this  alien  inner 
body.  That  was  what  happened  jin  a  big 
shipbuilding  company  in  Baltimore  when  a 
few  radicals  an;iong  the  employees  began 
scattering  their  cerise  circulars  painting  the 
charms  of  Russia's  industrial  freedom. 

A  Loyal  Workers'  Group  sprang  into  be- 
ing spontaneously,  full-panoplied  against 
the  internal  menace.  Their  strategy  was 
simple;  at  once  defensive  and  offensive. 
They  merely  turned  in  to  their  foremen  the 
names  of  the  disease  breeders,  well  known 
to  themselves  from  months  of  association, 
inscrutable  perhaps  to  their  employers. 

Agents  of  the  Department  of  Justice  ar- 
rested six.  The  company  dismissed  forty- 
five  malcontents.  The  inconsiderable  total— 
fifty-one  in  a  plant  of  seven  thousand  satis- 
fied workers. 

It's  the  ripe  old  story  of  the  single  bad 
apple  boring  from  the  center  of  a  barrel  of 
wholesome  fruit.  Except  that  in  this  case 
the  spread  of  putrefaction  was  halted  almost 
at  its  inception. 

It  should  be  significant  to  employers  in 
general  that  the  halt  was  effected  in  the 
first  instance  by  the  laborers  themselves. 
They  must  have  been  accustomed  to  fair, 
man-to-man  dealing  with  their  bosses  in 
that  plant.  When  they  foresaw  the  danger 
for  their  employers  they  gave  the  alarm 
and  spat  out  the  germs. 

No  highfaluting  temporizing  about  class 
consciousness  here.  Mass  consciousness,  if 
you  will — the  sound  sane  consciousness  of 


tkt  rreat  dependable  mass  of  the  American  of  the  year,  and  laid  off  in  idleness 


people — employer  and  employee,  producer 
and  consumer,  brain  worker  and  brawn 
dealer — serried  solidly  against  the  insidious 
borers  who  seem  so  satisfied  with  having 
made  Russia  what  she  is  today. 

WHAT  ADVERTISING  DOES  FOR  LABOR 

Printers'   Ink 

The  man  who  works  for  wages  seldom 
realizes  that  the  firm's  advertising  directly 
affects  him  and  all  men  who  invest  services 
instead  of  capital  in  the  industrial  enter- 
prise. 

Too  often  even  the  worker  who  thinks 
constructively,  considers  production  as  com- 
plete in  itself.  When  raw  materials  plus 
machinery,  plus  management  and  labor  pro- 
duce the  finished  product  he  often  feels  that 
the  process  is  complete.  He  forgets  the 
fact  that  until  the  finished  product  is  in 
the  hands  of  its  users  there  is  no  money  for 
either  capital  or  labor  to  divide. 

The  place  of  advertising  and  salesman- 
ship in  the  distributive  process,  and  its  bear- 
ings on  the  contents  of  his  pay  envelope  are 
not  pointed  out  to  him  often  enough. 

The  president  of  a  large  manufacturing 
company  discovered  by  investigation  a  curi- 
ous fact.  His  men,  good  Americans  all  of 
them,  imagined  that  the  real  profits  in  the 
business  came  from  the  sale  of  common 
stock  in  Wall  Street.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  par  value  and  the  selling  price 
they  believed  was  pocketed  by  the  firm.  The 
president  blamed  himself  for  this  misappre- 
hension and  started  to  remedy  it  by  some 
bulletin  board  posters  within  the  plant.  He 
realized  that  leaving  the  economic  education 
of  his  men  to  the  street-comer  orator  was 
short-sighted  policy. 

Does  not  every  employer  owe  it  to  ihis 
customers,  his  stockholders  and  the  public 
to  enlighten  his  men  upon  the  workings  of 
modem  business  ?  In  this  task  it  would  be 
well  to  point  out  the  value  of  the  firm's 
advertising,  and  its  place  in  the  economic 
scheme.  Unless  a  man  is  told  to  the  con- 
trary he  may  believe  that  the  advertising 
is  done  merely  because  the  boss  "wants  to 
see  his  name  in  the  papers." 

It  could  well  be  pointed  out  to  ihim  that 
some  of  the  greatest  industries  in  America, 
employing  a  large  number  of  workers,  have 
been  developed  almost  entirely  through  ad- 
vertising. Advertising  has  actually  created 
occupations  which  would  never  have  ex- 
isted, except  for  its  use. 

A  fact  of  even  greater  interest  to  labor 
is  the  regularity  of  employment  offered  by 
firms  which  are  consistent  and  regular  ad- 
vertisers. Those  industries  in  which  men 
are  worked  long  hours  for  a  certain  period 

for 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


245 


another,  are  almost  without  exception  in- 
dustries which  have  never  built  up  a  regular 
market  through  advertising.  Instances  in 
which  the  use  of  advertising  has  made 
seasonable  products  into  all-year-round, 
may  be  found  in  large  number  in  the  files  of 
Printers'  Ink. 

Advertising  as  business  insurance;  as  a 
builder  of  good-will  on  the  part  of  the  buyer, 
and  pride  in  craftmanship  on  the  part  of 
the  maker  affects  the  worker's  future  as 
well  as  the  owner's. 

One  factory  which  realizes  how  closely 
its  advertising  touches  on  morale,  labor 
turnover,  and  mental  attitude,  has  adopted 
the  policy  of  having  each  piece  of  copy 
submitted  to  a  committee  of  the  workers  for 
criticism  and  suggestion.  The  advertising 
manager  says  that  as  they  have  a  share  in 
the  making  of  the  product,  they  are  en- 
titled to  a  share  in  suggesting  what  is  said 
about  the  product,  and  in  sharing  responsi- 
bility for  its  performance. 

The  manufacturer  of  today  cannot  afford 
to  leave  the  education  of  his  workers  en- 
tirely to  the  professor  of  the  soap-^box.  It 
is  time  the  charge  that  we  are  a  nation  of 
economic  illiterates  is  denied.  Telling  the 
workers  how  advertising  helps  all  the  part- 
ners in  industry  is  a  step  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. 

PART  TIME  MARRIAGE 

San   Francisco  Bulletin 

Nothing  is  more  interesting  than  a  new 
experiment  in  marriage,  though  for  that 
matter  every  marriage  is  an  experiment. 
But  apart  from  the  something  different  in 
every  union  of  two  persons,  is  there  really 
anything  new  in  marriage,  anything  that 
has  not  been  tried  before? 

Fannie  Hurst,  a  popular  short  story 
writer,  is  a  very  original  woman  in  fiction, 
but  in  fact  she  is  merely  an  imitator.  Her 
supposedly  novel  form  of  marriage  with 
Danielson,  the  pianist,  is  no  novelty.  Many 
centuries  before  George  Bernard  Shaw 
imagined  he  was  doing  a  new  thing  by  ar- 
ranging to  live  apart  from  his  wife  from 
the  day  of  their  union,  there  were  couples 
who  maintained  separate  homes  and  who 
saw  each  other  only  at  intervals.  Among 
the  aristocracy  of  various  countries  (it  has 
been  practiced  from  the  earliest  times,  and 
the  historian  has  yet  to  discover  that  such 
marriages  were  any  happier  than  those  of 
people  who  lived  and  loved  together. 

The  only  element  of  novelty  in  the  Shaw 
case  was  the  advance  publicity  given  it. 
Haughty  aristocrats  do  not  announce  that 
they  intend  to  live  apart.  It  would  not 
sound  as  at  all  unusual,  and  then  they  are 


not  dependent  upon  press  agents  as  a  means 
of  income.  Novelists,  dramatists  and  others 
who  live  by  popular  favor  must  advertise, 
and  it  was  good  business  when  Bernard 
Shaw  exploited  part-time  marriage  proposi- 
tion. It  was  not  a  success,  but  no  one  ex- 
pected it  would  be.  The  success  or  failure 
of  a  marriage  depends  upon  the  nature  of 
the  contracting  parties,  not  upon  the  nature 
of  the  contract.  No  matter  what  words  or 
even  conditions  are  put  in  or  left  out  of  the 
contract,  there  is  still  the  question  of  com- 
patability,  and  it  decides  everything. 

If  Fannie  Hurst  and  her  husband  are 
suited  to  each  other  and  have  sufficient  of 
the  spirit  of  compromise  to  tide  over  the 
minor  and  inevitable  misunderstandings, 
they  will  be  happily  married  in  spite  of  their 
suspicions  as  to  the  institution  of  marriage. 
The  world  wishes  them  happiness  in  their 
experiment,  though  many  a  woman  will 
resent  the  suggestion  that  a  more  conven- 
tional form  of  marriage  tends  to  bring  a 
wife  of  artistic  talents  "down  to  a  seden- 
tary state  of  fat-mindedness."  Many  a 
mother  has  written  books  that  will  be  re- 
membered long  after  we  have  forgotten  the 
most  popular  magazine  stories  of  the  day. 

OUR  CRITCIAL  FREIGHT  SITUATION 

Railway   Age 

If  ever  there  was  a  time  when  transporta- 
tion conditions  imperatively  demanded  that 
shippers  and  receivers  of  freight  should,  for 
their  own  interest,  and  even  their  own  salva- 
tion, co-operate  to  the  utmost  with  the 
railways  in  securing  the  most  efficient  pos- 
sible use  of  railroad  facilities,  that  time  is 
now. 

Almost  the  only  possible  way  in  which  the 
amount  of  freight  the  railroads  can  haul 
can  be  immediately  increased  is  by  securing 
the  movement  of  every  ton  of  freight  pos- 
sible with  every  car  that  is  available.  The 
amount  of  freight  that  can  be  moved  with 
existing  facilities  is  absolutely  dependent 
upon  how  much  freight  can  be  loaded  into 
every  car,  and  how  many  miles  a  day  every 
car  can  be  made  to  travel. 

The  number  of  miles  per  day  that  each 
car  can  be  made  to  travel  is  mainly  de- 
pendent upon  the  efficiency  with  which  the 
railway  managements  and  employees  do 
their  work.  It*  is  also  largely  dependent, 
however,  "upon  the  promptness  and  celerity 
with  which  every  shippper  loads  cars  and 
every  receiver  of  freight  unloads  them.  As 
to  the  heavy  loading  of  cars,  that  is  a  mat- 
ter which  is  mainly  in  the  hands  of  the 
shippers.  The  only  way  the  railways  could 
force  heavier  loading  of  cars  would  be  by  a 
general     advance     in     minimum     carload 


246 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


weights,  and  while  probably  there  should  be 
such  an  advance  made,  it  would  meet  with 
opposition  and  might  do  injustice  to  many 
shippers. 

The  most  effective  thing  the  shippers 
could  do  to  help  themselves,  and  help  the 
industry  and  people  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  present  emergency  would  be  for 
every  individual  shipper,  regardless  of  min- 
imum carload  weights,  to  follow  the  policy 
of  loading  every  car  with  every  pound  of 
freight  that  it  could  carry.  The  average 
capacity  of  the  freight  cars  of  this  country 
exceeds  40  tons.  The  average  tons  loaded 
per  loaded  car  at  present  is  only  about  28 
tons.  It  should  be  easily  practicable  to 
increase  this  average  loading  10  or  15  per 
cent.  The  effect  would  be  to  make  it  prac- 
ticable for  the  railways  to  handle  10  or  15 
per  cent  more  freight  business  than  they 
otherwise  would  be  able  to.  Surely,  it  must 
be  plain  to  the  business  interests  of  the 
country  that  their  own  welfare,  if  not  their 
actual  economic  salvation,  is  dependent  upon 
an  increase  in  the  amount  of  freight  moved. 

Some  shippers'  organizations  are  carry- 
ing on  an  agitation  among  their  members 
to  influence  them  to  increase  the  loading 
of  cars.  The  manufacturers  of  Portland 
cement  and  of  steel  have  long  been  among 
the  leaders  in  promoting  heavy  loading. 
The  American  Newspaper  Publishers'  Asso- 
ciation recently  has  been  circularizing  its 
members  urging  them  to  unload  cars  as 
promptly  as  possible.  Such  agitation  ought 
to  be  carried  on  by  every  organization  of 
industrial  concerns  in  the  country.  The 
railways  are  doing  a  good  deal  of  this  kind 
of  work  and  are  going  to  do  more,  but 
uninformed  or  prejudiced  people  are  likely 
to  think  that  they  are  doing  it  for  their  own 
selfish  interest,  and  therefore  to  be  less  re- 
sponsive to  appeals  from  the  roads  than  to 
appeals  from  organizations  of  concerns  of 
their  own  class. 

Even  if  normal  conditions  with  respect  to 
the  handling  of  freight  traffic  existed  it 
would  be  impossible  for  the  railways,  with 
their  present  facilities,  to  handle  all  the 
business  that  would  be  offered  to  them.  The 
conditions,  however,  have  been  rendered  ex- 
tremely abnormal  by  certain  recent  develop- 
ments, the  most  important  of  which  have 
been  the  coal  strike  and  the  recent  railroad 
strikes  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Business  men  and  the  general  public  ought 
to  be  made  to  understand  that  the  present 
transportation  situation  is  very  critical,  and 
is  likely  to  become  desperate  unless  every 
individual  concern  contributes  all  possible 
toward  relieving  it. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

Boston  Transcript 

With  the  nearer  approach  of  the  Ne"\ 
Year  we  find  a  more  serious  concentration 
of  thought  upon  the  stability  and  functions 
of  American  colleges.  Harvard's  great  en- 
dowment fund  is  nearing  its  completion. 
One  by  one  our  colleges  are  finding  them- 
selves again  after  the  strain  of  the  great 
war,  to  whose  exigencies  they  so  patriotical- 
ly responded.  Financial  reconstruction  may 
be  necessary  in  many  cases,  and  more  or  less 
academic  readjustment  to  the  needs  and 
problems  of  peace  is  to  be  expected.  But 
over  and  above  all  looms  the  permanent 
question — if  question  it  be — of  the  true,  the 
common,  and  the  perennial  mission  of  these 
institutions  of  higher  knowledge. 

And  first,  the  public  may  ask  itself,  what 
is  the  distinction  betweeen  college  and  uni- 
versity? If  we  are  to  define  or  to  develop 
the  meaning  of  the  college  proper,  it  may 
be  as  well  to  begin  by  differentiating  it 
from  the  university  as  a  whole.  The  college 
is  the  university's  heart  and  soul,  but  it 
does  not  constitute  the  whole,  nor  neces- 
sarily the  main  part,  of  the  university's 
body.  In  addition  to  the  graduate  depart- 
ment in  our  large  universities  there  are  the 
great  and  growing  special  schools  of  profes- 
sional learning  and  preparation.  The  law 
school,  the  divinity  school,  the  medical 
school,  the  agricultural  school,  the  business 
administration  school,  and  various  other 
branches  of  the  big  university  tree,  combine 
with  the  college  proper,  with  the  central 
trunk,  to  make  up  an  educational  plant  of 
vast  aims  and  complex  scope  and  life.  But 
the  nucleus,  the  inspiring  center  of  it  all, 
is  the  college,  dedicated  to  the  study  of  gen- 
eral, as  the  special  schools  are  dedicated  to 
the  study  of  special,  lines  of  human  thought 
and  achievement.  The  special  schools  are 
necessarily  more  practical  and  narrow,  and 
less  theoretical  and  broad,  than  is  the  col- 
lege, but  the  same  great  spirit  that  created 
the  college  permeates  the  whole  institution; 
and  if,  as  often  is  the  case,  the  student  in 
the  special  schools  is  also  a  graduate  from 
the  college,  he  may  build  his  own  profes- 
sional life-work  on  the  broad  foundations  of 
general  culture  and  training. 

But  without  further  reference  to  the  pro- 
fessional schools,  what  should  the  college 
itself  stand  for  in  modern  civilization  and 
in  its  own  national  life?  Only  one  answer 
seems  possible.  To  maintain  its  distinctive 
mission  the  college  must  insist,  throughout 
the  undergraduate  courses  of  study,  upon 
the  synthetic,  the  philosophical  treatment  of 
all  the  branches  of  learning  taught.  The 
supreme  social  principle  of  interdependence 


EDITORIALS  DEVOTED  TO  INTERPRETATION 


247 


olds  good  even  when  applied  to  the  domain 
f  purely  academic  search  for  truth.  For 
o  branch  of  human  thought  or  action  or 
spiration  can  stand  alone,  and  no  branch  of 
earning  can  find  its  own  proper  place  in 
uman  study  save  by  grace  of  inclusive 
onsideration.  Not  only  technical  "phi- 
jsophy,"  but  also  the  philosophic  aspect  of 
terature,  art,  the  sciences,  economics,  his- 
ory,  civics,  and  the  rest,  must  be  insepara- 
le  and  permanent  attributes  of  the  col- 
3giate  education  of  the  future.  No  degree 
f  A.  B.,  or  other  degree  purporting  to 
tand  for  a  liberal  education,  should  be  con- 
erred  without  assurance  that  its  recipient 
as  acquired  something  of  the  vision  and 
erspective  that  spring  from  such  philo- 
ophic  methods  of  study  and  individual 
bought. 

Specialism  is  as  much  out  of  place  in 
ollege  as  it  is  in  place  in  special  and  pro- 
essional  schools.  Neither  the  professional 
lan  nor  any  other  college  graduate  who 
spires  to  serve  his  country  either  through 
olitical  life  or  through  any  great  form  of 
ublic  life,  ecclesiastic,  industrial,  or  other, 
an  do  so  largely  and  constructively  and  at 
he  same  time  safely,  unless  he  has  acquired 
he  synthetic,  all-inclusive  view  >of  human 
ffairs,  past  and  present.  Mere  technical 
xpertness  will  not  suffice  here,  nor  will 
eneral  but  unco -ordinate  d  culture  serve, 
'he  search  for  truth  is  holy  because  it  is  a 
earch  for  the  whole  truth,  and  the  spirit  of 
cademic  endeavor  is  holy  because  it  seeks 
he  truth  of  life  in  all  its  fulness.  And 
othing  but  such  a  spirit  will  serve  to  lead 
rganized  man  onward.  No  pilot  can  steer 
nless  he  can  get  his  bearings;  all  his 
nanual  skill  is  useless  unless  he  can  get 
oints  whereby  to  direct  his  course  intelli- 
ently.  And  the  bearings  of  humanity's 
reat  movements,  past  and  present,  involve 

knowledge,  more  comprehensive  than  de- 
ailed.  To  such  ordered  comprehensiveness, 
0  such  wholeness  of  view,  may  our  Amer- 
can  colleges  be  dedicated,  and  may  they 
end  out  men  and  women  who  are  far- 
ighted  and  true-sighted  because  broad- 
ighted  and  deeply  instilled  with  the  wisdom 
vhich  the  past  has  bequeathed  to  the 
(resent. 

FOUR  OMINOUS  "PANS" 
Harvey's  Weekly 

Writing  in  the  April  15th  number  of  the 
levue  des  Deux  Mondes,  M.  Rene  Pinon 
utlines  a  programme  of  trouble  ahead 
vhich  involves  startling  possibilities.  It 
imounts  to  nothing  less  than  an  alignment 
>f  all  Bolshevist  Russia  with  all  Islamitic 
md  vagabond  Asia  against  Western  Europe 
md  the  two  Americas.    Its  slogan  is  "Asia 


for  the  Asiatics"  and  Bolshevist  chaos  for 
the  rest  of  the  world.  It  involves  four 
ominous  "Pans":  Pan-Germanism,  Pan- 
Islamism,  Pan-Touranism,  and,  worst  of  all, 
Pan-Bolshevism;  all  welded  together  into  a 
united  war  organization  which  M.  Pinon, 
in  the  title  of  his  Revue  article,  calls  "Asia's 
Offensive." 

Insurrections  in  Egypt,  insurrections  in 
India,  undermining  Western  European  and 
American  countries  with  Bolshevik-inspired 
and  Bolshevik-financed  strikes  and  labor  in- 
surrections, to  be  followed  by  the  substitu- 
tion of  Soviets  for  all  existing  Governments 
— ^all  these  stirring  numbers  are  on  the  pro- 
gramme which  the  French  writer  spreads 
before  us.  The  English  are  to  be  driven 
from  India,  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt,  and 
wherever  their  rule  is  over  Mohammedan 
peoples.  The  French  must  go  from  Syria 
and  North  Africa;  the  Greeks  from  the 
Asia  Minor  coast  and  from  Thrace,  if  they 
ever  get  into  Thrace.  As  for  other  than 
Soviet  forms  of  Government,  they  simply 
must  get  off  the  earth. 

These,  in  broad  outlines,  are  a  portion  of 
the  objectives  in  a  new  world  war  where, 
again,  the  survival  or  the  utter  destruction 
of  Western  civilization  will  be  the  issue  at 
stake.     The  plans  of  campaign,  according 
to  M.  Pinon,  are  not  only  matured,  but  are 
in  process  of  active  transformation  into  facts 
accomplished.     There    have   been   insurrec- 
tions in  India  and  in  Egypt.     There  have 
been  Bolshevik-inspired  strikes  in  Europe, 
notably  in   France,   in  which  the  disclosed 
objective  was  the  overthrow  of  the  existing 
Government  and  the  substitution  of  Soviet 
rule.     Recent  dispatches  tell  of  the  defeat 
by  Bolshevists  of  an  English  force  in  Persia. 
The  London  Daily  Mail  of  recent  date  says: 
The  whole   Bolshevik  policy  in  this 
region   [the  shores  of  the  Caspian]   is 
directed  to  undermining  and  destroying 
British  prestige  in  Persia,  and  the  move 
is  likely  to  have  a  serious  repercussion 
in  India. 

All  of  which  is  in  line  with  what  M.  Pinon 
wrote  for  the  Revue  over  six  weeks  ago.  It 
is  in  line  with  the  entire  Bolshevik-Islam 
League  objectives,  as  formulated  in  a  series 
of  meetings  beginning  at  Moscow  in  July 
and  continued  at  Erzeroum  in  August;  in 
Berlin  in  January  of  this  year  and  at  Con- 
stantinople January  29th,  when  all  the 
orators  predicted  a  great  decisive  struggle 
in  the  near  future  between  Asia  and  Europe 
for  the  "complete  emancipation  of  human- 
ity," the  "emancipation,"  of  course,  to  be  on 
the  Lenine-Trotzky  Bolshevik  model. 

The  bulk  of  all  Russians  being  but  the 
survivors  of  the  great  Zenghis  Kahn  bar- 


248 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


baric  inundations  of  savagery,  it  only  needs 
reinoculation  with  hereditary  instincts  to 
revert  to  its  original  Tartar  impulses  and 
again  swell  into  another  devastating  flood 
of  Asiatic  barbarism.  A  large  portion  of  it 
is  already  Mohammedan.  The  binding  tie  of 
Bolshevism  will  bring  in  all  the  others. 
Then,  joined  with  Pan-Islam,  the  Asiatic 
hive  is  ready  to  swarm.  Even  Hadjaz,  lately 
aligned  with  the  Allies  in  fighting  the  Turk, 
by  clumsy  British  intriguing  against  French 
Syrian  influence,  is  developing  hostility  to 
all  Christians. 

In  a  word,  all  Asiatic  fanaticism  is  to  be 
merged  with  all  Russian  Bolshevism  into  an 
unholy  alliance.  Its  Central  Committee  sits 
in  Moscow.  Under  It  are  two  sub-commit- 
tees: One  is  the  Committee  of  the  Orient, 
with  headquarters  in  the  Anatolian  prov- 
inces held  by  Mustapha  Kemel.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  other  is  Berlin.  This  last 
committee's  field  is  Europe  and  Northern 
Africa.  Switzerland  is  the  general  clearing- 
house of  the  intrigue.  Between  that  country 
'  and  Constantinople,  Moscow,  Berlin,  the 
Caucasus,  and  Egypt  there  is  a  constant 
coming  and  going  of  emissaries. 

Altogether  it  is  quite  an  alarming  picture 
which  M.  Pinon  presents.  But  he  says: 
The  dangers  which  menace  Europe 
would  vanish,  would  never  even  have 
existed,  if  an  entente  more  alert,  more 
compact,  more  careful  of  general  inter- 
ests had  been  established  among  the 
great  victorious  Allies— England,  Bel- 
gium, France,  Italy,  with  or  without 
America — to  create  an  unshakable  Con- 
tinental system  and  to  organize  the 
Orient.  Then  we  would  see  the  forces 
of  destruction  dissolve  and  the  features 
of  a  new  Russia  begin  to  appear.  If,  on 
the  contrary,  the  Allies  are  unable  to 
oppose  the  insurmountable  barrier  of 
their  far-seeing  and  ordered  union  to 
the  offensive  of  Asia  while  it  is  still  an 
uncertain  and  unorganized  menace,  then 
perhaps  we  shall  see,  as  in  the  time  of 
the  Roman  Emperors  and  Zenghis 
Kahn,  Asia's  inexhaustible  reservoirs  of 
men  overflow  anew  the  old  world  to  the 
submei^ence  of  everything. 

TODAY'S  CENTENARY 

OF  HERBERT  SPENCER 

Boston  Herald 
A  Ulysses  in  the  world  of  thought, 
"strong  m  will,"  as  Tennyson's  hero  was, 
"to  strike,  to  seek,  to  find  and  not  to  yield," 
began  his  life  100  years  ago  with  the  birth 
of  Herbert  Spencer.  There  was  little  in 
his  inheritance,  and  less  in  the  merely  for- 
mal schooling  which  he  enjoyed,  to  forecast 


his  absorption  in  philosophical  interests.  It 
was  not  implied  by  his  work  as  a  civil  en- 
gineer, by  his  activities  as  journalist  and 
teacher,  or  by  the  dozen  or  more  inventions 
which  he  tried  to  make  useful.  The  promise 
lay  deeper  than  these  in  the  intellectual 
make-up  of  a  man  who,  early  a  lover  of 
science,  found  himself  also  "beset  by  a  pas- 
sion for  finding  out  the  causes  of  things." 
Social  and  political  questions  first  engaged 
his  attention,  and  he  embodied  the  nucleus 
of  much  of  his  subsequent  writing  in  a  book 
on  "Social  Statics."  The  wider  outlook  came 
through  his  chance  meeting  with  a  phrase  of 
Von  Baer,  which  describes  organic  develop- 
ment as  "a  change  from  a  state  of  homo- 
geneity to  a  state  of  heterogeneity,"  and  it 
was  by  application  of  the  thesis  to  the  whole 
universe  that  Spencer  evolved  his  "System 
of  Synthetic  Philosophy."  The  task  was  tre- 
mendous and  the  pathway  bristled  with  dis- 
suasives.  Emerson  dubbed  the  venturesome 
student  of  phenomena  "a  stock  writer,"  and 
Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  disapproved 
of  his  "propensity  to  write  on  a  great  many 
subjects."  Spencer  suffered  all  his  life  from 
poor  health;  such  was  the  financial  handi- 
cap that  had  not  his  slender  resources  been 
supplemented  by  a  fund  of  $7000,  raised  by 
his  admirers  in  America,  the  publication  of 
his  many-volumed  work  would  have  ceased 
mid-way. 

There  was  meanwhile  a  highly  interest- 
ing emotional  and  human  side  open  to  ob- 
servation. Carlyle  noticed  in  Spencer  "a 
triumphant  superiority  to  natural  instincts"; 
for  Dr.  Hooker  he  was  "a  bright,  vivacious 
personality,  a  man  very  much  at  home 
among  the  actualities  of  life  and,  withal, 
brimful  of  humor."  Friends  pronounced  the 
philosopher  "clubable";  he  played  billiards, 
was  fond  of  rowing  and  delighted  in  nat- 
ural scenery.  Yet  many  strange  dislikes 
found  expression  in  his  "Autobiography." 
When  he  saw  a  ruined  abbey  or  the  remains 
of  a  castle,  he  did  not  care  "to  learn  when 
it  was  built,  who  lived  there  or  what  catas- 
trophies  it  witnessed."  Nor  when  near  a 
battlefield  did  he  ever  visit  one,  "not  having 
the  slightest  curiosity  to  see  a  place  where 
many  were  killed  and  a  victory  achieved." 
He  enjoyed  music,  yet  poetry  bored  him, 
"Prometheus  Unbound"  being  the  only  verse 
which  aroused  his  enthusiasm.  He  found 
many  absurdities  in  classical  art;  he  crit- 
icised plays  in  a  fashion  that  prompted 
Huxley  to  say  that  "Spencer's  idea  of  a 
tragedy  is  a  deduction  killed  by  a  fact."  An- 
other characteristic  was  aloofness  from 
worldly  allurements.  He  could  not  be 
tempted  to  accept  degrees,  though  many 
were  offered.    "I  don't  want  to  get  on,"  he 


EDITORIALS   DEVOTED   TO   INTERPRETATION 


249 


once  wrote;  "I  don't  think  getting  on  is 
worth  the  bother."  On  the  occasion  of  his 
visit  to  the  United  States  in  1882  he  de- 
clined a  lecture  tour,  though  the  bids  ranged 
"up  to  $250  a  night." 

Lately  it  has  been  the  fashion  to  dis- 
parage Spencer,  as  earlier  it  was  the  fashion 
almost  to  worship  him.  Since  1900,  when 
H.  Macpherson  hailed  him  as  "among  the 
sceptred  immortals,"  there  has  been  much 
critical  gnawing  at  his  system,  with  grow- 
ing distrust  of  its  vast  generalizations  and 
questioning  of  its  ponderous  formulae. 
Much  of  it  has  been  supplemented;  some  of 
it  has  been  superseded.  Religion  long  ago 
discarded  Spencer's  supposition  that  its 
reconciliation  with  science  was  to  be 
achieved  through  the  recognition  by  both  of 
an  "Unknowable";  physicists  decline  to  be 
satisfied  with  his  account  of  the  evolutionary 
process  as  "an  integration  of  matter  and  a 
concomitant  dissipation  of  motion,"  and 
biologists  regard  as  inadequate  his  effort 
to  sum  up  life  as  "a  correspondence  between 
inner  relations  and  outer  relations."  But  as 
Spencer  outdid  many  of  the  specialists  in 
his  mastery  of  the  facts,  so  he  served  science 
superbly  in  the  long  travail  which  he  gave 
to  their  unification.  He  popularized  evolu- 
tion as  did  no  other  thinker  of  his  time. 
He  left  an  inspiring  example  in  what  Prof. 
Pringle-Pattison  calls  his  "power  of  con- 
ceiving of  a  great  ideal  and  carrying  it  for- 
ward through  countless  difficulties  to  ulti- 
mate realization." 

THE  LISTENER 

Boston  Transcript 
It  is  certainly  a  curious  effect — that  when 
at  last  the  full  "official,"  so  to  speak,  biog- 
raphy of  the  founder  and  center  of  a  literary 
cult  appears,  it  turns  out  that  the  idol  not 
only  has  clay  feet  but  is  wholly  of  mud 
throughout.  It  is  poetic  justice,  however, 
for  this  Samuel  Butler,  author  of  "The  Way 
of  All  Flesh"  and  "Erehwon"  (1835-1902) 
made  his  reputation  and  vogue  by  casting 
mud  upon  his  contemporaries — ^was,  in  fact, 
before  Roosevelt  delimited  and  named  the 
tribe — champion  mud-slinger  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Moreover,  he  flung  his  mud 
not  alone  over  persons — human  genius  such 
as  is  universally  revered — Tennyson,  Dar- 
win, Beethoven— but  upon  things  as  sacred, 
accepted,  and  essential  to  life  and  social 
well-being,  as  marriage  and  family  life  and 
affection.  He  deliberately  adopted  this  role 
of  "Bad  Boy."  In  one  of  his  notebooks  ap- 
pears this:  "I  am  the  Enfant  Terrible  of 
literature  and  science.  If  I  cannot,  and  I 
know  I  cannot,  get  the  big-wigs  to  give  me 
a  shilling,  I  can,  and  I  know  I  can,  heave 


bricks  into  the  middle  of  them."  He  was 
the  son  of  a  clergyman  and  grandson  of  a 
bishop,  and  educated  at  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity, yet  in  another  note  he  wrote:  "There 
will  be  no  safe  and  comfortable  development 
of  our  social  arrangements — I  mean  we 
shall  not  get  infanticide,  and  the  permission 
of  suicide,  nor  cheap  and  easy  divorce — till 
Jesus  Christ's  ghost  has  been  laid;  and  the 
best  way  to  lay  it  is  to  be  a  moderate 
Churchman."  But  his  worst  offending  was, 
in  his  "Way  of  All  Flesh"  (as  that  leader  in 
American  criticism,  Stuart  Sherman,  says), 
"pouring  poison  on  the  roots  of  that  imag- 
inative love  in  which  all  normal  men  and 
maidens  walk  at  least  once  in  a  lifetime  as 
in  a  rosy  cloud  shot  through  with  golden 
lights." 

Edward  Shanks,  too,  one  of  the  best  of 
English  critics,  in  the  new  London  Mercury, 
expresses  unmeasured  disgust  over  the  reve- 
lations of  the  elaborate  Butler  biography — 
for  which  by  the  way,  Butler  himself  made 
the  most  painstaking  preparations  and  be- 
queathed the  necessary  funds — although  he 
had  once  suggested  that  his  biography  ought 
to  begin:  "The  subject  of  this  memoir  was 
the  son  of  rich  but  dishonest  parents."  But- 
ler claimed  sympathy  on  account  of  the 
austerity  of  his  father.  But  he  once  wrote 
to  a  friend  that  he  was  proposing  an  essay 
on  the  "trials  of  a  middle-aged  man  through 
not  having  lost  his  father  at  a  suitable  age." 
His  father's  unpardonable  sin  was  in  not 
dying  early  and  so  enlarging  his  son's  in- 
come. His  relations  with  women  are  left 
very  much  in  the  shade  by  this  voluminous 
biography,  as  is  also  his  exile  in  New 
Zealand  for  five  years,  after  which  he  re- 
turned with  $40,000  earned  in  sheep-raising. 
But  one  episode,  bordering,  apparently,  as 
nearly  upon  romance  as  so  coarse  and  low- 
minded  a  blackguard  could  possibly  come, 
was  his  literary  intimacy — almost  partner- 
ship— ^with  a  Miss  Savage,  who  read  his 
books  in  manuscript,  and  criticised  and 
praised  them,  and  abused  his  enemies  to  his 
heart's  content.  The  only  trouble  was  his 
growing  fear  that  she  was  bent  on  marrying 
him.  His  characteristic  memorial  to  this 
love  is  preserved  in  two  sonnets;  the  follow- 
ing lines  from  which  sufficiently  tell  the 
squalid  story: 
She  was  too  kind,  wooed  too  persistently, 
Wrote  moving  letters  to  me  day  by  day; 

Hard  though  I  tried  to  love  I  tried  in 

vain. 
For  she  was  plain  and  lame  and  fat  and 

short, 
Forty  and  overkind. 


250 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


*Tis  said  that  if  a  woman  woo,  no  man 
Should  leave  her  till  she  have  pre- 
vailed; and,  true, 
A  man  will  yield  for  pity  if  he  can, 

But  if  the  flesh  rebel  what  can  he  do  ? 
I  could  not;  hence  I  grieve  my  whole 

life  long 
The  wrong  I  did  in  that  I  did  no  wrong. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  legend  that  the 
theme  of  "Man  and  Superman"  was  borne 
in  upon  Bernard  Shaw  from  Butler's  in- 
fluence. It  is  true  that  at  the  "Erehwon" 
dinner,  engineered  by  Butler's  literary  and 
business  legatee,  Streatfield,  the  solemn  me- 
morial feast  of  Butlerians  at  which  there 
can  be  but  two  toasts,  "His  Majesty"  and 
"Samuel  Butler,"  Shaw,  on  one  occasion, 
said  something  about  the  "future-penetrat- 
ing" social-reforming  notions  of  Butler. 
But  it  surely  is  a  shame  to  couple  the 
hearty,  healthy  humor  and  effervescing  ex- 
travagances of  Shaw  reforming  diatribes, 
always  wholesomely  and  aggressively  al- 
truistic in  spirit  and  intention,  with  the 
gloomy,  self -centered  pessimism  and  moral 
ugliness  of  Butler.  Mr.  Gilbert  Cannan  and 
D.  H.  Lawrence,  and  the  other  young  Brit- 
ish literary  artists,  with  their  preoccupation 
with  sex  and  nose  for  the  noisome,  may 
parade  with  the  Butlerians  as  apostles.  But 
it  is  more  likely,  as  Mr.  Sherman  points 
out,  that  Shaw  went  to  the  second  Erehwon 
dinner  "not  quite  certain  whether  he  had 
come  to  give  or  receive  honor,  whether  he 
was  to  be  regarded  as  the  beloved  disciple 
or,  rather,  as  the  one  for  whom  Butler, 
preaching  in  the  Victorian  wilderness,  had 
prepared  the  way."  The  sham  and  posing 
as  well  as  malevolent  character  of  all  But- 
ler's iconoclasm  among  the  Victorian  great 
in  poetry,  literature,  science  and  art  is  final- 
ly and  fplly  confessed  in  his  presumption  in 
trying  to  push  Darwin  from  his  seat  by 
cramming  a  few  months  in  the  British 
Museum  Library,  to  dethrone  Beethoven  by 
Handelian  rulades  and  sonatas,  with  the 
aid  of  his  ill-paid  secretary  and  present 
biographer.  This  Butler  was  really  a  busi- 
ness man,  with  department-store  ambitions 
to  sell  everything  under  one  roof,  and  never 
really  belonged  in  either  literature,  science 
or  art,  except  by  his  vicious  will  to  adver- 
tise himself. 

HEAT  TREATMENT  IN  GUN  EROSION 

Scientific  American 

There  are  few  problems  in  the  metallurgi- 
cal and  allied  arts  that  have  proved  more 
puzzling  to  the  investigator,  or  have  re- 
ceived a  more  thorough  investigation  than 
that  of  the  causes  and  cure  of  gun-erosion. 
Perhaps  the  clearest  and  most  complete  dis- 


cussion of  this  subject  is  that  of  Professor 
H.  M.  Howe,  in  a  paper  read  at  the  latest 
meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers.  He  showed  that  erosion 
was  the  effect  of  heat-treatment,  due  to 
the  extreme  high  temperature  of  the  pow- 
der-gases. Any  sudden  heating  and  cooling, 
as  we  have  long  known,  has  the  effect  of 
hardening  the  surface  of  the  bore.  In  a 
badly  eroded  gun  the  thickness  of  the 
hardened  layer  varies  from  one  ten-thou- 
sandth of  an  inch  at  the  muzzle  to  sixty- 
three  ten-thousandths  at  the  breech.  Dr. 
Howe  does  not  agree  with  the  widely-held 
theory  that  this  hardening  is  due  to  car- 
burization;  he  believes  it  merely  a  result  of 
heat-treatment.  There  is  too  much  carbon 
dioxide  in  the  powder-gases  to  permit  car- 
burization  by  the  monoxide. 

Now  we  must  remember  the  heating  up 
of  the  liner  is  very  rapid  and  lasts  for  a 
very  small  fraction  of  a  second.  An  ex- 
tremely fine  film  of  the  metal  is  suddenly 
raised  above  melting  point;  but  the  wave 
of  heat  starts  flowing  away  to  the  exterior 
of  the  gun.  The  ferrite  and  cementite  in 
this  heated  form  merge  and  form  austenite. 
As  the  heat  passes  out  through  the  gun, 
the  metal  just  beyond  the  thin  fused  film 
cools  below  the  limit  at  which  transition  to 
austenite  can  occur.  After  the  projectile 
has  left  the  gun,  the  layer  in  which  aus- 
tenite has  been  formed  cools  again,  and  this 
cooling  is  accompanied  by  some  reversion  in 
the  steel  toward  its  original  condition.  This 
reversion  of  phase  takes  more  time  to  effect 
than  the  change  of  the  gun  steel  to  aus- 
tenite. Some  of  the  latter  therefore  remains 
unaltered  and,  being  rapidly  chilled,  is  con- 
verted into  martensite.  On  each  successive 
discharge  additional  austenite  is  formed  and 
in  this  way  the  thickness  of  the  hardening 
layer  increases  progressively.  The  result  is 
that  the  original  tough  face  of  the  liner  is 
replaced  by  a  hard,  brittle  layer  of  mar- 
tensite. Since  the  temperature  gradient  of 
this  layer  is  very  steep,  the  transformed 
metal  is  too  brittle  to  adjust  itself  to  the 
resulting  differential  expansions,  and  cracks 
are  formed.  On  the  lands  of  the  rifling, 
these  are  generally  transverse,  but  in  the 
grooves  the  principal  cracks  are  longitudinal. 
But  why  is  the  bore  of  the  gun  enlarged? 
What  becomes  of  the  metal  that  is  worn 
away?  Professor  Howe  agrees  with  the 
view  we  have  long  taken  in  this  matter: 
that  since  a  fine  film  of  the  interior  surface 
is  fused  by  the  heat  of  the  white-hot  pow- 
der-gases, the  gases  in  rushing  forward  out 
of  the  gun,  wipe  off  and  carry  away  a 
certain  amount  of  this  film.  The  quantity 
is  small  enough  at  each  discharge,  but  the 


EDITORIALS   DEVOTED   TO   INTERPRETATION 


251 


accumulated  wastage  of  many  rounds  serves 
gradually  to  enlarge  the  bore,  especially 
towards  the  breech  of  the  gun. 

Although  the  nature  and  progressive  effect 
of  erosion  are  thus  satisfactorily  explained, 
there  is  not  much  prospect  of  any  successful 
remedy  being  applied.  The  Krupp  firm  in 
Germany  has  from  time  to  time  asserted 
that  they  had  produced  a  non-erodible  steel; 
but  samples  cut  from  captured  German 
guns  show  that  while  the  metal  is  of  good 
quality  it  contains  no  new  ingredients. 

THE  FLIVVER  MIND 

The  Review 

It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  sorry  for  Mr. 
Henry  Ford.  That  he  has  brought  his 
troubles  on  himself  ought  not  to  extract  all 
human  compassion  from  the  laugh  he  has 
raised.  He  is  in  great  part  the  victim  of 
circumstances.  As  a  nation  we  are  too  much 
given  to  encouraging  ultra  crepidam  excur- 
sions on  the  part  of  our  successful  men. 
The  man  whose  native  ability  in  a  particular 
field  brings  him  into  the  public  eye  is  under 
peculiarly  dangerous  temptation.  He  finds 
himself  in  the  exploited  class  of  the  very 
rich,  without  knowing  how  to  defend  him- 
self in  the  position.  He  does  not  feel  the 
humility  in  the  face  of  good  fortune  which 
the  sudden  inheritance  of  wealth  might  en- 
gender. He  is  cut  oif  from  the  normal  out- 
lets of  enjoyment  which  habituated  posses- 
sion of  wealth  would  have  furnished  him. 
He  lives  in  a  million-dollar  house,  but  he  is 
not  very  comfortable  in  it.  Art,  music,  and 
literature  afford  him  neither  relaxation  nor 
stimulus.  For  sports  he  has  neither  time 
nor  inclination.  For  the  disposal  of  his 
wealth  to  the  general  good  he  is  v/holly  de- 
pendent on  the  possible  wisdom  of  others. 
Even  the  simple  social  relations  which  he  is 
qualified  to  enjoy  are  probably  pretty  well 
spoiled  for  him  by  the  encumbrance  of 
riches.  •  -'i'^^^ 

Some  of  these  things  he  may  learn  to 
use,  but  the  road  may  well  be  a  hard  one. 
It  will  be  the  more  difficult  in  proportion  as 
he  carries  over  into  new  fields  the  spirit  and 
the  methods  that  have  made  him  successful 
in  his  own.  There  he  has  been  a  cloud- 
compeller,  a  moulder  of  men,  tyrannical  oyer 
circumstance;  in  short,  a  success.  Having 
once  in  his  life  rushed  in  with  a  success 
denied  to  angels,  he  feels  no  proper  distrust 
of  his  own  powers  to  keep  him  from  rush- 
ing in  again  and  yet  again  under  a  special 
license  of  Providence.  The  prey  of  every 
designing  person,  of  every  sort  of  intriguing 
suggestion,  his  overweening  self-confidence 
marks  him  as  the  hero  of  an  inevitable 
tragi-comedy.  Bid  him  run  for  the  Senate, 
for  the   Senate  he  runs.     Suggest  to  hii?' 


that  war  is  a  terrible  thing — very  well,  we 
will  stop  the  war.  Persuade  him  that  some- 
one has  written  him  down  an  anarchist — he 
starts  a  libel  suit  the  only  possible  result  of 
which,  regardless  of  legal  decision,  is  to 
write  him  down  an  ass. 

It  is  not  Mr.  Ford's  large  ignorances  that 
make  him  ridiculous.  A  clever  lawyer  can, 
if  he  sets  out,  make  a  fool  of  almost  any- 
body on  the  witness  stand.  In  matters  of 
this  kind  all  the  advantage  lies  with  the 
attacking  party.  The  victim  soon  becomes 
sullen,  frivolous,  or  fatigued  to  the  point  of 
admitting  anything  that  promises  soon  to 
get  it  all  over  with.  We  know  very  few 
people  who  could  at  a  moment's  notice  dis- 
course informingly  on  the  causes  of  the 
War  of  1812.  Most  of  us  have  flivver  minds, 
and  they  are  quite  good  enough  for  the 
day's  business,  and  indeed  a  credit  to  the 
possessor,  since  many  people  have  no  minds 
at  all.  For  the  flivver  is  versatile  as  well 
a  wonderfully  efficient.  It  will  saw  wood 
and  haul  a  plough,  besides  an  apparently 
unlimited  number  of  the  owner's  uncles, 
cousins,  and  aunts.  It  may  even,  with  a 
self-starter,  oversized  tires,  and  shock- 
absorbers,  present  an  impressively  stylish 
appearance.  But  it  is  still  a  flivver,  and 
there, are  lots  of  things  in  this  world  of  sin 
and  sorrow  that  a  flivver  ought  not  to  try 
to  get  straight.  The  flivver  mind,  even 
though  endowed  with  wealth,  surrounded  by 
people  fertile  in  ideas  for  the  ingenious 
spending  of  it,  its  considerable  vacuities 
stuffed  with  good  intentions,  ought  also  to 
be  willing  to  recognize  its  limitations. 

The  trouble  lies  not  with  Mr.  Ford's  ig- 
norance, painful  as  the  exhibition  of  it  may 
be  to  himself  and  to  the  world.  It  lies 
with  the  things  he  has  been  pathetically 
brought  to  believe  that  he  knows.  There 
again  he  does  not  deserve  unqualified  blame. 
He  merely  repeats  as  best  he  can  what  he 
supposes,  not  without  reason,  to  be  the  views 
of  all  really  superior  minds.  He  will  be  an 
ignorant  idealist  if  he  must,  but  an  idealist 
he  will  be.  The  lure  of  intellectual  display 
is  stronger  and  subtler  than  the  attraction 
of  mere  material  ostentation.  And  material 
ostentation  does  not  command  the  attention 
it  once  did.  But  when  a  dazzling  intellectual 
display  means  only  a  magnification  of  one's 
own  native  kindly  and  generous,  if  muddled, 
feelings,  the  lure  is  irresistible. 

"History  is  bunk.  I  live  in  the  present." 
Have  we  not  in  New  York  a  school  where 
some  of  our  ablest  intellectuals  are  dedi- 
cated to  the  scientific  establishment  of  this 
proposition  ? 

"I  was  against  preparedness."  Were  not 
all  our  humanitarians  in  like  case? 


252 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


"War  is  murder."  Would  any  conscien- 
tious objector,  whether  he  happened  to  be 
caught  in  the  toils  of  the  draft  or  not,  pre- 
sume to  doubt  it? 

"The  war  was  engineered  by  the  news- 
papers and  the  bankers  for  profit."  The 
Nation  would  not  put  it  so  crudely. 

"The  Germans  drank  beer  and  the  French 
drank  wine.  That  made  them  irritable  and 
started  the  war."  The  country  is  now  ruled 
by  a  group  of  people  who  would  regard  such 
a  theory  as  quite  irrefutable. 

"I  would  hoist  the  flag  of  humanity." 
There  are  plenty  who  would  pull  down  the 
stars  and  stripes  for  him,  if  he  didn't  care 
to  do  it  himself. 

"If  the  war  just  concluded  does  not  bring 
universal  peace,  I  am  in  favor  of  another 
great  war  without  delay  to  clean  up  the 
situation."  All  our  ex-pacifists  are  looking 
forward  quite  excitedly  to  this  war. 

If  not  the  very  words,  these  are  the  things 
which  Mr.  Ford  allowed  himself  to  be  per- 
suaded it  was  his  duty  to  preach  to  his 
countrymen.  We  may  blame  him  for  being 
gullible.  Most  of  us  will  not  wish  to  blame 
him  too  much.  Like  Mr.  Ford  we  are  very 
easy-going.  In  action,  the  American  people 
often,  like  Mr.  Ford,  exhibit  traits  that 
argue  something  like  an  infantile  mind — a 
mind  that  dwells  in  a  world  almost  unreal, 
where  things  most  unattainable  come  for 
the  asking  and  achievement  seems  to  wait 
only  for  the  outstretched  hand.  In  this 
view,  the  gulling  of  Mr.  Ford,  the  exploita- 
tion of  his  wealth  and  his  good-natured 
ignorance,  becomes  a  moral  fable  of  such 
tremendous  import,  conveys  a  warning  so 
clear  and  to  the  point,  that  his  own  pitifully 
diminished  head  sinks  quite  out  of  sight. 


SPENCER'S  "EDUCATION" 

WHAT  IS  WORTH  WHILE? 

IGNORANCE  OF  PARENTS 

WANTED:  SIMPLER  KNOWLEDGE 

By  Arthur  Brisbane 

Pittsburg  Press 

Herbert  Spencer,  English  philosopher  and 
teacher,  was  born  April  27,  100  years  ago. 
Read  some  paragraphs  on  his  book,  "Educa- 
tion." 

Spencer  was  self-taught,  that  made  him 
think  about  education.  He  was  a  railway 
engineer  at  17.  After  30  he  began  writing 
seriously  and  spent  his  life  thinking  seri- 
ously. 

When  he  was  40  he  announced  the  outline 
of  "The  Synthetic  Philosophy,"  in  10  vol- 
umes. He  was  not  a  careless  worker.  He 
finished  the  book  36  years  later,  and  seven 
years  after  that  he  died. 


To  say  "Think  your  way  through  all  of 
Spencer,"  would  be  like  saying,  "Oblige  me 
by  drinking  up  Lake  Michigan."  Everybody 
will  accept  a  little  of  Spencer  from  his  book 
on  education. 

Two  books  on  education  every  father  and 
mother  should  read,  Spencer,  and  Rousseau's 
Emile.  Froebel,  the  German,  and  Pestalozzi, 
the  Swiss,  may  also  be  read.  Spencer  and 
Rousseau  you  must  read. 


Spencer  divides  his  book  into  four  chap- 
ters: 

"What  Knowledge  is  of  Most  Worth." 
"Intellectual  Education." 
"Moral  Education.'* 
"Physical  Education." 


We  intellectual  savages  acquire  mental 
clothing  or  education  as  the  wilder,  jungle 
savages  acquire  bodily  clothing,  more  for 
show  than  real  use. 

Humboldt's  Indian  on  the  bank  of  the 
Orinoco  cared  nothing  for  personal  comfort, 
but  would  work  14  days  to  get  money  to 
buy  paint,  then  smear  himself  and  be  ad- 
mired. 

And  his  wife,  "who  would  not  hesitate  to 
leave  her  hut  without  a  fragment  of  clothing 
on,  would  not  dare  to  commit  such  a  breach 
of  decorum  as  to  go  out  unpainted." 


All  travelers  tell  you  that  colored  beads 
are  more  prized  by  wild  tribes  than  sub- 
stantial cloth.  Captain  Speke  tells  of  Afri- 
can attendants,  "who  strutted  about  in  goat- 
skin mantles  when  the  weather  was  fine, 
when  it  rained  took  them  off,  folded  them 
up  and  went  around  naked,  shivering  in  the 
rain." 

First  among  savages  came  decorations  to 
gain  admiration;  clothing  for  comfort  fol- 
lowed. 

First  among  us  intellectual  savages  comes 
mental  ornamentation,  something  that  will 
enable  us  to  show  how  much  we  know. 

Knowledge  for  real  use  is  to  come  later. 

In  at  least  99  cases  out  of  a  100,  we  want 
to  be  "educated"  for  the  sake  of  admira- 
tion. The  Englishman  sends  his  boy  to  Ox- 
ford to  learn  Greek  and  Latin,  not  that  he 
will  use  them,  but  that  he  may  have  "the 
education  of  a  gentleman." 

The  farmer  in  the  country  teaches  his 
little  girl  to  play  the  piano,  not  that  she 
will  ever  be  a  musician,  but  that  she  may 
show  off  by  pounding  out  "The  Maiden's 
Prayer"  while  neighbors  say,  "She  ought  to 
go  to  Paris  to  study." 


EDITORIALS   DEVOTED   TO   INTERPRETATION 


253 


Not  what  we  are,  but  what  we  can  make 
people  think  we  are,  is  the  uppermost 
thought  shown  in  the  way  we  dress  our 
women,  as  in  the  way  we  dress  our  minds. 

We  are  ignorant,  glib,  ready,  loquacious 
and  take  a  good  deal  of  trouble  to  get  the 
mental  paint  to  decorate  ourselves.  There, 
as  a  rule,  education  ends. 

Francis  Bacon  said  every  man  must  de- 
termine "the  relative  values  of  knowledge." 
There  are  many  kinds  of  knowledge — which 
are  worth  while? 

Spencer  says,  "To  prepare  us  for  complete 
living  is  the  function  which  education  has  to 
discharge." 

Among  different  "knowledges"  Spencer 
says: 

First,  knowledge  of  self-preservation; 
without  that  we  wouldn't  last. 

Second,  indirect  self-preservation;  know- 
ing how  to  make  a  living  that  you  may  go 
on  living. 

Third,  knowledge  of  the  duties  of  parents, 
for  while  the  state  is  higher  than  the  fam- 
ily, it  cannot  prosper,  unless  the  family  is 
properly  cared  for. 

Next,  after  education  that  prepares  for 
parenthood,  comes  education,  that  prepares 
for  citizenship,  and  last  "the  miscellaneous 
refinements  of  life,"  music,  poetry,  painting, 
etc.    They  come  distinctly  LAST. 


Education  is  valuable  in  two  ways.  First, 
as  knowledge,  and  second,  as  discipline. 

There  is  absolute  knowledge,  such  as 
"twice  two  make  four,"  or  "the  resistance 
of  water  to  a  body  moving  through  it  varies 
as  the  square  of  velocity."  That  knowledge 
will  be  as  valuable  and  necessary  a  million 
years  hence. 

There  is  another  kind  of  knowledge,  of 
history,  of  literature,  important  because  such 
knowledge  feeds  the  mind  and  helps  it  to 
grow.  It  will  be  totally  unimportant  a  mil- 
lion years  from  now,  when  all  that  we  know 
of  history  and  literature  will  not  be  worth 
three  lines. 

We  need  to  know  about  ourselves,  but  in 
the  world  10,000  men  know  about  a  car- 
buretor for  one  that  knows  about  the  Eus- 
tachian tubes  that  carry  infection  to  the 
ears  and  cause  mastoiditis  in  children. 

The  man  who  would  blush  if  he  put  the 
accent  on  the  wrong  syllable  in  the  word 
Iphigenia,  say  on  the  ante-penult,  instead  of 
on  the  penult,  where  it  belongs,  is  not 
ashamed  to  confess  that  he  never  heard  of  a 
ductless  gland. 

Many  ask:  "Of  what  use  is  education?" 
Mathematics  builds  your  houses,  railroads 


and  bridges.  Physics  gave  you  the  steam 
engine.  Chemistry  gives  your  fertilizers, 
medicines,  dyes,  methods  of  obtaining  cop- 
per, zinc,  gold,  also  your  home  distilling. 

Biology,  study  of  life,  is  worth  while.  It 
tells  you  that  when  your  sheep  are  dying  of 
"the  staggers"  you  can  save  them  by  taking 
out  a  little  "entozoon"  pressing  on  the  brain. 
A  soft  spot  in  the  skull  tells  where. 
^  Is  geology  useless?  Not  exactly.  Mil- 
lions have  been  saved  by  knowledge  that  in 
digging  for  coal  you  should  stop  when  you 
come  to  a  fossil  found  in  old  red  sandstone. 
There  is  never  any  coal  below  that.  And 
so  on  indefinitely. 

Mothers  should  read  Spencer's  pages  on 
"Results  of  Parental  Ignorance."  For  one 
parent  that  seriously  studies  the  problem  of 
raising  children,  40  farmers  study  seriously 
the  problem  of  raising  pigs.  Pigs  cost 
money  and  are  salable. 

About  the  mind,  as  about  the  body  of  the 
child,  parents  know  little. 

"She  (the  mother)  knows  nothing  about 
the  nature  of  the  emotions,  their  order  of 
evolution,  their  functions  or  where  use  ends 
and  abuse  begins.  She  is  under  the  im- 
pression that  some  of  the  feelings  are  wholly 
bad,  which  is  not  true  of  any  one  of  them; 
and  that  others  are  good,  however  far  they 
may  be  carried,  which  is  also  not  true  of 
any  of  them." 

Necessary  instincts  and  emotions  the 
mother  looks  upon  with  horror.  She  acts 
upon  her  child  "by  threats  and  bribes,  or 
by  exciting  in  it  a  desire  for  applause,  thus 
cultivating  hypocrisy,  fear  and  selfishness 
in  place  of  good  feeling." 

And  "while  insisting  upon  truthfulness, 
she  constantly  sets  an  example  of  untruth, 
by  threatening  penalties  which  she  does  not 
inflict.  While  inculcating  self-control,  she 
hourly  visits  on  her  little  ones  scoldings  for 
acts  that  do  not  call  for  them." 


The  formal  instruction  of  children  is  begun 
too  soon,  instead  of  letting  them  learn,  as 
one  should  all  through  life,  that  which  one 
learns  most  easily  at  the  time.  Children  at 
first  should  learn  with  their  eyes  and  ears 
only,  getting  in  that  way,  before  they  are 
seven,  more  information  than  in  all  the  rest 
of  their  life  put  together,  including  the  use 
of  their  language  and  their  bodies.  They 
must  not  then  be  crowded  with  such  things 
"as  grammar,  which  should  come  quite  late." 

When  a  child  dies  of  scarlet  fever  and 
the  doctor  says  it  died  because  weakened 
by  overstudy,  it  is  for  the  mother  "small 


254 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


consolation  that  she  can  read  Dante  in  the 
original." 

We  haven't  many  mothers  in  this  country 
that  read  Dante  in  the  original,  but  many 
that  force  knowledge  unwisely  upon  their 
children,  ruining  digestion  and  nervous  sys- 
tem, foolish  enough  to  believe  that  the  way 
"to  give  my  child  the  advantages  I  lacked" 
is  to  stuff  that  child  with  knowledge  as  a 
Strasburg  goose  is  stuffed  with  food  to  make 
its  liver  swell. 

An  ant  in  the  path  is  much  interested  in 
the  dead  caterpillar,  not  interested  in  the 
live  cattle.  And,  as  Herbert  Spencer  puts 
it,  "men  are  indifferent  to  the  grandest 
phenomena — care  not  to  understand  the  ar- 
chitecture of  the  heavens,  but  are  deeply  in- 
terested in  some  contemptible  controversy 
about  the  intrigues  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots." 
Or  as  an  American  might  put  it,  "care  a 
lot  about  scandal  but  not  a  cuss  about 
astronomy." 

As  you  read  and  think  about  education, 
slowly  climbing  the  hill  to  old  age,  do  not  be 
discouraged  by  the  mass  of  detail  or  let  it 
hold  you  back. 

The  young  surgeon,  if  conscientious,  must 
study  anatomy  at  least  half  a  dozen  times, 
and  think  he  knows  it  each  time,  before  he 
KNOWS  it.  You  need  not  know  so  much 
about  it.  There  were  when  Herbert  Spencer 
wrote  320,000  species  of  plants,  2,000,000 
different  kinds  of  animal  life,  and  many  more 
of  each  are  listed  now. 

With  books,  even  the  great  books,  it  must 
be  with  the  majority  of  us  as  with  cities. 
You  may  know  something  about  Paris,  Lon- 
don, Rome,  the  Athens  of  today  and  of  2000 
years  ago,  without  actually  seeing  those 
cities,  without  studying  every  block  and 
every  street. 

Photography  has  made  possible  wide,  in- 
spiring knowledge  of  foreign  places.  What 
man  has  not  clearly  in  his  mind  the  Palace 
of  the  Doges  in  Venice,  the  magnificent 
chapel  decorated  by  Michael  Angelo  in  St. 
Peter's,  the  Taj  Mahal,  the  great  wall  of 
China,  the  locks  in  the  Panama  Canal,  the 
Washington  monument — a  hundred  other 
things  worth  while? 

Some  day  an  intelligent  group  of  stu- 
dents will  do  for  knowledge,  for  great  books 
and  important  lives,  what  the  camera  has 
done  for  knowledge  of  places  and  things. 


a  rat  at  the  other;  the  giraffe's  long  neck, 
the  armadillo's  armor. 

You  need  not  have  read,  as  Buckle  is  said 
to  have  done,  30,000  volumes,  or  even  the 
6000  that  Voltaire  read  and  marked,  in  order 
to  have  the  skeleton  of  an  education.  Get 
the  skeleton,  fill  it  out  at  leisure. 


You  need  not  know  the  names  of  2,000,000 
different  animals  to  be  interested  in  the 
pouch  that  holds  the  half -formed  baby  kan- 
garoo, the  animal  that  is  a  duck  at  one  end, 


Appleton  &  Co.  print  Spencer's  books. 

Some  intelligent  person  should  put  in  one 
volume  all  the  absolutely  essential  dn  Spen- 
cer, Rousseau,  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel,  in 
plain  language. 

While  we  rebuke  ourselves  for  our  short- 
comings, especially  our  shortcomings  as 
parents,  we  may  find  dismal  comfort  in  the 
fact  that  our  English  cousins,  when  it  comes 
to  being  "very,  very  bad,"  are  possibly 
worse  than  we  are.  For  one  mother  here 
that  rolls  over  her  new-born  child  and 
smothers  dt  to  death,  there  are  a  dozen  in 
England.  You  would  find  with  difficulty  in 
America  such  parents  as  Spencer  describes 
in  the  following  lines: 

"What  kind  of  moral  discipline  is  to  be 
expected  from  a  mother  who,  time  after 
time,  angrily  shakes  her  infant  because  it 
will  not  suckle  her,  which  we  once  saw  a 
mother  do?  How  much  love  of  justice  and 
generosity  is  likely  to  be  instilled  by  a 
father  who,  on  having  his  attention  drawn 
by  his  child's  scream  to  the  fact  that  its 
finger  ds  jammed  between  the  window  sash 
and  the  sill,  forthwith  begins  to  beat  the 
child  instead  of  releasing  it?  That  there 
are  such  fathers  is  testified  to  us  by  an  eye- 
witness." 

Pride,  however,  is  a  weakening  vice;  avoid 
it.  We  lack  here  much  of  the  brutal  igno- 
rance at  the  bottom  of  the  British  structure. 
We  lack  also  the  educated  men  that  shine  at 
the  top  of  that  structure. 

Read  Spencer. 

THE  INFANTILE  SCOURGE 

Hartford  Times 

A  Hartford  physician  writes  for  the  Times 
this  informing  article  on  this  dreaded 
disease: 

Infantile  paralysis  is  a  highly  infectious 
and  communicable  disease,  caused  by  a 
minute  micro-organism  of  virus  which  in- 
vades the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  and  has 
been  secured  in  artificial  culture.  This  virus 
exists  in  the  central  nervous  organs  and 
upon  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  nose, 
throat,  and  intestines  of  the  persons  having 
the  disease. 

The  micro-organism  may  be  carried  in  the 
nose  and  throat  of  healthy  persons  who 
have  been  in  intimate  contact  with  those 
having  the  disease,  and  may  be  by  such  car- 


EDITORIALS   DEVOTED   TO   INTERPRETATION 


255 


riers  transmitted  to  others,  chiefly  chil- 
dren, who  develop  the  disease.  Whatever 
the  type  of  the  disorder — ^mild,  severe,  or 
complicated — the  virus  is  invariably  present. 

The  virus  leaves  the  body  of  an  infected 
individual  in  the  secretions  of  the  nose, 
throat  and  intestines,  and  enters  the  body 
by  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  throat  and 
nasal  passages.  Having  entered,  it  multi- 
plies rapidly,  after  which  it  penetrates  to 
the  brain  and  spinal  cord  by  the  lymphatic 
canals  connecting  the  nasal  passages  with 
the  skull. 

Being  retained  in  the  secretions,  the  virus 
is  readily  distributed  by  coughing,  sneezing, 
kissing,  and  the  intestinal  discharges.  More- 
over, the  virus,  thrown  off  is  not  readily 
destroyed  by  the  means  and  methods  used 
to  destroy  ordinary  bacteria.  Exposure  to 
sunlight  destroys  it  quickly,  however. 

Experiments  show  that  the  virus  is  not 
conveyed  by  the  blood-sucking  insects,  such 
as  biting  flies,  mosquitoes,  bedbugs  and  lice. 
Houseflies,  contaminated  with  the  virus, 
may  transfer  it  after  having  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  infected  secretions,  but  while 
held  under  suspicion  as  potential  mechani- 
cal carriers,  the  agency  is  not  any  new 
indictment  of  the  insect. 

Not  all  children  are  susceptible  to  the 
disease,  but  it  would  be  unsafe  to  speak  of 
any  as  absolutely  insusceptible.  Again,  the 
disease  may  be  so  light  as  not  to  occasion 
any  paralysis.  The  period  of  incubation 
after  exposure  does  not  generally  exceed 
eight  days,  but  it  may  occur  in  two  days, 
or  be  deferred  to  two  weeks  or  even  longer. 

The  danger  of  communication  is  probably 
greatest  during  the  very  early  and  acute 
stages,  but  the  infectivity  may  persist  for 
weeks.  One  attack  confers  insusceptibility 
ever  after.  Like  measles  and  scarlet  fever, 
all  forms  of  infantile  paralysis — ^paralytic, 
meningeal  and  abortive — confer  immunity 
after  recovery. 

Because   of  the  virus  attacking  and  at- 


tachmg  itself  to  the  brain  and  spinal  cord. 
It  is  reached  only  with  difficulty.  The  only 
irug  which  has  shown  any  useful  degree  of 
activity  is  hexamethylenamin,  which  can  en- 
ter the  membranes  as  well  as  the  substance 
of  the  spinal  cord  and  brain,  in  which  the 
virus  is  deposited.  It  avails  only  in  early 
stages. 

The  person  having  the  disease  and  all  as- 
sociated with  him  must  be  regarded  as  sus- 
pects, but  the  spread  is  subject  to  ready 
control  under  restricted  and  supervised  san- 
itary conditions.  Proper  sanitation  goes  far 
to  stop  the  spread,  and  habits  of  cleanliness, 
care  and  self-denial  go  far  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  the  malady. 

Kill  the  flies.  Protect  the  discharges  by 
screens.  Do  not  permit  those  in  charge  of  a 
case  to  handle  food  for  sale  to  the  general 
public.  The  person  sick  with  infantile 
paralysis  must  not  be  kissed.  Preferably 
all  cases  should  be  removed  to  the  hospital. 
This  isolation,  together  with  sanitary  con- 
trol of  the  household  where  they  originate, 
diminishes  danger. 

The  death  rate  varies.  Of  those  who  sur- 
vive, some  make  complete  recovery,  while 
others  are  crippled.  The  disappearance  of 
the  paralysis  may  be  rapid  or  gradual,  be- 
ing complete  in  a  few  days  or  not  till  after 
weeks  or  months.  If  the  crippled  condition 
occurs,  it  may  be  amenable  to  proper  ortho- 
paedic treatment.  Fortunately,  few  are  left 
helplessly  crippled. 

At  present  there  exists  no  safe  method  of 
preventive  treatment  by  inoculation,  vac- 
cination or  specific  measures.  Reliance  must 
be  on  proper  sanitary  means.  The  tendency 
of  infantile  paralysis  is  toward  recovery. 
The  present  epidemic,  serious  as  it  is,  is 
not  something  new,  for  Dr.  Simon .  Flexner 
of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  says  that  for  at 
least  nine  years  New  York  has  not  been  free 
from  it.  There  is  no  better  authority,  and 
to  Dr.  Flexner  we  are  indebted  for  the  sub- 
stance of  this  article. 


CHAPTER    VII 
EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


Here  following  are  reprinted  speci- 
mens illustrating  forms  and  methods 
of  the  editorial  when  it  tends  to  be 
controversial;  i.  e.,  when  its  underly- 


ing purpose  is  to  enforce  a  point,  to 
debate  or  dispute  a  question,  or  to 
convince  or  persuade  the  reader.  For 
discussion,  see  Part  I,  Chapter  VII. 


WASHINGTON'S  VAGARIES 

Hartford  Courant 

The  vagaries  of  Washington  are  many. 
Here  we  have  the  announcement  that  the 
labor  bureau  has  decided  that  membership 
in  an  organization  to  destroy  our  Govern- 
ment is  nothing  for  which  a  member  should 
be  sent  out  of  the  country  he  would  de- 
stroy, while  a  Lieutenant  of  the  English 
army,  who  left  here  to  go  into  the  war  in 
1914,  has  been  refused  permission  to  return 
to  his  home  because  the  London  war  office 
agreed  to  send  him  his  passport  and  then  he 
didn't  get  it.  So  he  is  in  New  York  and 
faces  deportation,  while  the  Socialists  can 
stay  here  and  laugh  at  his  plight. 

THE  BOSS  OF  BUFFOONERY 

Brooklyn    Standard   Union 

A  clumsy  and  stupid  boss  like  Murphy 
quite  naturally  ordered  his  technical  experts 
to  do  the  stupidest  thing  in  the  clumsiest 
way. 

Desiring  to  express  the  general  repudia- 
tion of  the  Wilson  Administration,  they 
could  think  of  nothing  else  than  to  turn  the 
whole  thing  into  buffoonery  and  demand,  as 
a  substitute  for  the  League  of  Nations,  "im- 
mediate, universal  and  complete  disarma- 
ment." 

Not  a  dollar  for  the  United  States  Army, 
Navy  or  coast  defense. 

Unpreparedness  to  the  point  of  totality. 

That  is  the  Tammany  proposal  for  Amer- 
ican policy. 

Bah! 

A  MAN  OF  FINE  CALIBRE  NEEDED 

Montreal  Star 

An  increasing  number  of  questions  involv- 
ing important  interests  of  Canada  and  the 
United  States  press  for  settlement.  The 
decision  to  create  a  separate  department  to 
adjust  these  questions,  with  a  Canadian 
minister  at  Washington  at  its  head,  affords 
a  practical  solution  of  the  problem. 

The  results  of  the  new  departure  will 
depend  very  largely  upon  the  calibre  of  the 


man  chosen  as  Canada's  first  diplomatic 
representative  at  a  foreign  capital.  The 
place  will  be  one  of  peculiar  honor  and  re- 
sponsibility, worthy  of  a  rare  type  of  abil- 
ity, and  the  country  will  expect  a  careful 
choice. 

A  DANGEROUS  ALLIANCE 

Richmond    Times-Dispatch 

If  we  could  establish  the  League  of  Na- 
tions, the  surest  imaginable  way  to  make  it 
a  dismal  failure  would  be  to  adopt  the 
French  suggestion  that  all  the  Allies  en- 
gaged on  the  winning  side  in  the  war  pool 
their  war  debts  in  one  gigantic  bond  issue. 
The  prospects  that  in  a  year  or  two  some- 
body would  be  unwilling  or  unable  to  pay 
would  be  excellent.  Many  individual  cit- 
izens know  from  sad  experience  that  as  a 
means  of  busting  an  entente,  the  apple  of 
discord  was  harmless  compared  with  a  joint 
note,  for  a  benevolent  purpose,  constructed 
by  a  number  of  bosom  friends. 

PUNISH  THE  FOOD  GAMBLERS 

Houston  Post 

It  is  becoming  increasingly  apparent  that 
drastic  measures  must  be  taken  in  this  coun- 
try to  prohibit  speculation  in  food  supplies. 
Such  speculators  are  becoming  a  menace  to 
peace  and  the  existence  of  the  nation. 

If  the  Government  can  imprison  labor 
leaders  for  interfering  with  the  distribution 
of  food  supplies,  it  can  put  stripes  on  spec- 
ulators who  get  control  of  food  supplies  and 
interfere  with  their  distribution  by  holding 
them  for  higher  prices.  It  all  amounts  to 
the  same  so  far  as  the  public  is  concerned. 

The  Department  of  Justice  should  play  no 
favorites. 

HOW  DO  THEY  LIKE  IT? 

Providence  Journal 

How  do  the  workers  in  the  industries  that 
have  had  to  shut  down  on  account  of  the 
railroad  strike  like  the  present  strike? 

Do  the  strikers  themselves,  finding  food 
prices  boosted  even  further  by  their  foolish 
action  in  leaving  their  work,  think  they 
have  accomplished  anything  worth  while  ? 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


257 


What  do  the  railroad  travellers  of  the 
country  think  of  the  strike  ? 

What  is  the  attitude  of  the  general  public 
toward  it,  finding  food  and  fuel  stocks 
diminishing  ? 

There  was  never  a  more  unpopular  labor 
movement  in  America  from  any  point  of 
view. 

TIME  THE  AVENGER 

Buffalo  Express 

If  ever  a  man  was  vindicated  by  events, 
that  man  is  Henry  Lane  Wilson,  the  ambas- 
sador to  Mexico  whom  the  present  Adminis- 
tration found  in  office  and  removed  and 
who  has  lately  been  telling  the  story  of  his 
experiences  to  a  Senate  committee.  If  ever 
a  man's  judgment  was  discredited  by  events, 
the  judgment  of  Woodrow  Wilson  in  Mex- 
ican matters  has  been  discredited.  Yet  the 
more  Henry  Lane  Wilson  is  vindicated  and 
Woodrow  Wilson  is  shown  to  have  been 
wrong,  the  more  bitterly  Democratic  news- 
papers declaim  against  Henry  Lane  Wilson, 
even  when  they  cannot  offer  one  word  in 
justification  of  the  President.  It  is  such 
partisanship  that  makes  successful  rule  by 
the  Democratic  party  impossible. 

BY  THE  BURLESON  ROUTE 

Chicago  Evening  Post 

A  package  of  mail  for  The  Post  reached 
this  office  about  four  o'clock  on  the  after- 
noon of  April  1.  It  came  from  Boston,  and 
the  postmark  shows  that  it  was  received  at 
the  Boston  office  at  eight  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  March  26.  The  Chicago  post- 
mark shows  that  it  reached  Canal  street  at 
three  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  April  1. 
It  was,  therefore,  six  days,  all  but  five 
hours,  in  transit.  And  it  had  on  it  a  spe- 
cial-delivery stamp  and  the  legend  "Special 
Delivery"  written  across  the  envelope  in 
conspicuous  letters.  We  are  just  wondering 
if  it  had  come  by  ordinary  delivery  how 
long  it  would  have  taken  to  reach  us  by 
the  Burleson  route. 

ONE  CENT 

Omaha   News 

An  ingenious  professor  of  mathematics 
has  figiired  out  that  1  cent,  invested  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era  (1919  years 
ago)  at  the  rate  of  interest  equal  to  the 
government  Liberty  bonds,  that  is,  4^4,  per 
cent,  with  interest  compounded  to  date, 
would  make  one  hundred  thousand  globes  of 
solid  gold,  each  the  weight  of  the  earth. 

The  earth  weighs  six  and  twenty-one 
ciphers  tons.  But  the  1  cent  with  its  ac- 
cumulations, reduced  to  a  minimum  weight 
in  gold  at  the  rate  of  $20  in  the  ounce. 


would,  he  says,  make  one  hundred  thousand 
planets  of  the  earth's  weight! 
The  moral  is:     Save  the  pennies! 

AN  UNQUALIFIED  INSULT 

Springfield  Union 
It  matters  not  whether  it  be  the  British 
flag  or  the  flag  of  France,  Italy,  Japan, 
Sweden  or  any  other  country  with  which  the 
United  States  is  at  peace,  the  burning  of  it 
in  public  by  any  persons  is  an  insult  and 
affront  to  the  country  whose  flag  is  so  mis- 
treated that  cannot  be  overlooked  by  the  au- 
thorities. Men  and  women  have  a  perfect 
right  to  sympathize  with  Ireland  in  its  de- 
sire for  freedom  and  self-government,  but 
they  have  no  right  in  this  country  to  man- 
ifest their  sympathy  in  acts  of  hostility  to 
the  British  Government.  That  species  of 
propaganda  must  be  curbed,  not  simply  be- 
cause it  is  directed  against  Great  Britain, 
as  in  this  case,  but  because  it  is  improper 
and  unlawful.  We  know  how  we  would  re- 
sent the  burning  of  an  American  flag  in 
London  by  sympathizers  with  Porto  Rican 
independence,  if  any  such  outrage  took 
place.  The  respect  we  demand  for  our  own 
flag  we  must  be  willing  to  accord  the  flags 
of  other  nations  with  which  we  are  at  peace. 

WHY  ADVERTISED  STORES  SUCCEED 

Denison   (Iowa)   Review 

The  advertised  store  gives  the  people  news 
in  which  the  people  are  interested.  The 
closer  an  item  of  fact  comes  to  the  personal 
affairs  of  the  people  the  more  persons  are 
interested  in  it.  There  are  few  items  in  a 
newspaper  that  come  closer  home  to  our 
daily  life  than  an  announcement  that  a  merr 
chant  has  a  lot  of  goods  which  he  can  offer 
at  an  unusually  low  price. 

When  you  get  a  lot  of  people  to  reading 
about  a  store  and  what  it  is  doing  and  offer- 
ing, the  same  people  will  soon  be  seen  visit- 
ing that  store.  The  desire  is  so  keen  to 
avoid  the  high  prices  that  any  suggestion  of 
economies  attracts  a  crowd. 

A  store  that  advertises  bargains  impresses 
them  as  a  store  where  there  is  life  and  mo- 
tion and  things  going.  So  the  advertised 
store  is  the  well  filled  store,  and  the  well 
filled  store  is  the  store  that  does  a  big 
business. 

THE  CHURCH 

Leesburg    (Ohio)    Citizen 

Admitting  that  in  many  ways  the  church 
has  fallen  short  of  its  high  destinies,  there 
are  still  so  many  wonderful  accomplish- 
ments which  are  for  the  good  of  men,  that 
criticism  would  seem  paltry  indeed. 

There  is  more  honesty  in  the  church  than 
out  of  it. 


258 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


There  is  less  immorality  in  the  church 
than  out  of  it. 

There  is  more  charity  performed  in  the 
name  of  the  many  church  branches  and 
subsidiaries  than  by  other  institutions. 

For  two  thousand  years  the  principles  of 
right,  equality,  and  brotherhood  have  been 
promulgated  by  earnest  men  and  women, 
the  product  of  the  churches. 

The  church  is  the  strongest  guardian  of 
public  safety,  because  it  has,  and  is  standing 
for  brotherhood  and  equality,  under  which 
Liberty  thrives. 

WHY  SOME  MEN   ARE  FAILURES 

Collier's  Weekly 

A  whisky  ad  declared:  "Total  abstinence 
is  a  form  of  fear — and  fear  is  the  cause  of 
failure.  Cast  out  fear."  A  profound 
thought,  this.  But  why  confine  it  merely  to 
the  matter  of  abstinence  from  alcohol? 
You  don't  smoke?  Then,  of  course,  you're 
a  coward.  You  abstain  from  profanity? 
Be  a  hero;  indulge  in  oaths  "moderately." 
Do  you  often  beat  your  wife  ?  What,  never  ? 
Some  booze  magnate  may  accuse  you  of 
showing  the  white  feather  if  you  don't 
knock  her  down — "in  moderation."  That 
advertisement  clears  up  for  us  the  puzzle 
of  why  there  are  so  many  failures  in  the 
world.  They  simply  don't  booze;  that's  all 
the  trouble.  Be  a  hero!  Get  soused  and 
succeed! 

WHERE'S  NEW  YORK?    ASK  MURPHY 

Buffalo  News 

Tammany  is  still  in  the  saddle — still  the 
dominant  factor  in  the  New  York  State 
Democracy.  There  was  a  test  of  strength 
at  the  Albany  conference  of  the  delegates 
to  the  San  Francisco  Convention  on  the 
question  of  whether  the  unit  rule  should 
prevail  and  the  decision  was  overwhelm- 
ingly for  this  device  for  Tammany  control. 
The  vote  for  unit  rule  was  a  vote  of  con- 
fidence in  Tammany  Hall — ^more  particularly 
in  the  leadership  of  Charles  F.  Murphy. 
It  means  that  the  choice  of  Mr.  Murphy  for 
the  presidential  nomination  is  the  choice  of 
the  New  York  State  Democracy.  It  is 
simply  regard  for  form  and  ceremony  that 
requires  the  attendance  of  the  other  dele- 
gates. Mr.  Murphy  will  be  the  recognized 
representative  of  this  sovereign  State  at  San 
Francisco;  all  the  rest  will  be  nowhere. 

SOMEBODY'S  GETTING  THE  MONEY 

Capper's  Weekly 

"I  sold  a  fine  No.  1  beef  hide  to  a  large 
dealer  in  hides,"  writes  W.  E.  McWharter, 
a  Cisco,  Tex.,  reader  of  Capper's  Weekly, 
"but  he  would  pay  me  only  fifteen  cents  a 
pound  for  it,  saying  that  was  as  much  as 


the  market  would  bear.  Up  town  I  went 
into  a  saddle  and  harness  store  to  get  a 
piece  of  leather  to  half-sole  my  shoes  and 
was  informed  that  $2  a  pound  was  as  cheap 
as  the  storekeeper  could  afford  to  sell  it." 
Wherefore  Mr.  McWharter  would  like  to 
have  the  men  searched  who  stand  between 
these  two. 

If  the  Government  is  to  stop  profiteering 
not  only  will  it  have  to  search  and  punish 
profiteers,  but  must  shorten  the  profit-line 
and  reduce  the  number  of  profit-takers.  In 
this  it  will  be  ably  seconded  by  the  co- 
operators  if  it  will  give  them  half  a  chance. 

MR.  DANIELS'S  TWO  FACES 

Halifax,  N.    S.,  Herald 

International  interests  will  be  revived  this 
week  in  the  Sims-Daniels  naval  controversy 
by  evidence  designed  to  show  the  amazing 
two-facedness  of  President  Wilson's  naval 
minister. 

Daniels  in  Washington  condemned  Sims's 
"pro-British"  sympathies.  In  London  in 
July,  1917,  Daniels  said  the  presidential 
reprimand  Sims  received  for  voicing  those 
sympathies  at  the  Guildhall,  in  1910,  "now 
had  become  a  decoration  of  honor." 

In  Washington,  Daniels  anathematized  the 
admiral  for  succumbing  to  his  British  en- 
vironments. In  London,  Daniels  "rejoiced 
that  the  United  States  navy  during  the  war 
was  represented  in  England  by  a  courageous, 
wise  and  brave  man  who  understood  the 
very  heart  of  the  struggle  and  entered  into 
it  with  sympathy  and  heartfelt  feelings 
toward  his  British  comrades." 

THE  YARDSTICK 

Kennebec    Journal 

"More  pay,  less  work,  whole  loaf,  loaf  all , 
the  time." 

All  in  favor  stop  and  think  it  over.  This 
is  the  tendency  of  "labor"  as  understood  by 
a  good  many  people  who  inhabit  these  good, 
comfortable  United  States.  How  long  will 
they  remain  good  and  comfortable  if  the 
brawn  and  muscle  that  ought  to  be  rebuild- 
ing the  losses  occasioned  by  the  war  with 
redoubled  vigor  and  industry,  sulk  and 
strike  and  slack? 

All  the  clap-trap  stuff  about  the  industrial 
class  becoming  possessors  of  industry  we 
now  know  to  be  nothing  but  another  way  of 
saying  that  a  business  would  run  as  well  if 
the  president  and  the  janitor  changed  places. 
It  is  nonsense  to  suppose  that  the  men  who 
have  put  their  lives  and  brains  into  trying 
to  make  a  success  of  their  business  can 
be  replaced  with  unskilled  hands  without 
detriment  to  that  particular  business,  and 
if  the  practice  become  general,  to  all  busi- 
ness.    Whether  the   theorists   and   alleged 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


259 


philosophers  like  it  or  not,  there  is  a  certain 
quality  called  common  sense  that  has  a  dis- 
turbing habit  of  popping  up  and  measuring 
things  by  its  yardstick — and  its  measure 
finally  has  to  be  the  standard. 

DIGNIFY  THE  NOMINATION 

Topeka  State  Journal 
Many  men  now  living  can  remember  the 
tim.e  when  a  candidate  for  the  presidency 
would  not  have  thought  of  campaigning  for 
his  own  election,  even  after  his  nomination. 
It  was  considered  as  lowering  the  dignity 
of  the  office.  Now  we  see  self-appointed 
candidates  and  candidates  who  are  induced 
to  enter  the  race  by  admiring  friends,  pa- 
rading up  and  down  the  country  asking  the 
people  for  their  support  in  primaries  and 
conventions.  But  it  is  doubtful  that  under 
the  changed  custom  we  are  getting  any 
better  presidents.  Grover  Cleveland,  one  of 
the  country's  great  presidents,  remained 
quietly  in  Buffalo  while  the  country  chose 
him  to  fill  the  highest  office  in  the  land. 
The  modern  method  of  selecting  presiden- 
tial candidates  is  supposed  to  voice  the  will 
of  the  people,  but  does  it  ?  When  the  work 
of  the  national  conventions  has  been  finished 
it  is  not  improbable  that  a  majority  of  either 
party  will  prefer  somebody  else  to  the  men 
that  will  be  offered  to  them  for  support  at 
the  polls. 

JUST  A  MATTER  OF  COMMON  SENSE 
Watchman-Examiner 
We  do  not  have  to  have  many  of  the 
things  that  we  are  having.  It  would  not 
be  pleasant  or  convenient  to  get  along  with- 
out them,  but  we  could  do  it.  More  frugal 
fare  at  the  table,  with  less  variety  of  viands; 
the  wearing  of  our  old  clothes  a  little 
longer,  even  if  Dame  Fashion  did  sneer  a 
bit;  less  frequent  visits  to  places  of  amuse- 
ment, and  cheaper  seats  when  there;  the 
curtailing  of  indulgences  which  are  of  no 
real  benefit;  and  all  this  as  a  frank  confes- 
sion that  we  cannot  afford  to  do  otherwise, 
and  not  with  the  half -ashamed  air  of  those 
who  are  following  a  whim  or  a  fad  for  a 
time—this  would  do  more  to  relieve  the 
situation  than  all  our  wailing  over  high 
prices  and  our  railing  at  profiteers  from 
now  until  Doomsday.  And  this  would  be 
the  part  of  simple,  plain  common  sense. 

DEPORT  VICTOR  BERGER 

Boston  Transcript 

The  demand  of  the  American  Legion,  in 
convention  assembled  at  Minneapolis,  for 
the  deportation  of  Victor  Berger,  has  the 
real  ring  of  straight  Americanism.  The 
resolution  adopted  called  for  the  enactment 
of  legislation  by  Congress  under  which  the 


conduct  of  Berger  will  be  punished  by  his 
deportation  to  the  country  whence  he  came. 
When  the  resolution  was  proposed  the  dele- 
gation from  Wisconsin  was  on  its  feet  with 
the  following  demand:  "The  entire  delega- 
tion from  Wisconsin  considers  it  a  signal 
honor  to  move  and  we  do  move  the  adoption 
of  this  resolution."  Massachusetts  followed 
suit  with  another  second,  and  the  resolution 
was  adopted  by  acclamation. 

Congress  will  make  a  serious  mistake  if 
it  fails  to  heed  this  demand  of  the  Legion, 
for  the  Legion,  in  making  it,  is  the  voice  of 
loyal  America.  Berger  is  one  of  a  mischief- 
making  minority  in  this  country  today  for 
whom  America  is  unwilling  longer  to  make 
room. 

SOME  UNDRESS  HISTORY 

Omaha  Bee 

In  1794  a  Berlin  actress  was  accused  of 
an  offense  against  morality  and  decency 
when  she  appeared  on  the  stage  in  bare 
arms.  In  1800  the  daring  wife  of  a  rich 
banker  of  Switzerland  walked  in  the  garden 
of  the  Tuileries  with  nothing  between  her 
body  and  the  open  atmosphere  but  a  gauze 
veil.  In  1817  English  ladies  discarded  all 
clothing  except  silk  tights  and  a  transparent 
chemise,  and  wore  rings  on  their  bare  feet. 

These  incidents  in  the  history  of  scanty 
fashionable  attire  for  women  are  related 
by  the  New  York  Evening  Sun  to  show  that 
what  we  are  now  undergoing  in  the  way  of 
doubtful  dress  are  nothing  new  under  the 
sun.  The  urge  to  uncover  and  reveal  be- 
comes irresistible  about  once  every  hun- 
dred years,  it  seems.  Let  us  be  thankful 
that  at  least  two  of  every  three  generations 
escape  the  craze  for  immodesty. 

STAGE   SET  NOW  FOR 

WILSON'S  RENOMINATION 

Omaha  Bee 

"Not  acceptable— W.  W.,"  written  by  Mr. 
Wilson  to  Senator  Hitchcock  as  the  presi- 
dential decision  on  the  final  text  of  the  reser- 
vation to  Article  X,  choked  the  treaty  to 
death. 

Why  ?  Presumptuous  mortal,  seek  not  for 
reasons  from  the  god  of  obstinacy  and  au- 
tocratic authority!  'Tis  enough  to  know  the 
decision,  when  signed  "W.  W."  True,  the 
world  was  ready  to  accept  gladly  the  Amer- 
ican reservations.  But  what  chance  has  the 
world  without  the  "OKeh"  of  W.  W.?  None. 

So  the  treaty  is  laid  out  in  lavender  until 
such  time  as  the  baffled  and  boiling  execu- 
tioner of  his  party  sees  fit  to  exhibit  again 
the  remains,  punctured  by  his  own  ipse  dixit. 
We  suspect,  with  inward  hopes,  that  time 
will  be  after  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Wilson 
for  a  third  term. 


260 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


DEFEAT  THOSE  COUNCILMEN 

Fall  River  News 

Mayor  Peters  also  stands  to  his  guns  in 
support  of  the  decision  rendered  by  Massa- 
chusetts in  the  election  which  gave  so  tre- 
mendous endorsement  of  the  determination 
of  the  governor,  police  commissioner  and 
mayor  to  make  no  terms  with  the  striking 
policemen. 

Defeated  in  that  desertion  of  duty  and 
thrown  out  of  employment,  those  former 
policemen  want  to  sneak  back  into  the 
service.  They  got  the  nerveless  City  Coun- 
cil to  resolve  in  favor  of  their  appoint- 
ments as  firemen.  These  were  men  who  did 
what  they  could  to  turn  Boston  over  into 
the  control  of  riotous  mobs.  They  deserve 
no  more  employment  in  the  public  service. 
They  have  shown  themselves  unfaithful  to 
public  duty  and  should  be  left  to  seek  private 
employment.  So  Mayor  Peters  vetoed  the 
obnoxious  resolve.  The  council  would  turn 
the  positions  of  firemen  over  to  these  men, 
rather  than  to  the  hundreds  of  certified  sol- 
diers and  sailors  of  the  World  War  who  are 
on  the  waiting  list  for  appointment  when 
vacancies  occur.  No  member  of  the  City 
Council  who  voted  for  this  disgraceful  effort 
to  give  these  men  the  preference  over  men 
equally  competent,  but  who  are  not  de- 
serters, should  ever  be  again  elected  to 
membership  in  the  City  Council. 

EAT  MORE  FISH! 

New  England  Fisheries 

There  are  certain  varieties  of  fish  which 
are  just  as  delicious  as  any  meat  and  a  good 
deal  cheaper  in  price,  too,  but  until  recently 
no  concerted  action  was  ever  taken  to  de- 
velop the  fishing  industry  to  its  present 
level.  In  days  gone  by  fish  was  consumed 
mainly  by  people  living  on  the  coasts  or 
near  large  bodies  of  water.  Today,  with  all 
the  modem  methods  of  preserving  food  for 
long  journeys,  inland  and  otherwise,  the 
value  of  fish  as  a  food  is  being  introduced 
inland. 

There  is  sufficient  fish  to  go  around  for 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  this  coun- 
try, and  the  cost  of  it  is  within  the  reach  of 
everyone. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that,  in  view  of 
the  outstanding  features  of  the  subject,  the 
Department  of  Justice  could  do  much  better 
for  the  public  if  it  would  devote  some  of 
its  energy  toward  helping  along  an  increased 
consumption  of  fish  instead  of  meat,  which 
is  consumed  on  too  large  a  scale  altogether. 
Let  the  people  have  meat — they  need  no 
further  education  on  that  subject — but  let 
them  have  fish  and  know  the  true  value  and 
cheapness  of  fish  as  well. 


IN  RE  SYMPATHY  FOR  WILSON 

New  Bedford  Standard 

Senator  John  Sharp  Williams,  addressing 
the  Mississippi  legislature,  said:  "When 
Garfield  was  shot,  was  there  a  Democrat  but 
expressed  sorrow?  Has  anyone  seen  words 
of  sympathy  for  the  President  in  any  Re- 
publican paper?" 

Words  of  sympathy  were  general  at  the 
time  the  President  was  stricken  on  his 
Western  trip,  and  sympathy  would  undoubt- 
edly be  felt  and  expressed  now  if  Mr. 
Wilson  was  in  the  situation  Garfield  was 
in  between  the  time  he  was  shot  and  his 
death.  Garfield  did  not  exercise  the  func- 
tion of  President;  he  was  admittedly  in- 
capacitated; it  was  generally  known  that  he 
was  on  his  death  bed.  Concerning  Mr.  Wil- 
son's condition,  on  the  other  hand,  there  has 
always  been  a  mystery.  We  are  assured 
that  he  is  himself  again;  either  he  is  exer- 
cising the  powers  of  the  President,  or  they 
are  being  unlawfully  exercised  in  his  name. 
Statements  bearing  his  name  go  before  the 
world.  Under  the  circumstances  continued 
professions  of  sympathy  would  be  absurd. 

The  Democrats  seem  to  be  in  the  position 
of  claiming  that  Mr.  Wilson  is  in  full  pos- 
session of  his  faculties,  and  at  the  same  time 
berating  the  Republicans  for  not  pouring 
forth  sympathy  for  a  sick  man. 

MR.  DEBS  AS  A  BOLSHEVIST 

Syracuse   Post-Standard 

Eugene  Debs,  accepting  the  Socialist  nom- 
ination in  Atlanta  prison,  says  that  he  is  a 
Bolshevist,  which  is  to  say  that  he  is  not  a 
Socialist.  His  qualification  of  his  bolshe- 
vism  in  his  own  mind  squares  his  profession 
of  bolshevism  with  his  profession  of  so- 
cialism: 

"I  did  not  mean  I  was  a  Russian  Bol- 
shevist in  America,  but  that  I  was  fighting 
for  the  same  thing  in  America  that  they 
are  fighting  for  in  Russia." 

"What  they  are  fighting  for  in  Russia"  is 
the  creature  of  Eugene  Debs'  imagination. 
What  they  have  got  for  their  fighting  is 
more  to  the  point. 

Russia  is  under  control  of  an  oligarchy, 
which  holds  its  power  by  terror. 

It  has  a  government  of  a  small  minority, 
which  allows  the  laborer  in  Petrograd  20 
votes  to  one  for  the  peasant,  and  denies  to 
the  man  who  has  made  any  success  in  life 
any  vote  at  all. 

It  has  a  government  which  denies  freedom 
of  speech  and  the  press. 

It  has  a  government  which  has  reimposed 
serfdom,  long  ago  abolished  by  the  czar. 

It  is  these  things  that  the  Russians  have 
secured  from  Bolshevist  success,  and  it  is 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


261 


what  they  got,  not  what  they  fought  to  get, 
that  counts. 

The    Review 

The  Nation  has  routed  the  defenders  of 
Kolchak — horse,  foot,  and  dragoons.  It 
prints  an  official  dispatch  "for  Colonel  House 
from  Bullard,  Tokio,"  to  which  the  Nation 
"is  happy  to  give  first  publication,"  which 
states  that  Kolchak's  "personality  is  of 
small  significance,"  that  he  is  "dependent 
on  the  support  of  reaction  elements,"  that 
"several  units  have  already  revolted  against 
the  brutality  of  officers,"  and  that  Allied 
support  of  him  "is  a  feature  regrettable." 
The  mere  fact  that  this  communication  came 
from  a  person  officially  employed  by  the 
United  States  might,  of  course,  not  make  it 
the  last  word  on  the  subject.  But  the  Na- 
tion has  grounds  more  relative  than  this. 
With  impressive  brevity,  it  appends  to  the 
dispatch  merely  this  simple  comment: 
Mr.  Bullard  was,  next  to  Mr.  Sisson, 

Mr.  Creel's  star  reporter  in  Russia. 
Only  two  removes  from  the  great  Creel,  and 
almost  as  authoritative  as  Sisson!    No  won- 
der the  Nation  is  happy. 

THE  SHAMELESS  BONUS  VOTE 

New  York  Evening  Post 

For  fit  characterization  of  the  House  ac- 
tion Saturday  in  passing  the  Bonus  Bill 
under  gag  rule  we  must  go  to  House  mem- 
bers. "A  blatant  fraud,"  Representative  Pell 
called  the  bill;  "an  outrage,"  Representa- 
tive Evans,  a  bonus  supporter,  termed  the 
procedure;  "the  most  outrageous  maneuver 
ever  made  in  the  House,"  said  Champ  Clark; 
"indefensible,"  said  former  Republican 
Leader  Mann.  If  the  intention  of  Congress 
had  been  to  complete  the  disgust  of  think- 
ing men  for  the  whole  blanket -bonus  plan, 
it  could  not  have  acted  more  effectively.  Is 
any  considerable  body  of  voters  going  to 
be  misled  by  this  cheap  and  empty  bid  for 
soldier  support?  The  stifling  of  debate, 
the  acceptance  by  scores  of  Representatives 
of  tax  provisions  they  believe  improper,  the 
support  of  the  bill  by  other  scores  who  at 
heart  oppose  the  bonus,  were  all  predicated 
on  the  knowledge  that  the  Senate  would 
never  pass  the  measure.  This  attempt  to 
bunco  the  veteran  ought  to  recoil  on  the 
heads  of  those  who  made  it. 

THE  PRICE  OF  SHOES 

Omaha   Bee 

"Shoes  could  be  sold  at  lower  prices  than 
in  1918,  when  dealers  agreed  that  $12  should 
be  the  maximum  charge,"  says  the  expert 
of  the  federal  trade  commission.  A  member 
of  the  committee  of  the  senate  investigating 


shoe  prices  says  leather  companies  exceeded 
100  per  cent  profit  in  1918,  when  shoes  re- 
tailed at  half  what  is  charged  now. 

American  shoes  sold  for  less  in  England 
during  the  war,  than  in  this  country.  Cloth 
shoes  can  be  manufactured  for  less  money 
than  leather  ones,  but  they  sell  for  the  same 
prices;  and  low  shoes,  which  require  about 
one-third  less  leather  than  highs,  sell  for  the 
same  price.  The  prices  of  women's  common 
shoes  are  put  up  to  make  up  for  losses  in 
extreme  styles  that  change  with  each  sea- 
son, and  the  extreme  styles  are  made  not 
because  of  a  demand  for  them,  but  because 
the  manufacturers  order  and  fix  the  styles. 

The  foregoing  remarks  are  a  summary  of 
sworn  testimony.  The  reader  may  draw  his 
own  conclusions  from  them. 

IT  NEEDS  ANDERSON 

New    York   Evening   World 

William  H.  Anderson,  head  of  the  Anti- 
Saloon  League  in  this  State,  jeers  at  Gov. 
Smith  for  urging  a  referendum  to  establish 
the  true  attitude  of  the  people  of  New  York 
toward  ratification  of  the  Prohibition 
Amendment. 

Such  a  referendum,  scoffs  Anderson, 
"would  settle  nothing." 

Wouldn't  it,  though  ? 

To  make  a  thorough  test  of  It,  let  Ander- 
son run  for  Governor  of  New  York  on  the 
issue  of  Nation-wide  Prohibition,  and  see 
whether  something  wouldn't  be  settled. 

Besides  settling  Andersonism,  it  would 
show  what  the  voters  of  the  Empire  State 
think  about  the  invasion  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution and  the  overriding  of  State  rights 
by  an  arrogant  body  of  fanatics  who  have 
discovered  there  is  no  intoxication  like  the 
intoxication  of  power  exerted  in  suppress- 
ing other  people's  liberties. 

Include  Anderson  and  thereby  insure  one 
of  the  most  thoroughgoing  and  convincing 
referenda  ever  held  anywhere. 

LOOK  TO  YOUR  PANTS 

Emporia    (Kan.)    Gazette 

Our  good  friend  and  co-worker  the  Kansas 
City  Star,  which  is,  all  things  said  and  done, 
the  greatest  civilizing  force  in  the  Missouri 
Valley,  is  tremendously  excited  because  the 
Kansas  Republican  convention  did  not  de- 
clare for  universal  military  training.  In 
the  big  page  advertising  in  the  Dakotas, 
General  Leonard  Wood's  advocates  declared 
that  he  was  "NOT  in  favor  of  compulsory 
military  training."  The  people  want  to  rest 
up.  They  are  willing  to  prepare  when  they 
are  convinced  that  the  League  of  Nations 
is  gone  and  we  must  arm  to  the  teeth  to 
protect  ourselves  in  a  warlike  world.  But 
they're  not  sure  the  world  is  warlike.    They 


262 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


wish  to  look  around.  Kansas  is  loyal.  It 
was  just  as  enthusiastic  in  the  election  of 
1916  as  the  Star  was  itself.  Hughes  never 
got  out  from  under  the  endorsement  of  the 
German  American  Alliance.  Wilson  was 
promising  to  "keep  us  out  of  war."  One 
was  bad;  the  other  worse.  Kansas  didn't 
care  much;  neither  did  the  Star.  But 
Kansas  is  no  more  pacifist  than  Funston  or 
Allen  or  Harbord  or  Plumb  or  John  Brown 
or  any  of  the  long  line  of  militant  Kansans. 
When  the  Star  hisses  pacifist  at  its  good 
Kansas  friends  who  are,  of  course,  quite 
wickedly  improvident  in  Micawbering  around 
the  globe  waiting  for  something  to  turn 
up,  it  recalls  the  Mark  Twain  story  of  the 
boy  on  the  steamship.  He  rushed  down  to 
the  woman's  cabin  yelling  "fire,"  and  was 
told  by  a  calm,  old  lady  to  go  get  his  pants 
and  come  back  and  tell  them  all  about  it. 
By  the  time  the  Star  gets  its  pants  on  it 
will  see  things  differently. 

THE  FILM-MAKERS'  DUTY 

Boston  Herald 
The  General  Court  would  never  have 
passed  the  motion-picture  censorship  bill 
had  there  not  been  a  substantial  public  de- 
mand for  it.  Without  doubt  that  demand 
was  due  to  the  offenses  of  a  minority  of 
the  film  makers  and  producers.  Unpleas- 
antly suggestive  titles,  pictures  of  a  re- 
pugnant character,  the  importation  of  scenes 
in  the  picturing  of  literary  masterpieces  that 
never  were  in  the  pages  of  the  authors 
themselves — these  and  other  things  have 
produced  a  revulsion  of  sentiment  on  the 
part  of  the  great  numbers  of  persons  who  in 
general  appreciate  the  vast  value  of  the 
picture  play,  both  for  entertainment  and  for 
education.  Now  that  the  Governor  has 
vetoed  the  bill  the  opportunity  that  awaits 
the  producers  is  obvious.  That  opportunity 
comes  with  something  of  the  force  of  a 
challenge.  The  majority  are  saved  now 
from  the  infliction  of  a  censorship  which 
the  minority  alone  deserved.  It  will  be  to 
the  interest  both  of  the  majority  and  the 
minority,  as  well  as  of  the  public,  to  see  that 
the  demand  for  a  censorship  is  not  renewed. 
Many  of  the  best  film  makers  themselves 
have  said  publicly  again  and  again  that  the 
whole  solution  of  the  problem  is  to  be  found 
in  better  films." 

PUBLIC  AFFAIRS 

New  York  Evening   Post 

Americans  who  have  read  with  indigna- 
tion that  the  Fiume  agreement  of  Dec.  9 
(whatever  that  is)  was  revised  on  Jan.  9 
without  Mr.  Wilson's  knowledge  (in  a  sense 
yet  to  be  ascertained)  will  now  be  glad  to 
learn  that  the  President's  protest  (as  it  will 


be  revealed  some  day)  has  been  not  without 
effect,  and  that  the  original  form  of  Lloyd- 
George's  rejoinder  to  Mr.  Wilson  (concern- 
ing which  we  know  nothing)  was  discarded 
for  a  much  more  diplomatic  reply  by  Lord 
Cecil  (of  which  we  know  less),  without  in- 
ducing the  President  to  deviate  from  his 
position  in  his  second  note  (the  context  of 
which  we  can  eagerly  surmise),  now  under- 
going revision  in  the  State  Department  (to 
a  degree  we  may  vividly  conjecture). 

The  case  may  be  stated  even  more  clearly 
in  algebraic  terms.  Let  X  be  the  Dec.  9 
agreement,  Y  the  January  agreement,  Z  the 
President's  protest,  Q  the  original  Lloyd 
George  reply,  R  the  reply  as  modified  by 
Cecil,  S  the  President's  second  note,  and  T 
the  State  Department's  revisions.  Then  the 
present  situation  may  be  represented  by  X 
multiplied  by  Y  minus  Z  plus  Q  minus  R 
divided  by  S  plus  T.  The  only  thing  the 
public  does  not  know  is  the  value  of  X,  Y,  Z, 
Q,  R,  S  and  T. 

GRADUATING  INTO  THE  HOME 

Congregationalist    and    Advance 

Mount  Holyoke  is  raising  an  endowment, 
like  other  colleges,  and  recites  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  public  the  good  work  that  has 
been  done.  In  answer  to  a  criticism  that 
the  training  of  mothers  had  not  been  prop- 
erly emphasized  in  this  report  of  its  work, 
President  Woolley  wrote  to  the  editor  of  The 
Christian  Work: 

I  suppose  that  when  Mount  Holyoke 
recited  the  work  of  graduates  who  had 
made  names  for  themselves  in  science, 
teaching  and  administration  the  names 
of  those  who  were  making  excellent 
wives  and  mothers  were  omitted  simply 
because  we  take  that  for  granted.  ()ne 
of  the  features  of  the  campaign  upon 
which  we  are  entering  is  emphasis  upon 
the  distinguished  men  in  the  country, 
among  whom  are  ex-President  Taft  and 
Ralph  Connor,  who  are  the  sons  of 
Mount  Holyoke  women.  I  do  not  know 
how  Mount  Holyoke  ranks  with  other 
colleges  in  the  number  of  married  grad- 
uates an^  children,  but  I  do  know  that 
the  college  has  a  very  large  percentage 
of  its  graduates  in  the  home. 

In  the  answer  to  the  same  inquiry  Presi- 
dent Nielson  of  Smith  College  wrote: 

Most  if  not  all  of  the  women's  colleges 
have  emerged  from  the  blue-stocking 
stage  and  devoted  themselves  to  the 
educating  of  women  with  a  view  to  their 
taking  a  normal  place  in  our  society — 
in  the  majority  of  cases  by  becoming 
wives  and  mothers. 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


263 


The  standard  of  home  life  has  been  raised 

and  enriched  everywhere  in  America  as  the 
graduates  of  our  institutions  for  the  higher 
education  of  women  have  taken  up  the  duties 
of  the  family  life. 

UNDERWOOD  AS  SENATE  LEADER 

Brooklyn  Eagle 

Because  of  the  withdrawal  of  Gilbert  M. 
Hitchcock  of  Nebraska,  Oscar  W.  Under- 
wood of  Alabama  will  become  the  Democrat 
leader  in  the  United  States  Senate.  A  dead- 
lock has  lasted  too  long  already.  Party 
men  everywhere  are  glad  to  see  it  broken 
by  consent. 

The  minority  leader  in  the  Senate,  when 
the  Senate  and  the  Administration  are  not 
in  party  harmony,  holds  a  position  of  ex- 
treme delicacy,  and  needs,  to  meet  its  de- 
mands, a  rare  combination  of  firmness,  tact 
and  intellectual  honesty.  Underwood,  in  the 
judgment  of  most  Americans,  possesses  this 
combination.  If  he  lacks  a  sense  of  humor, 
which  is  often  invaluable  in  straightening 
out  tangles,  the  deficiency  will  not  be  nota- 
ble, as  the  Senate  is  now  constituted;  or, 
if  noted,  it  will  be  tacitly  accepted  as  evi- 
dence of  accordance  with  senatorial  stand- 
ards. 

In  such  a  place  no  man  can  make  himself 
the  mere  mouthpiece  of  the  President  with- 
out suffering  loss  of  prestige.  Also,  no 
man  can  incur  needless  clashes  with  the 
President  without  making  himself  ridicu- 
lous. Mr.  Underwood  will  do  neither.  In- 
cidentally, no  statesman  south  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  has  so  much  of  the  confidence 
of  the  conservative  business  public  of  the 
North  and  East  as  this  Alabama  man.  He 
is  not  and  has  never  been  sectional  in  his 
trend,  in  any  Claude  Kitchin  sense.  Taxa- 
tion plans  fair  to  all  sections  will  be  in- 
sisted on  if  he  is  in  a  position  to  have  his 
way.  For  several  reasons,  then,  we  may 
regard  Oscar  W.  Underwood  as  the  right 
man  in  the  right  place. 

WEARING  TOM  REED'S  MANTLE 

Louisville  Courier-Journal 

Have  we  another  "Czar  Reed"? 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr. 
Byrnes  was  speaking  in  favor  of  his  reso- 
lution for  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  expenditures  of  the  par- 
tisan and  futile  House  war  "investigations." 
He  said  that  more  than  fifty  investigations 
had  been  authorized  by  the  House  covering 
every  activity  of  the  Democratic  Adminis- 
tration and  that  there  had  been  serious 
interference  with  every  executive  depart- 
ment of  the  Government.  Throughout  the 
whole  series  of  inquiries,  he  charged,  the 
Republicans   had  made  concerted  attempts 


to  attack  the  President,  and  said  expenses 
had  been  piling  up  "world  without  end." 
He  wanted  an  accounting  as  to  amounts 
spent,  declaring  that  "the  true  purpose  of 
the  Republicans  was  to  endeavor  to  obtain 
material  for  the  coming  campaign."  "You 
had  a  year  in  which  to  investigate,"  he 
declared.  "You  have  discovered  no  fraud, 
and  you  owe  it  to  the  taxpayers  of  America 
to  put  an  end  to  your  extravagant  expendi- 
tures before  you  recess  or  adjourn.  Put  up 
or  shut  up." 

It  was  "shut  up"  for  Mr.  Byrnes,  on  the 
decree  of  Speaker  Gillett,  who  refused  to 
let  him  proceed  with  his  speech.  As  his 
allotted  time  expired  Mr.  Byrnes  requested 
five  minutes  more.  "The  chair  declines  to 
recognize  the  gentleman,"  announced  the 
aspirant  for  the  Czar's  mantle. 

Champ  Clark,  the  Democratic  leader, 
asked  unanimous  consent  that  ten  minutes 
be  given  Byrnes,  but  the  Speaker  was  ob- 
durate. Unanimous  consent  or  no  unani- 
mous consent,  Gillett  used  his  office  to  snuff 
out  criticism  of  Republican  extravagance 
and  partisanship. 

"It's  a  fine  House,"  commented  Clark. 
No  doubt  he  would  have  pleased  Gillett  if 
he  had  said,  "It's  a  fine  Czar." 

The  incident  serves  to  call  attention  to  one 
of  the  most  farcical  accomplishments  of  the 
present  Congress. 

WHAT  EX-GOV.  BALDWIN  WANTS 

Hartford  Courant 

Former  Governor  Baldwin  of  this  State 
answered  the  question  "What  do  you  want 
in  the  next  President?"  but  named  no  candi- 
date. He  may  want  Mr.  Hoover,  but  he 
certainly  does  not  say  so.  That  he  favors 
a  third  term  for  the  present  incumbent  can 
hardly  be  read  between  the  lines: 

I  want  a  man  who  will  favor  ratifica- 
tion of  the  German  treaty,  with  amend- 
ments, making  it  plain  that  we  assume 
no  obligations  to  use  our  military  forces 
in  foreign  war,  unless  Congress  sanc- 
tions it. 
That  does  not  look  like  Mr.  Wilson. 

I  want  a  man  who  will  consider  such 
or  any  other  amendments  on  their 
merits  and  not  reject  them  for  personal 
or  party  reasons. 

Still  no  indication  that  our  President  is 
referred  to. 

I  want  a  man  who  will  smooth  the 
way  to  proper  amendments,  by  ascer- 
taining if  the  other  great  Powers  would 
be  likely  to  object  to  them.  What  the 
great  Powers  agree  to  the  small  ones 
will  accept. 
Lese  majeste,  to  say  the  least. 


264 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


I  want  a  man  who  will  not  push  far- 
ther the  bounds  of  presidential  power. 

I  want  a  man  who  will  treat  his  polit- 
ical opponents  with  candor  and  courtesy. 
That  may  eliminate  a  large  number  from 
among  the  persons  acceptable  to  Governor 
Baldwin  and  it  surely  shows  where  he  stands 
regarding  President  Wilson. 

A  PLACE  FOR  AN  ENGINEER 

Compressed   Air    Magazine 

Assuredly  the  most  important  domestic 
problems  pressing  for  a  solution  are  eco- 
nomic ones.  The  standards  of  living  have 
been  generally  lowered  among  nearly  all 
classes,  which  is  only  a  natural  consequence 
of  the  events  of  the  last  five  years.  Agri- 
cultural and  mineral  production,  interna- 
tional obligations  and  trade,  distribution  of 
essential  supplies  and  transportation  are 
paramount  considerations. 

They  are  intimately  connected  with  en- 
gineers and  engineering  and  undoubtedly 
require  essentially  such  a  training  and  ex- 
perience embodied  in  the  definition  "En- 
gineering, the  art  of  organizing  and  direct- 
ing men  and  controlling  forces  and  ma- 
terials of  nature  for  the  benefits  of  the 
human  race." 

Looking  over  the  list  of  past  Presidents 
of  the  United  States  reveals  the  fact  that 
there  have  been  fourteen  lawyers,  three 
soldiers,  five  teachers,  two  planters,  one 
tailor  and  one  publisher.  Washington  is 
classed  as  a  planter,  but  we  also  remember 
he  was  a  surveyor  and  a  soldier. 

Engineers  do  not  appear.  However,  this 
lack  of  precedent  is  no  bar,  as  little  heed 
is  being  paid  to  tradition  or  precedent  in 
the  reconstruction  of  the  economic  fabric. 

Is  there  not  a  real  conscientious  question 
arising  in  the  mind  of  every  patriot  that  a 
representative  from  the  engineering  profes- 
sion is  the  best  calculated  person  to  "steer 
the  ship  of  State"? 

NO  SPECIAL  CLASS  FAVORS 

Weekly     Circular    of     William    H.     Barr,     President 
of    the    National    Founders'    Association 

A  concerted  effort  should  be  made  to 
bring  about  such  a  change  in  public  opinion 
as  will  force  the  Congress  and  the  State 
legislatures  to  impose  upon  labor  unions  the 
same  responsibilities  which  are  imposed 
upon  business.  They  should  be  placed  on 
eactly  the  same  plane  and  footing  as  the 
business  men.  They  should  be  subjected 
to  the  same  laws,  the  same  rules,  the  same 
penalties  for  violation  of  the  laws,  and  they 
should  stand  four-square  before  the  people, 
the  courts  and  the  country. 

There  is  nothing  which  is  so  disastrous  to 
a  country  as  the  setting  up  of  a  privileged 


class.  If  there  be  any  who  doubt  this,  it  is 
evident  that  they  have  not  read  the  history 
of  our  country.  The  unionists  for  more 
than  twenty  years  have  been  especially  priv- 
ileged in  the  United  States,  and  particularly 
so  during  the  last  seven  or  eight  years. 
They  are  exempt  from  many  laws  which 
are  binding  on  business.  They  cannot  be 
held  responsible,  financially  or  legally,  for 
what  they  may  do,  except  in  extreme  cases. 
This  has  begotten  arrogance,  defiance  of 
the  courts,  defiance  of  the  people,  destruc- 
tion of  property,  attempt  to  create  com- 
mercial chaos  and  it  has  bred  the  spirit  of 
revolution.  The  present  Communist  party, 
the  I.  W.  W.,  the  National  Non-partisan 
League,  and  other  similar  groups  of  un- 
desirables, are  the  direct  result  of  pamper- 
ing and  conciliation  and  deals  by  politicians 
with  labor  unions.  It  is  time  to  destroy 
this  menacing  alliance.  It  cannot  be  de- 
stroyed under  present  practices  if  business 
men  are  negligent  in  their  political  duties 
and  indifferent  to  what  is  going  on.  Let  us 
set  up  the  standard  of  fair  play  and  equity, 
and  demand  that  every  business  man  and 
particularly  every  member  of  a  Legislature, 
State  or  national,  shall  subscribe  to  it.  Let 
us  ask  no  favors  and  let  us  demand  that  no 
special  favors  shall  be  granted  to  any  other 
class. 

DIRECT  PRIMARIES 

St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat 

There  are  two  fundamental  objections  to 
the  primary  system.  One  is  that  it  is  too 
expensive,  both  to  the  State  and  the  candi- 
dates, who  are  required  to  make  two  cam- 
paigns. This  expense  is  very  large,  as  is 
shown  by  the  controversy  over  the  charges 
made  by  Senator  Borah,  that  large  sums  oi 
money  are  being  expended  by  presidential 
candidates.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
$15,000  in  each  State  would  be  a  reasonable 
maximum  expenditure  to  be  allowed  bj 
law  for  each  presidential  candidate.  Thai 
would  mean  a  total  of  $720,000,  quite  a  suir 
for  a  candidate  who  did  not  have  resources 
of  wealth  behind  him,  which  resources  art 
always  open  to  suspicion  as  to  the  disinter 
estedness  of  those  who  devote  them  to  thai 
purpose. 

The  other  objection  is  that  voters  arc 
deprived  of  the  privilege  of  expressing  thei] 
preference  for  those  who  do  not  get  thei] 
names  on  the  official  ballot,  unless  they  ex 
ercise  the  privilege  by  writing  in  a  name 
In  this  respect  some  of  the  State  presi 
dential  primaries  have  this  year  been  ex 
tremely  farcical.  These  evils  of  the  systen 
would  be  mitigated  somewhat  if  the  orig 
inal  purpose  of  the  primary  system  ha< 
been  achieved,  that  of  loosening  the  hold  o 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


265 


bosses  upon  the  party  machinery,  and  espe- 
cially upon  the  selection  of  candidates,  but 
in  that  respect  the  effort  has  failed.  There 
is  no  perceptible  decrease  in  the  power  of 
the  bosses. 

A  third  objection,  perhaps  not  so  funda- 
mental as  the  other  two,  but  serious,  espe- 
cially when  the  office  of  President  of  the 
United  States  is  concerned,  is  that  it  leads 
to  an  undi^ified  scramble  for  the  nomina- 
tion, something  the  best  type  of  men  are 
loth  to  engage  in.  Even  in  the  matter  of 
local  offices  this  has  the  effect  of  prevent- 
ing some  of  the  most  desirable  material  for 
officials  from  holding  public  office  at  all. 
The  official  nominating  primary  election  has 
discredited  itself,  and  should  take  its  place 
among  the  things  that  were. 

THE  "MILLIONAIRE"  MYTH 

Manufacturers'   Record 

John  M.  Evans,  a  representative  in  Con- 
gress from  Montana,  inserted  in  the  Con- 
gressional Record  of  May  11  this  statement: 

"In  the  last  published  report  of  the  In- 
ternal Revenue  Bureau  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  that  of  1917 — the  figures  for 
1918  and  1919  are  not  yet  tabulated — ^we 
find  this  startling  situation: 

"In  1914  there  were  2348  millionaires  in 
the  United  States.  In  1917,  the  last  date  for 
which  the  figures  are  collected  and  sum- 
marized, there  were  6664,  or  an  increase  of 
4316  in  three  years.  Dividing  them  into 
classes,  according  to  occupation,  there  were 
manufacturers  920,  new  millionaires  made 
during  the  war.  There  were  farmers  and 
stock  raisers,  120;  of  corporation  officials, 
716.  There  were  lawyers  and  judges  to 
the  number  of  206.  There  were  27  doctors. 
There  were  452  women  in  the  list." 

With  all  due  respect  to  Mr.  Evans,  we 
state  unequivocally  that  the  Internal  Rev- 
enue Bureau  did  not  in  1917  declare  that 
there  were  6664  millionaires  in  this  country. 
There  is  not  a  statement  of  that  character 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  its  report.  It 
simply  made  no  report  at  all  on  the  number 
of  millionaires  in  the  country.  What  it  did 
do  was  to  report  "incomes,"  and  it  is  by 
capitalizing  these  incomes  that  Mr.  Evans 
and  scores  of  others  have  arrived  at  their 
ridiculous  conclusions  as  to  the  number  of 
millionaires  in  the  United  States. 

There  are  numbers  of  men  who  make 
$15,000  some  years  and  who  have  no  cap- 
ital at  all.  We  have  heard  of  a  man  who 
reported  an  income  of  $250,000  which  he 
thought  he  had  made  on  stock  deals,  but 
when  the  time  came  to  pay  the  tax  iij  June 
he  did  not  have  five  cents.  If  an  income  of 
$40,000  a  year  did,  in  fact,  mean  that  the 
recipient  thereof  was  a  millionaire,  there 


would  be  thousands  of  millionaires.  But  it 
is  not  true.  There  are,  for  instance,  some 
potato  growers  in  Florida  and  South  Caro- 
lina who  this  year  will  show  very  large 
incomes  and  will  have  to  pay  a  tax  on  them, 
but  they  lost  money  last  year  and  the  year 
before. 

The  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue  has 
never  undertaken  to  say  how  many  million- 
aires there  are  in  the  United  States,  and 
when  any  man  says  the  bureau  has  issued 
an  official  report  on  that  subject  he  does 
not  know  what  he  is  talking  about. 

WAR    INDUSTRIES    WHICH    MUST    BE 
PRESERVED 

New  York  Sun  and  Herald 

The  war  taught  us  that  it  is  both  very 
unwise  and  very  costly  for  the  United  States 
to  be  dependent  upon  a  foreign  supply  of 
materials  essential  to  the  defense  of  our 
country.  Germany  before  the  war  had  at 
least  two  world  monopolies  which  greatly 
aided  her  in  the  struggle,  well  nigh  made 
her  victorious  in  its  earlier  years  and  cor- 
respondingly hampered  and  imperilled  the 
Allies. 

The  dye  monopoly  of  Germany  was  the 
basis  of  perfecting  her  poison  gases  and 
making  material  required  in  explosives.  The 
patriotic  and  imperative  creation  of  the  dye 
industry  in  the  United  States  during  the 
war,  with  the  consequent  development  of 
superior  poison  gases,  is  a  well  known  part 
of  our  industrial  war  history.  Equally  im- 
portant, but  not  so  well  known  to  the  public, 
is  the  discovery  and  development  during  the 
war  of  the  magnesite  mines  in  the  United 
States.  This  country  always  had  relied  upon 
Germany  and  Austria  for  the  mineral  mag- 
nesite required  by  the  steel  companies  to 
make  the  linings  of  their  open-hearth  fur- 
naces. Without  magnesite  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  make  steel,  and  without 
steel  our  war  would  have  been  lost. 

About  300,000  tons  of  crude  magnesite  a 
year  are  consumed  in  the  United  States  by 
the  steel  companies,  but  before  the  war 
only  10,000  tons  a  year  were  produced  in 
the  United  States,  with  only  one  magnesite 
mine  operating.  The  miners  in  the  States 
of  California  and  Washington  discovered 
and  developed  during  the  war  about  sixty- 
five  mines,  and  after  erecting  large  treat- 
ment plants  were  able  to  supply  all  require- 
ments of  the  American  steel  companies. 

The  Germans  and  Austrians  are  again 
seeking  to  control  the  dye  and  magnesite 
industries  of  the  world;  but  the  recent  fa- 
vorable action  of  the  Senate  Finance  Com- 
mittee indicates  that  a  tariff  will  be  placed 
on  imports  of  these  essential  materials  so 
that  the  industries  created  during  the  war 


266 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


for  the  protection  and  triumph  of  our 
country  may  have  an  opportunity  to  become 
firmly  established  and  form  a  permanent 
part  of  our  industrial  national  defense 
system. 

By  a  tariff,  or  by  whatever  additional 
means  may  be  necessary  to  serve  that  end, 
the  United  States  Congress  ought  to  make 
sure  that  this  country  never  again  shall  be 
found  naked  of  the  fundamentals  of  protec- 
tion against  a  military  Power,  German  or 
other,  that  may  compel  us  to  take  up  arms 
in  defense  of  our  liberties,  our  rights  and 
our  lives. 

Put  the  American  dye  and  magnesite  in- 
dustries on  an  imperishable  foundation. 

OTHER  PEOPLE'S  WINDOWS 

The  Review 

To  the  Editors  of  The  Review: 

As  one  of  your  "oldest  subscribers"  I  hail 
the  appearance  each  week  of  the  Review, 
bringing  joy  to  our  home  in  the  New  Eng- 
land hills.  But  I  registered  a  mental  pro- 
test when  in  one  of  the  recent  issues  I  read 
"Fed  up  with  the  French."  I  remembered 
how  in  the  past  I  had  been  cheated  by  the 
customs  house  officials  and  overcharged  by 
the  ticket-sellers  and  hotel  keepers  in  Ger- 
many— but  never  in  France — and  how  the 
London  cabby  had  looked  through  his  trap 
door  to  see  whether  I  wore  English  or 
American  shoes — ^and  had  doubled  the  fare 
accordingly.  I  remembered,  too,  an  inci- 
dent of  my  last  trip  on  the  Bar  Harbor 
express.  I  had  had  a  conversation  with  a 
young  New  Englander,  recently  discharged, 
who  expressed  great  bitterness  because  he 
had  had  to  pay  a  large  price  for  a  knife  in 
France  and  had,  he  thought,  been  over- 
charged for  eggs.  It  happened  that  we  got 
off  at  the  same  station,  and  I  inquired  his 
name  and  learned  that  his  father  was  one 
of  the  selectmen  of  the  little  lake  village 
where  I  spend  my  summers.  Then  I  re- 
called that  the  selectmen  had  assessed  my 
cottage  twice  as  much  as  that  of  the  more 
valuable  property  of  the  fai*mer  next  to  me; 
that  this  same  boy's  aunt  charged  us  above 
the  current  rate  for  eggs  and  was  so  careful 
to  pick  out  all  the  big  ones  for  the  Boston 
market  that  at  times  I  have  wondered 
whether  she  had  not  changed  her  hens  for 
pigeons;  that  this  boy's  cousin,  who  plays 
golf  on  our  hillside  links,  had  a  short  time 
since  "borrowed"  a  dozen  golf  balls  from  my 
locker;  that  the  village  clergyman,  who  is 
a  distant  relative  of  this  boy's,  after  selling 
me  my  property  on  the  lake,  arranged  with 
a  friend  to  claim  that  the  title  was  faulty 
and  that  the  lake  front  had  belonged  to  him 
and  not  the  clergyman,  and  the  two  had 
tried  for  six  months  to  blackmail  me  out  of 


an  additional  sum  of  money  for  the  land; 
all  these  things  because  I  am  to  these 
people  a  New  York  millionaire,  though  in 
reality  a  college  professor  on  an  inadequate 
salary.  And  these  are  not  the  only  evi- 
dences that  the  wooden  nutmeg  type  still 
survives  in  New  England;  my  friends  and 
neighbors  have  had  similar  experiences. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  might  be  as  well  for 
us  to  forget  for  a  while  the  mote  in  the  eye 
of  the  French  peasant,  and  consider  the 
ways  of  our  own  peasantry,  and  for  very 
shame  cease  to  criticize. 

Veritas. 

"GRAHAM  GUILTY" 

Burlington   Free   Press 

"Graham  guilty."  These  two  words  have 
tremendous  significance  for  the  common- 
wealth of  Vermont  and  the  people  thereof. 
Not  only  a  former  governor  of  the  State, 
but  also  the  people  of  Vermont  were  on 
trial.  It  was  an  unfortunate  case  where 
either  one  or  the  other  must  stand  con- 
victed. 

If  a  State  official  could  take  money  from 
the  State  treasury  under  cover  of  depart- 
ment orders  and  put  it  into  a  bank  and 
check  a£:air;-:t  the  deposit  for  the  payment 
of  his  priv?  ta  bills,  and  have  a  Vermont  jury 
pronounc:;  the  offender  innocent  of  offense, 
then  it  ./juld  follow  that  the  public  moral 
tone  c'  our  people  had  reached  a  low  ebb 
indeed.  The  conviction  of  Graham,  wholly 
outside  of  all  other  considerations,  is  there- 
fore a  moral  triumph  for  Vermont  and 
Vermont's  people. 

It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  the 
man  who  as  a  candidate  for  governor  near 
the  beginning  of  the  century  brought 
charges  against  Graham's  manner  of  con- 
ducting the  auditor's  office  should  be  gov- 
ernor when  that  official  was  brought  to  tri  1 
for  the  outgrowth  of  a  questionable  syster 
nearly  two  decades  later.  It  is  still  mc]  e 
significant  that  he  should  be  one  of  those 
who  contributed  to  the  fund  to  help  make 
good  to  the  State  treasury  the  funds  whic  - 
the  former  auditor  had  manipulated. 

When  Governor  Clement  took  his  presen 
office,  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  there 
was  "something  rotten  in  Denmark,"  and 
that  he  should  "rip  up  things."  The  con- 
viction of  Graham  after  so  much  political 
pressure  to  prevent  it,  and  the  disclosures 
made  in  that  connection  have  changed  this 
suspicion  into  a  profound  certainty.  It  is 
up  to  the  Republican  party  in  Vermont  toi 
complete  the  political  house-cleaning  it  has; 
now  so  auspiciously  begun.  Nothing  short 
of  this  will  remove  the  stain  from  our  com- 
monwealth, which  stood  for  honest  as  well 
as  courageous  Americanism. 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


267 


Glorious  Vermont;  here  she  stands,  proud 
)f  her  history  as  the  first  real  independent 
republic  on  the  American  continent,  as  well 
iS  the  mother  of  heroic  men  and  noble 
ivomen.  It  is  for  this  generation  to  pass 
Dn  that  grand  heritage  to  future  sons  and 
iaughters  of  Vermont! 

IRRESPONSIBLE  LEGISLATION 

Boston   Globe 

Few  know  exactly  the  provisions  of  the 
Bonus  bill  which  has  been  rushed  through 
:he  House  of  Representatives  at  Washing- 
;on. 

Even  the  correspondents  vary  in  report- 
ng  the  total  involved,  and  speak  of  $1,600,- 
300,000,  $1,750,000,000  and  $2,000,000,000 
in  successive  breaths.  It  is  quite  safe  to 
say  that  the  many  Congressman  who  voted 
*Aye"  and  most  of  those  who  were  opposed 
are  equally  ignprant.  The  bill  was  jammed 
through  in  less  than  an  hour,  without  dis- 
3ussion,  and  the  chances  of  a  law  thus  made 
doing  the  justice  required  and  desired  are 
infinitesimal. 

It  is  said  that  the  bill  will  receive  de- 
liberate consideration  in  the  Senate,  but 
that  will  not  be  the  fault  of  the  House.  So 
far,  the  affair  has  been  managed  in  a  way 
reminiscent  of  the  granting  of  a  traction 
franchise  by  a  City  Council  in  the  days  of 
long  ago.  The  bonus  idea  has  undoubtedly 
generous  support  from  the  country,  but  the 
way  it  has  been  handled  by  the  House  is 
distressing. 

When  we  turn  from  Washington  to  Beacon 
Hill  the  situation  is  even  less  pleasing.  Our 
Massachusetts  legislators  have  voted  an  ap- 
propriation for  themselves. 

Almost  one-fourth  of  the  legislators,  ac- 
cording to  an  order  adopted  by  both  Houses, 
are  to  serve  on  a  recess  commission  on 
codification  of  the  laws  of  the  Common- 
nirealth.  A  committee  of  five  could  do  the 
work,  and  probably  about  five  of  the  61  to 
Berve  will  do  it.  But  each  member  will 
draw  $1000  and  a  liberal  allowance  for 
Hfmileage,"  which  should  help  out  during  the 
^'acation  season. 

'i  The  worst  enemies  to  representative  Gov- 
ernment are  irresponsible  and  greedy  repre- 
sentatives. 

NO  MORE  HURRYING  FOR  MR.  LANSING 

Kansas  City  Star 

Mr.  Carranza's  brisk  reply  to  Mr.  Lan- 
sing's latest  Jenkins  note  probably  will  mark 
the  beginning  of  another  lull  in  the  corre- 
spondence. There  are  reasons  why  Mr. 
Lansing  cannot  show  the  speed  of  his  Mex- 
ican correspondent.  He  has  tried  speed  and 
found  it  disastrous.  Not  the  going  so  much 
as  the.  stopping. 


Stirred  to  action  by  Senator  Fall's  revela- 
tions of  Mexican  duplicity,  Mr.  Lansing 
lately  started  out  in  the  most  spirited  man- 
ner to  show  that  he  was  really  secretary  of 
state  and  in  charge  of  this  government's 
foreign  relations.  For  a  few  days  the  coun- 
try witnessed  the  most  astonishing  activity. 
A  senate  resolution  was  prepared — prepared 
in  the  state  department  itself,  according  to 
Senator  Fall — calling  upon  the  President  to 
sever  diplomatic  relations  with  Mexico  and 
withdraw  recognition  from  Carranza.  Mr. 
Lansing  and  Senator  Fall  were  in  complete 
agreement  as  to  the  necessity  of  this  action 
and  as  to  the  procedure  to  effect  it.  The 
state  department  seemed  to  be  really  func- 
tioning, and  the  secretary  to  have  forgotten 
his  experience  in  Paris,  where  he  found 
independent  thought  and  action  were  not 
among  the  qualifications  expected  of  a  sec- 
retary of  state. 

But  this  speed  didn't  last.  The  brakes 
were  applied  from  the  White  House,  and 
the  country  viewed  the  amazing  spectacle 
of  a  frock  coat,  striped  trousers,  gloves  and 
silk  hat — symbols  of  the  state  secretaryship 
— describing  the  graceful  curve  in  the  air 
provided  by  natural  law  for  all  bodies 
stopped  suddenly  in  full  career. 

No,  we  do  not  look  for  any  immediate  re- 
sumption of  activity  by  the  state  depart- 
ment in  re  Jenkins.  It  has  taken  its  flier, 
so  to  speak,  and  probably  will  be  content  to 
stay  on  the  ground  for  a  while. 

RULES  FOR  THE  STORY  WRITER 

Indianapolis    Star 

One  Mrs.  Gerould,  a  favorite  of  magazine 
editors  as  a  short-story  writer,  is  laying 
down  the  law  for  other  story  writers  and 
takes  O.  Henry's  work  as  an  example  of 
what  a  story  should  not  be.  "In  a  short 
story,"  she  says,  "there  are  situation,  sus- 
pense, climax.  O.  Henry  gives  the  reader 
climax,  nothing  else."  His  stories,  she 
says,  are  simply  expanded  anecdotes,  and  a 
lot  of  harm  is  being  done  by  schools  and 
colleges  that  use  his  works,  because  this 
use  will  spread  the  pernicious  idea  that  he 
is  a  master  of  the  short  story.  She  further 
declares  that  in  a  short  story  one  should  be 
able  to  imagine,  from  the  way  the  charac- 
ters act,  how  they  would  act  under  an  en- 
tirely different  set  of  circumstances.  "The 
really  great  short-story  writers  make  us 
know  their  characters." 

No  doubt  they  do,  and  a  good  many  peo- 
ple who  have  delighted  in  O.  Henry's  fiction 
have  a  pretty  clear  idea  of  some  of  his 
characters.  They  get  a  fairly  vivid  picture, 
for  example,  of  at  least  three  of  the  per- 
sonages in  "A  Municipal  Report."  Did 
she  ever  happen  to  read  that?     It  is  not 


268 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


likely,  however,  that  any  reader  of  that  re- 
markable tale  ever  took  thought  of  what 
those  characters  would  do  under  other  cir- 
cumstances. In  any  story  they  would  be 
unusual  creations  who  would  arouse  such 
curiosity.  Most  persons  do  not  know  them- 
selves well  enough  to  waste  time  in  specula- 
tion over  what  they  might  do  under  given 
conditions;  much  less  do  they  imagine  sit- 
uations for  characters  in  fiction. 

Many  are  the  rules  that  have  been  laid 
down  for  the  writing  of  short  stories,  but 
the  really  great  short  stories  ignore  all  the 
rules.  Even  Mrs.  Gerould  does  not  follow 
her  own  standard  in  a  recent  somewhat  in- 
decent tale  describing  the  experiences  of  a 
young  man  and  woman  shipwrecked  on  a 
barren  island;  it  would  be  impossible  for 
anyone  to  guess  how  those  persons  might 
behave  elsewhere.  For  that  matter,  it  does 
not  seem  likely  that  any  reader  would  wish 
to  know.  And  how  would  she  apply  her 
rule  to  the  horrible  story,  the  work,  it  might 
almost  be  said,  of  a  depraved  imagina- 
tion, in  which  she  depicts  the  spread  of  a 
loathsome  plague  in  war  ?  The  truth  is  that 
few  story  writers  are  sufficiently  invulnera- 
ble to  lay  down  rules  of  any  sort. 

NO  NAVY  FOR  CANADA 
Seattle    Post   Intelligencer 

When  Admiral  Jellicoe,  representing  the 
British  Admiralty,  visited  the  self-govern- 
ing units  of  the  empire  some  months  ago, 
he  suggested  a  navy  for  Australia  and  one 
for  Canada,  to  be  furnished  by  those  do- 
minions, with  the  assistance  of  some  con- 
tributed ships  of  war  from  Great  Britain. 
Canada  has  not  warmed  to  this  suggestion, 
though  Australia  has  shown  interest  in  the 
project,  chiefly  through  its  position  of  isola- 
tion in  the  Pacific.  But  Canada  has  a  large 
war  debt,  its  contribution  of  men  and  money 
to  the  late  war  was  very  great,  and  it  has  a 
large  work  of  reconstruction  to  accomplish, 
as  well  as  to  provide  capital  for  the  develop- 
ment of  its  great  new  country.  So  building 
a  navy  for  Canada  has  not  been  a  popular 
idea.  Recent  newspaper  stories  indicate 
that  not  only  has  no  move  been  made  in 
behalf  of  new  warships,  but  that  even  the 
few  war  vessels  that  Canada  already  pos- 
sessed have  been  "scrapped." 

Writing  for  the  Vancouver  Sun,  F.  H. 
Gadsby  says: 

The  sadly  solemn  fact  is  that  Canada 
has  never  been  in  love  with  her  navy. 
What  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  did  in  the 
matter  was  under  pressure  from  the 
imperialists,  and  what  Sir  Robert  Bor- 
den failed  to  do  in  a  similar  direction 
was  a  squeeze  from  the  same  quarter. 
Our  navy,  actual  or  potential,  pleased 


only  a  few  imperialists,  put  Quebec's 
nose  out  of  joint,  offended  the  West  and 
left  the  East  cold.  It  was  mighty  poor 
business  all  around.  It  sopped  up  a  lot 
of  money,  caused  a  lot  of  bad  feeling 
and  had  no  practical  results  worth  men- 
tioning. 

When  we  scrap  our  navy  we  with- 
draw from  all  this   overseas  madness. 
Moreover,  we  shed  a  great  deal  of  ex- 
pense  and   a    rather    sniffy   crowd    of 
British    naval    officers    whom   we   bor- 
rowed to  teach  us  the  tricks.    We  love 
England,  no  doubt,  but  not  enough  to 
support  an  expensive  navy  whose  duty 
it  would  be  to  mix  in  all  the  mud  pies 
they  make  in  Europe. 
Fortunately,  the  American  continent  is  to 
have  ample  sea  protection  through  the  grow- 
ing navy  of  Uncle  Sam.    This  sufficed  for 
many  years  in  the  past,  with  perfect  se- 
curity to  Canada,  and,  with  the  ambitious 
American  programme  of  naval  construction 
now  in  progress  of  development,  Canada  will 
have  more  reason  than  ever  to  feel  secure. 
As  Mr.  Gadsby  remarks: 

We  are  friendly  with  the  Eskimos  and 
the  Yankees,  and,  these  sources  of  in- 
vasion being  discounted,  we  haven't  an 
enemy  in  sight  that  we  couldn't  fend  off 
with  one  birch  bark  war  canoe.  The 
United  States  is  building  a  bigger  navy 
than  England's,  and  if  Japan  ever 
threatens  to  bite  us  in  the  leg  we  feel 
perfectly  safe  there,  too. 

IT  PAYS  TO  PAINT 

The  Country  Gentleman 

Of  course  it  costs  money  to  keep  the 
farmhouse  and  the  barns  painted  while  oil 
and  lead  are  hitched  to  the  soaring  kite  of 
the  H.  C.  L.,  but  then  it  costs  not  to  paint, 
and  in  the  long  run  it  costs  more.  Sooner 
or  later  all  up-to-date  farmers  will  hold  as 
an  agricultural  axiom  that  it  pays  to  paint. 

Paint  preserves.  Most  farmers  realize 
that  it  pays  to  keep  their  tools  and  ma- 
chinery under  cover,  but  for  the  very  same 
reason  the  buildings,  too,  ought  to  be  kept 
under  cover — a  cover  of  paint.  After  a  time 
large  sums  of  money  must  be  laid  out  in 
repairs  upon  unpainted  buildings.  It  is  true 
that  a  farmer  may  carelessly  go  ahead  like 
Louis  XV  of  France,  who,  when  the  mut- 
terings  of  revolt  grew  ominous,  remarked: 
"After  us  the  deluge."  Well,  the  deluge 
came  in  the  French  Revolution,  when  poor 
innocent  Louis  XVI  was  the  victim.  The 
farmer  who  doesn't  paint  because,  he  says, 
"the  buildings  will  last  as  long  as  I  will," 
is  simply  entailing  trouble  upon  those  who 
come  after  him. 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


269 


Paint  promotes.  It  not  only  keeps  the 
buildings  from  running  down  and  rotting, 
but  it  increases  their  value.  Take  a  shabby- 
looking  set  of  farm  buildings,  give  the 
house  a  dress  of  white  and  the  barns  a  coat 
of  red,  and  the  market  value  of  the  farm 
is  increased  far  beyond  the  cost  of  the  paint- 
ing. It  is  evidence  of  a  lack  of  good  busi- 
ness-sense for  a  farmer  to  allow  his  farm 
to  depreciate  in  value  for  lack  of  a  little 
paint.  Moreover,  when  one  farmer  paints 
up,  every  other  farmer  in  the  neighborhood 
feels  challenged  to  go  and  do  likewise;  and 
as  they  paint,  they  promote  not  only  the 
cash  value  of  the  community  but  its  charm 
as  a  place  of  residence  as  well.  Paint  has 
more  to  do  than  many  farmers  realize  with 
keeping  their  boys  contented  on  the  farm. 

Paint  proclaims.  In  a  moment  you  know 
that  where  the  bams  are  unpainted  and 
where  the  paint  on  the  house  is  only  a 
ghost  of  its  former  glory,  the  farmer  is  a 
bit  shiftless  and  that  without  much  doubt, 
other  parts  of  his  farm  life  are  getting 
down  at  the  heel.  Paint  makes  it  clear 
that  the  farmer  is  living  in  the  twentieth 
century,  that  he  is  a  "live  one."  Shakspere 
makes  Polonius  say  to  Laertes:  "The  ap- 
parel oft  proclaims  the  man." 

In  like  manner  paint  proclaims  the  farmer. 

THE  TEACHER 

The  Delineator 

She  never  wrote  the  books  she  meant  to 
write,  though  you  couldn't  talk  with  her  five 
minutes  without  wanting  to  write  down 
some  of  her  sentences.  She  never  traveled 
much,  though  she  couldn't  go  through  the 
stupidest  little  village  without  finding  some 
new  and  curious  historical  or  literary  or 
human  bit  distinctly  worth  hearing  about. 
She  never  even  wrote  down  her  own  lec- 
tures— which  would  have  saved  her  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  time. 

Each  year  she  read  over  the  books  she 
talked  about  and  got  again  a  fresh  impres- 
sion, to  give  to  her  students.  She  was  ac- 
tually and  truly  more  interested  in  other 
people's  careers  than  her  own.  She  was  as 
pleased  when  she  was  told — the  very  first  of 
anybody,  of  course — that  one  of  her  pupils 
had  a  new  position  or  had  sold  a  poem  as  if 
she  had  published  a  perfect  novel  herself. 
She  was  never  too  tired  to  write  the  letter 
that  kept  some  struggling  young  thing  from 
knuckling  under  and  losing  her  self-respect. 
She  treated  the  girls  who  to  her  mind  were 
worth  bothering  with  at  all  as  if  their  minds 
were  exactly  as  good  as  hers  and  their  opin- 
ions valuable. 

When  she  died,  her  obituary,  with  its  list 
of  her  publications,  was  not  particularly  im- 
pressive.      It    was    mostly    the    kind    of 


"scholarly"  work  necessary  to  holding  a  pro- 
fessorship. There  are  a  few  learned  or- 
ganizations that  will  pass  resolutions,  and 
someone  else  will  take  her  classes. 

But  there  are  at  least  a  hundred  other 
women  who  honestly  feel  that  they  have  a 
solemn  and  very  special  obligation  to  the 
world — to  hand  on  her  vivid  power,  to  spread 
her  ideas  and  ideals,  to  do  themselves  some 
of  the  things  she  always  wanted  to  do  and 
would  have  done  if  she  hadn't  been  a  bom 
teacher  and  if  to  her  mind  a  keen-spirited 
young  human  life  hadn't  been  the  most  in- 
teresting and  important  thing  on  earth. 

Because  there  are  women  like  her,  and 
because  the  women's  colleges  are  the  places 
where  girls  can  get  just  this  kind  of  in- 
spiration for  life,  we  firmly  believe  that 
American  fathers  and  mothers  ought  to 
stand  behind  the  colleges  better  than  they 
ever  have.  When  you  hear  the  word 
"drive,"  don't  go  away  and  sulk  because 
someone  wants  some  money.  Such  women 
will  give  your  daughters  the  springs  of  suc- 
cess in  any  case  because  they  can't  help 
being  good  teachers.  But  it  isn't  fair  to 
make  them  worry  and  scrimp  all  their  lives 
when  they  have  dreams  and  glory  and 
happiness  to  give. 

A  HOLIDAY  FOR  HATE 

Boston  Commercial  Bulletin 

The  establishment  of  certain  days  as 
holidays  marks  a  distinct  step  in  the  prog- 
ress of  civilization.  Some  thousands  of 
years  ago  the  Jews  established  the  custom 
of  one  holy  day  in  each  week,  and  in  various 
countries  other  days  have  been  set  apart  in 
memory  of  some  person  or  event. 

Holy  days  were  designated  as  days  of 
rest  from  ordinary  vocations,  to  be  devoted 
to  religious  observances  and  to  the  per- 
formance of  ceremonies  to  keep  alive  the 
memory  of  some  great  service  or  blessing 
to  mankind.  Having  its  origin  in  this  man- 
ner, the  holy  day  became  a  day  of  rest,  of 
patriotism  and  of  good  will,  and  these  char- 
acteristics were  retained  after  the  spelling 
was  changed  to  holiday. 

The  plan  of  creating  holidays  purely  from 
motives  of  laziness  is  a  very  modem  idea, 
and  for  human  happiness  and  progress  it  is 
particularly  unfortunate  that  there  is  now 
a  demand  for  holidays  to  be  devoted  to  the 
fostering  of  discord  and  hatred. 

May  Day  was  formerly  in  England,  and 
in  other  countries  of  Europe,  a  day  of  re- 
joicing at  the  coming  of  Spring  and  the 
blossoming  of  trees  and  plants.  It  was  a 
day  of  joy  and  appreciation  of  the  beauty  of 
nature,  and  while  there  may  have  been  oc- 
casional brawls  due  to  over  indulgence  in 


270 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


nut  brown  ale,  the  day  was  always  regarded 
as  a  day  for  frolic  and  fun. 

School  children  welcome  all  holidays  and 
vacations,  not  realizing  that  the  important 
days  for  them  are  those  in  which  they  are 
acquiring  knowledge  to  equip  them  for  the 
journey  of  life. 

As  children  desire  as  many  holidays  as 
possible,  so  many  workers  believe  that  the 
more  days  they  are  idle  and  the  shorter  the 
number  of  working  hours,  the  better  it  will 
be  for  them.  They  are  taught  by  dema- 
gogues to  believe  that  in  some  mysterious 
way  their  employers  can  afford  to  pay  them 
for  six  days  of  work  when  they  labor  but 
five  days,  and  that  the  rise  in  prices  of  food, 
clothing  and  rent  are  not  due  to  inefficient 
or  inadequate  labor,  but  to  profiteering  by 
employers,  who  are  represented  as  the  arch 
enemies  of  those  whom  they  employ.  It  es- 
capes notice,  as  a  rule,  that  many  a  man 
working  with  his  hands  is  himself  an  em- 
ployer of  labor,  having  invested  his  savings 
in  stocks  or  bonds  of  productive  industry. 

The  demand  is  now  being  formulated  that 
May  Day  shall  be  made  a  holiday  in  Amer- 
ica. There  has  been  already  one  day  estab- 
lished as  labor's  holiday  in  September,  but 
the  professional  agitators  claim  that  labor 
must  have  a  new  holiday  on  May  Day. 
There  is  no  suggestion  of  establishing  a  new 
holy  day  for  any  religious  or  patriotic  pur- 
pose, and  the  demand  for  this  holiday  ap- 
pears to  rest  upon  the  desire  for  a  day  of 
idleness,  in  which  workmen  can  cultivate 
hatred  of  capitalists  with  whom  they  are 
associated  in  industry. 

Those  who  believe  that  "Blessed  are  the 
peacemakers"  should  not  ignore  the  corol- 
lary, "Accursed  are  the  trouble-makers." 
Our  politicians  are  beginning  to  learn  that 
it  does  not  pay  to  grant  everything  that  the 
trouble-makers  demand,  and  there  is  little 
likelihood  that  the  pernicious  influence  of  a 
small  number  of  men  whose  power  rests  on 
hatred  of  their  fellow  men  will  meet  with 
success  in  establishing  a  new  day  of  idle- 
ness, by  changing  May  Day  to  Hate  Day. 

DISGRACING  AMERICA 

Logansport  Pharos  Reporter 

Some  American  newspapers  are  making 
American  character  very  cheap,  holding  us 
up  to  the  world  as  a  bunch  of  hare-brained 
egoists  in  a  manner  that  is  sufficient  to  turn 
the  stomach  of  any  person  with  judgment. 

Whenever  a  question  or  disagreement 
arises  between  the  United  States  and  an- 
other government  and  our  diplomats  take 
up  the  issue,  the  two  governments  carefully 
and  judicially  and  honestly  consider  the  mat- 
ter and  finally  the  American  point  is  con- 
ceded, immediately  this  crack-brained  section 


of  the  public  press  sends  up  a  cry  "they 
were  afraid  of  us — we  forced  them  to  yield." 
0  pestiferous  piffle.  These  paragraphers 
cannot  get  the  idea  through  their  heads  that 
two  honest  people  can  get  together,  con- 
sider a  question  and  settle  it  upon  a  basis 
of  exact  justice  and  righteousness.  No,  we 
scared  'em,  and  they  were  forced  to  yield — 
putting  us  in  the  attitude  of  the  big  plug- 
ugly  that  rules  by  force  and  not  by  justice. 

This  same  kind  of  folks  would  stand  out- 
side the  court-house  while  a  trial  was  going 
on,  threatening  and  howling  anathema  at 
the  jury  and  when  the  verdict  was  brought 
in  "we  forced  them  to  bring  in  that  kind 
of  verdict."  For  the  sake  of  ordinary  de- 
cency and  American  dignity,  cut  out  such 
stuff. 

In  every  phase  of  American  diplomacy 
where  the  contention  of  America  has  pre- 
vailed, we  believe  it  was  because  both  sides 
saw  that  justice  was  on  the  side  of  the  de- 
cision, and  rendered  the  verdict  because  it 
was  just  and  not  because  "we  scared  'em — 
we  forced  'em." 

THERE   WERE   MOTHERS   BEFORE 
SYSTEMS 

Gary  Times 

Somehow  when  we  hear  tiny  babes  yell- 
ing their  little  heads  off  because  they  are 
hungry  and  the  mothers  calmly  making  the 
tots  wait  ten  or  forty  minutes  or  whatever 
the  time  may  be,  we  always  wonder  if  they 
are  not  carrying  the  system  business  too  far. 

Somehow  when  we  note  the  clammy  side 
of  some  mothers  who  do  not  believe  that 
sympathy  and  affection  for  a  babe  should  be 
carried  beyond  a  certain  point,  we  think 
how  different  it  was  in  the  good  old  days. 

Too  much  system  hurts  little  babies.  Dr. 
Joseph  E.  Winters  of  Cornell  University 
says  so,  and  he  is  a  high  authority  on  chil- 
dren's complaints.  It  will  comfort  many 
persons  to  hear  this  man  speak  out.  It  is 
not  only  the  bodies  of  babies  which  are 
starved.  Too  often  another  precious  thing 
is  quite  destroyed.  Babies  and  mothers 
were  invented  a  long  time  before  doctors 
and  nurses.  Centuries  before  modern 
science  took  to  weighing  infants  before  and 
after  meals  there  grew  up,  from  the  de- 
pendence of  the  child  on  the  mother,  a  mar- 
velous bond  of  sympathy.  It  is  the  helpless 
babe's  only  source  of  comfort,  and  it  sur- 
vives as  the  one  consolation  of  many  a 
woman  in  her  old  age.  But  too  much  "sys- 
tem" in  raising  babies  destroys  this  fine 
product  of  evolution. 

If  a  baby  is  always  and  forever  to  be  left 
alone  to  "cry  it  out,"  according  to  the  direc- 
tions of  the  trained  nurse,  the  seed  of  this 
sympathy  is  never  sown.  Wrapping  a  child's 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


271 


cut  finger  in  antiseptic  gauze  is  a  safe  and 
sane  process,  but  it  is  the  kiss  that  really 
cures.  It  is  mother's  understanding  of  "how 
it  hurts"  that  makes  wee  Billy  a  brave  boy. 
And  just  that  way,  even  as  little  children, 
grown  men  sometimes  want  their  mothers. 
There  is  no  substitute  for  this  normal 
sympathy  between  mother  and  child,  and  it 
is  sure  to  be  stunted,  or  may  never  grow 
at  all,  if  orphan-asylum  methods — too  much 
system— are  permitted  to  interfere  with 
their  intimate  personal  relations. 

THE  FARM  THAT  KILLS 

St.   Paul  Pioneer  Press 

James  Whitcomb  Riley  understood  better 
than  anyone  else  what  the  country  heart, 
its  life,  its  Love,  and  its  home  surroundings 
might  be,  and  what  it  has,  in  many  in- 
stances, been.  For  it  is  precisely  because 
this  human  side  of  country  life  has  died  out 
of  so  many  farmers  that  rural-life  confer- 
ences are  considered  necessary. 

The  other  side  of  modern  farm  life  is 
almost  a  direct  negative  of  everything  the 
poet  conceived  it  to  be.  It  is  a  life  without 
heart  or  love  or  any  attractive  home.  It  is 
an  unceasing  battle  of  insufficient  natural 
strength  against  exhaustless  nature.  It  is 
an  abundance  of  drudgery  without  abun- 
dance of  rest.  Its  love  is  consumed  in  grub- 
bing for  pennies.  Its  children  are  a  neces- 
sary evil  until  they  can  earn  their  board  and 
a  little  more.  Its  home  is  a  place  of  last 
resort  maintained  only  for  the  necessities 
of  eating  and  sleeping.  There  are  no  books, 
no  music,  no  rugs,  no  laces,  where  these 
simple  refinements  could  be  afforded.  There 
are  no  conveniences  for  the  wife.  Instead 
of  these  there  is  abundance  of  ugly  looking, 
harsh  sounding,  and  heartless  machinery. 
There  is  everything  in  mechanics  and 
profitable  husbandry.    But  not  home. 

Such  is  the  product  of  farming  for  profit 
only.  Such  are  the  farms  that  drive  young 
men  to  beer  parties  and  girls  to  the  city 
kitchen,  the  shop  and  the  brothel.  They 
are  not  the  farms  that  the  poet  knew.  They 
are  the  farms  that  the  devil  knows  best,  for 
they  are  boy-killers,  girl-killers,  wife-killers, 
and  the  devil's  recruiting  stations.  They  are 
the  reasons  why  rural-life  conferences  were 
invented.  Unless  they  can  be  redeemed  for 
humanity  they  should  be  damned,  and  the 
city  should  be  driven  back  to  the  land  or  to 
starvation. 

WHERE  WE  DON'T  WANT  TO  LIVE 

Erie   Dispatch 

There  is  a  town  in  the  United  States  where 
we  do  not  want  to  live,  and  where,  God  will- 
ing, we  never  will  live.  This  town  differs 
from,  other  tovras  of  the  United  States  in 


that  it  seemingly  is  lacking  in  those  ideals 
and  principles  which  are  the  foundation  of 
American   liberty,   justice  and  honor. 

The  town  we  speak  of  is  [Nameless], 
Iowa.  We  never  have  been  there;  in  fact,  do 
not  know  the  size  of  the  town,  nor  its  pop- 
ulation, nor  do  we  ever  care  to  look  up 
these  statistics. 

In  the  news  columns  of  The  Dispatch  of 
yesterday  was  a  story  over  which  was  writ- 
ten: "No  headlines  would  apply  on  this 
story."  That  truly  was  a  fact,  for  the  story 
told  of  a  troop  of  Iowa  national  guards- 
men, two-thirds  of  whom  refused  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 
The  captain  of  the  troops  received  from 
[Nameless]  citizens  (he  lived  in  Nameless) 
this  telegram: 

"You  tried  to  take  our  boys  to  war;  you 
need  not  return  to  this  town." 

We  repeat,  we  do  not  know  anything  of 
[Nameless]  — never  heard  of  it  before —  but 
we  are  willing  to  predict  that  a  town  with 
this  spirit  will  never  amount  to  anything, 
for  the  ideals  of  the  citizens  are  rotten  to 
the  core. 

ARE  WE  LAW  MAD? 

Meridian    Star 

From  good  authority  we  learn  that  dur- 
ing the  past  ten  years  law-making  bodies 
in  the  states  and  nation  have  passed  62,550 
laws.  During  the  same  period  the  British 
parliament  passed  1600  laws. 

Probably  four-fifths  of  these  American 
laws  were  made  in  response  to  the  call  of  re- 
formers of  one  kind  and  another,  as  it  is 
the  custom  to  demand  a  new  law  every  time 
a  neighbor's  chicken  flies  over  the  fence  or 
a  dog  growls  or  the  ladies  change  their  style 
of  dress. 

This  fact  calls  for  the  suggestion  from 
Commerce  and  Finance,  Theodore  H.  Price's 
splendid  periodical,  that  "the  pay  of  con- 
gressmen be  increased  to  $25,000  a  year  and 
that  each  representative  and  senator  pay 
for  the  printing  and  the  dissemination  of 
every  speech  that  he  makes,  of  every  bill 
that  he  introduces,  of  every  argument  that 
he  advances,  of  every  document  that  he 
sends  through  the  mail,  etc.,  etc.  That  this 
$25,000  cover  his  mileage  and  [the  pay  of] 
his  secretary;  that  it  cover  the  expense  of 
funeral  junkets  and  other  junkets,  and  that 
he  get  not  one  cent  more  from  the  United 
States  government  and  that  he  involve  the 
United  States  in  no  expense  beyond  this 
$25,000  a  year  limit.  The  same  idea  might 
be  applied  to  state  legislatures,  the  limit 
of  payment  being  reduced  to,  say,  $2500  or 
$3000  basis." 

We  do  not  believe  such  a  change  as  that 
suggested  would  afford  the  desired  remedy. 


272 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


inasmuch  as  it  would  still  encumber  the 
country  with  the  large  legislative  bodies  we 
now  have,  with  laws  made  in  conference 
committees  rather  than  in  the  legislative 
bodies  themselves. 

What  is  needed  to  secure  a  real  reform  in 
our  lawmaking  bodies  is  smaller  numbers  of 
lawmakers — in  the  nation,  for  instance, 
from  four  to  eight  representatives  and  a 
single  senator  from  each  state,  and  a  state 
body  of  proportionate  size. 

With  such  a  body  in  practically  continu- 
ous session,  the  members  being  paid  fair 
salaries,  the  people  would,  we  believe,  be 
far  better  "represented"  than  they  are  now, 
and  much  of  the  present  legislative  waste 
would  be  eliminated. 

SHOULD  TWINS  BE  DRESSED  ALIKE? 

Sacramento   Union 

Down  the  street  came  two  little  girls,  each 
dressed  in  a  blue  and  white  frock,  a  large 
white  straw  hat  with  black  velvet  ribbons 
hanging  down  the  back,  white  stockings, 
black  strapped  slippers  and  a  little  white 
purse.    They  were  as  alike  as  two  peas. 

"Twins,"  murmured  a  passerby,  turning 
to  look  after  them  and  smiling.  But  one 
woman  who  turned  looked  grave,  and  said 
to  her  companion: 

"They  are  sweet  to  look  at,  to  be  sure, 
but  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  it  is  a  mis- 
take to  dress  twins  exactly  alike.  Indi- 
viduality should  be  developed  in  every 
possible  way,  and  encouraging  exact  duplica- 
tion has  a  decided  tendency  to  crush  indi- 
viduality. I  knew  of  twins  a  few  years  ago 
who  were  made  almost  nonenities  by  a 
mother  who  persisted  in  making  them  dress 
alike,  wear  their  hair  alike,  talk  alike,  think 
alike,  although  they  were  really  entirely 
different  in  their  natural  inclinations.  If 
allowed  to  grow  simply  and  normally,  each 
child  would  have  become  an  interesting  in- 
dividuality, expressing  her  own  ideas  in  her 
own  way;  but  from  their  childhood  the  par- 
ents continually  boasted,  in  their  presence: 

"  'Whatever  one  does,  the  other  does;  they 
cannot  bear  to  be  separated  a  moment;  they 
even  have  the  same  little  tricks  of  manner, 
and  use  their  hands  just  alike.  They  eat 
the  same  things  and  wear  the  same  things 
always.' 

"Of  course,  the  children  heard  this  day 
after  day  until  they  knew  it  was  expected 
of  them  to  behave  exactly  alike  and  do  the 
same  things  in  the  same  way.  As  a  conse-. 
quence,  they  watched  each  other  and  grew 
self-conscious  and  affected.  They  were  in- 
teresting merely  in  so  far  as  they  were 
exact  duplicatesf  of  each  other;  not  in  so 
far  as  they  developed  individual  traits, 
which  should  have  been  the  case. 


"I  think  the  parents  of  twins  should, 
from  the  first,  dwell  as  little  as  possible 
upon  their  similarity.  They  should  be 
dressed  as  differently  as  possible,  and  as  soon 
as  practicable  they  should  be  encouraged 
to  choose  their  own  clothes,  their  own  foods, 
their  own  activities,  their  own  manner  of 
speech.  In  fact,  I  feel  that  it  would  be 
wise  to  separate  them  from  time  to  time, 
not  only  so  that  they  could  not  be  allowed 
to  become  dependent  upon  each  other,  but 
so  that  each  would  be  free  to  develop  with- 
out being  influenced  by  the  other  or  by  the 
traditional  law  that  twins  be  just  exactly 
alike.  Their  resemblance  to  each  other 
should  be  ignored  as  far  as  possible,  their 
hair  should  be  differently  dressed,  and  their 
talents  cultivated  along  different  lines  un- 
less it  should  be  found  that  they  really 
have  the  same  endowment  and  tastes.  They 
should  not,  of  course,  be  forced  to  be  dif- 
ferent, any  more  than  they  should  be  forced 
to  be  alike. 

"In  other  words,  a  twin  should  be  left 
freer  than  most  persons  to  develop  naturally 
and  individually." 

THE  GOOSE  AND  THE  GANDER 

New  York  Sun 

In  the  soft  coal  fields  the  miners  are  de- 
manding a  scale  of  thirty  hours  of  work  a 
week  and  sixty  per  cent  more  pay.  Coal  is 
so  essential  to  the  nation's  industry  and 
business,  to  the  people's  comfort  and  liveli- 
hood, that  a  strike  of  the  miners  would 
stagger  the  country  like  a  sudden  and  ter- 
rific shock  of  war.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
the  leaders  empowered  to  call  the  strike  are 
confident  that  they  will  gain  their  demands. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  some  of  them  bold- 
ly declare  that,  whatever  the  consequences 
to  the  individual  or  to  the  nation,  this  thing 
shall  be. 

But  what  is  sauce  for  the  goose  is  sauce 
for  the  gander. 

How  would  the  coal  miners  like  it  if  the 
fanners  refused  to  do  enough  work  to  raise 
the  wheat  needed  to  make  bread  for  the  gen- 
eral public? 

How  would  the  coal  miners  like  it  if  the 
farmers  refused  to  do  enough  work  to  raise 
the  com  needed  to  feed  and  fatten  the  cattle 
and  sheep  from  which  come  the  public's  beef 
and  mutton,  to  feed  the  hogs  from  which 
come  the  public's  pork  and  ham  and  bacon, 
to  feed  the  poultry  from  which  come  the 
public's  eggs? 

How  would  the  coal  miners  like  it  if  the 
farmers  refused  to  do  enough  work  to  raise 
the  hay  and  other  produce  needed  to  feed 
and  fatten  the  cows  from  which  come  the 
public's  milk  and  butter  and  cheese? 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


273 


How  would  the  coal  miners  like  it  if  the 
fanners  decreed  that  for  the  small  surplus 
of  products  raised  beyond  their  own  food- 
needs  by  their  half  workday,  from  planting 
season  to  harvest  moon,  the  public  must 
pay  them  fabulous  prices — $10  a  bushel  for 
wheat,  $8  a  bushel  for  corn,  $2  a  pound  for 
meat,  $1  a  quart  for  milk,  $4  a  pound  for 
butter? 

How  would  the  coal  miners  like  it  if  the 
farmers  swore  that  they  would  have  their 
inordinate  prices  without  work,  though  the 
American  people,  men,  women  and  children, 
must  suffer  famine  and  the  country  be 
plunged  into  ruin? 

And  what  applies  to  the  coal  miners  ap- 
plies, of  course,  to  other  workers.  If  the 
brutally  selfish,  the  suicidally  voracious 
message  came  from  the  American  farm  that 
either  the  people  of  the  United  States  could 
ransom  their  lives  on  the  terms  laid  down 
to  them  or  they  could  starve,  how  would 
the  coal  miners,  how  would  the  longshore- 
men, how  would  the  shipbuilders,  how  would 
the  expressmen,  how  would  the  railway 
workers — how  would  they  like  it? 

SINGLE  TAXES 

Wall  Street  Journal 

It  was  Blackstone  who  said:  "It  is  a  re- 
ceived and  undeniable  principle  of  law  that 
all  lands  in  England  are  held  immediately 
by  the  King."  It  is  true  that  some  of  our 
single-taxers,  although  not  all,  and  notably 
not  John  S.  Codman,  writing  in  the  Free- 
man of  April  14,  have  not  sufficiently  real- 
ized that  this  principle  of  English  common 
law  is  continued  in  our  right  of  eminent 
domain.  But  the  theory  of  the  single-taxer 
that  a  tax  on  land  amounting  to  rent  would 
obviate  all  other  taxes  is  disproved  by  daily 
experience. 

When  the  16th  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution, that  authorizing  a  tax  on  all  in- 
come "from  whatever  source  derived,"  was 
before  the  State  Legislatures,  it  was  argued 
that  here  at  last  was  a  Federal  tax  which 
would  make  all  other  levies  unnecessary  or 
negligible.  Excise  on  liquors  might  be  re- 
tained, and  import  duties  for  protection,  but 
both  of  them  for  purposes  implying  some- 
thing other  than  revenue. 

Here  is  where  single-taxers,  and  many 
other  economists  not  so  committed,  under- 
rated the  tax-wasting  capacity  of  our 
squandering  legislators  at  Washington  and 
the  State  capitols.  Their  ability  to  spend 
wastefuUy  is  only  limited  by  the  as  yet 
untested  last  cent  the  taxpayer  can  bear. 
When  once  the  politician  tastes  blood  we 
see  what  he  can  do  to  the  income  tax,  with- 
out relieving  the  burden  in  any  other  direc- 


tion, except  almost  accidentally,  through  the 
prohibition  amendment. 

Government,  to  the  politician  with  no  con- 
ception of  how  wealth  is  created,  or  con- 
served for  the  creation  of  more  wealth,  is 
merely  an  agency  for  spending  everything 
the  tax  collector  can  raise.  Those  who  have 
suggested  to  Congress  taxes  with  a  well- 
distributed  burden  have  always  regretted  it. 
A  tax  on  sales  to  the  consumer  would  be 
good  in  principle,  and  ought  to  eliminate 
those  taxes  on  production  which  paralyze 
the  source  of  revenue  while  they  are  multi- 
plied to  the  consumer.  But  Congress  at 
present  is  considering  a  direct  consumption 
tax  only  as  an  addition  to  the  indefensible 
levies  it  should  replace. 

A  tax  on  income  is  a  fair  tax,  but  it 
becomes  destructive  when,  as  at  present,  it 
destroys  the  year's  accumulations  for  re- 
newals and  betterments.  A  tax  on  a  process 
of  trade  is  always  bad.  But  Congress  and 
our  State  Legislatures  tax  without  restric- 
tion, method  or  principle.  The  single-taxer 
would  live  only  to  see  his  proposition  share 
the  same  fate  as  the  taxes  on  income  or 
direct  consumption — not  a  relief  but  an 
added  burden. 


TO  THE  TEST 

New  York  Evening  World 

The  United  States  Supreme  Court  yester- 
day granted  to  the  State  of  Rhode  Island 
permission  to  institute  original  proceedings 
to  test  the  validity  of  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment,  which  imposes  Prohibition 
upon  every  State  in  the  Union  under  the 
Federal  Constitution. 

The  State  of  Rhode  Island  will  contend 
that  Federal  enforcement  of  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment  within  the  boundaries  of  Rhode 
Island  constitutes  an  invasion  of  the  sov- 
ereign rights  and  police  powers  of  the  State. 

Unless  the  American  people  have  become 
indifferent  to  the  foundation  principles  of 
their  Government,  every  other  State  wOl 
look  upon  the  case  which  Rhode  Island 
brings  into  the  Supreme  Court  as  a  test  of 
State  sovereignty  growing  out  of  one  of  the 
most  clearly  defined  and  momentous  issues 
that  has  arisen  since  the  Constitution  went 
into  effect. 

We  believe  a  majority  of  Americans  are 
still  capable  of  straight  thinking  on  this 
question. 

We  believe  a  majority  can  consider  the 
meaning  and  bearings  of  Nation-wide  Pro- 
hibition as  forced  into  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, without  confusing  moral  purposes  with 
the  fabric  of  constitutional  Government  and 
without  letting  the  desirability  of  accom- 
plishing a  certain  amount  of  good  shut  their 


274 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


eyes  to  unjustifiable  methods  productive  of 
unlimited  wrong. 

Article  X  of  the  original  ten  Amendments 
to  the  Federal  Constitution  declares: 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  Unit- 
ed States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  pro- 
hibited by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the 
people. 

Nowhere  does  the  Constitution  delegate  to 
the  Federal  Government  power  to  enact 
sumptuary  laws  regulating  the  personal 
habits  of  citizens  in  the  several  States  or  to 
send  Federal  agents  into  the  territory  of  a 
State  to  enforce  such  laws. 

How  can  the  Eighteenth  Amendment  stand 
unless  the  Tenth  Amendment  is  repealed? 

If  Nation-wide  Prohibition  had  come 
about  by  the  progressive  spread  of  Prohibi- 
tion to  State  after  State,  each  State  passing 
and  enforcing  its  own  Prohibition  laws,  the 
Nation  could  have  become  bone-dry  through- 
out and  no  man  could  have  questioned  the 
constitutionality  of  the  process. 

But  so  long  as  one  single  State  held  to 
local-option,  and  the  smallest  community  in 
that  State  elected  to  remain  "wet,"  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  as  it  used  to 
be  would  have  protected  that  community's 
right. 

A  deplorable  indication  of  growing  flabbi- 
ness,  ignorance  and  indifference  in  the  atti- 
tude of  Americans  toward  their  own  Con- 
stitution and  Government  has  been  the 
apathy  with  which  many  of  them  have 
watched  a  fanatical  minority  enslave  legis- 
lators and  ruthlessly  change  the  character 
of  that  Constitution  and  Government. 

That  the  change  was  accomplished  with- 
out giving  the  people  a  chance  to  vote  on 
it  seems  to  matter  little  to  those  Americans 
who  have  forgotten  that  freedom  was  as- 
sured them  by  the  Fathers  only  on  the  as- 
sumption that  they  would  cherish  and 
guard  it. 

During  the  past  year  an  increasing  num- 
ber have  begun  to  think  more  clearly. 

They  see  that  there  were  ways  of  attack- 
ing the  liquor  evil  other  than  by  an  im- 
mensely greater  evil. 

They  see  that  to  lift  the  saloon  from  its 
degradation  it  was  not  necessary  to  degrade 
the  Federal  Constitution — turning  it  into  an 
instrument  of  tyranny  which  destroys  per- 
sonal liberty  and  overrides  State  sov- 
ereignty. 

Millions  of  Americans  were  too  preoccu- 
pied with  war,  too  blind  to  what  was  being 
done  to  them,  to  resist  when  their  liberties 
were  taken  away.  They  realize  now  the 
true  nature  and  enormity  of  the  theft. 
The  case  of  Rhode  Island  is  the  case  of 


each  one  of  forty-seven  other  States,  regard- 
less of  its  particular  status  as  to  Prohibi- 
tion. 

Infringement  of  State  rights,  once  started, 
will  not  stop  with  a  National  Prohibition 
Amendment.  The  bars  once  down,  the  field 
will  be  too  tempting. 

Rhode  Island  should  go  into  court  with 
the  greatest  lawyers  in  the  land  to  present 
and  urge  her  case  and  with  the  support  of 
an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  citizens  of 
every  other  State  behind  her. 

Rock-bottom  issues  are  at  stake  upon 
which  depends  the  faithfulness  of  American 
democracy  to  its  own  principles. 

IS  BOLSHEVISM  AN  ISSUE 

Indianapolis   News 

The  denunciation  of  the  Russian  policy  of 
the  peace  conference  and  President  Wilson 
by  Rajrmond  Robins,  headliner  for  Senator 
Johnson,  suggests  the  question  as  to 
whether  Bolshevism  is  an  issue  in  the  cam- 
paign. Other  people  have  denounced  the 
Russian  policy  of  these  eminent  men,  but 
on  quite  other  grounds.  Their  theory  was 
that  the  allied  and  associated  power  should 
have  come  promptly  to  the  rescue  of  the 
Russian  people  against  those  whose  policy 
it  was  to  exploit  and  murder  them.  France 
is  today  convinced  that  such  action  should 
have  been  taken,  and  is  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  establishment  of  any  relations  with  the 
Lenine  government.  But  Mr.  Robins  went 
to  Russia,  made  an  investigation,  and  came 
out  without  being  in  any  way  shocked.  The 
President  did  not  follow  his  advice.  The 
fair  criticism  of  the  allied  and  associated 
powers  is,  not  that  they  pursued  a  wrong 
policy,  but  that  they  did  not  seem  to  have 
any  policy  at  all.  The  problem,  of  course, 
was  one  of  enormous  difficulty. 

The  American  people  should  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  blinded  to  the  awful  crimes 
of  the  Bolshevists  and  their  leaders.  Miss 
Hettie  M.  Adams,  who  has  lived  long  in 
Russia,  and  has  rendered  distinguished 
service  in  connection  with  the  Red  Cross  in 
that  country,  gives  a  picture  that  is  most 
impressive.  "The  Bolshevists  will  tell  you," 
she  says,  "that  the  children  in  soviet  Russia 
are  under  their  special  protection  .  .  . 
and  that  therefore  the  children  are  entitled 
to  particular  care  and  attention — educa- 
tional, moral  and  physical."  Yet  all  order 
and  discipline  have  disappeared  from  the 
schools.  There  are  committees  of  children 
which  decide  what  shall  be  studied  and  who 
shall  teach  them,  and  these  committees  have 
power  to  dismiss  the  teachers.  Conditions 
have  improved  somewhat  of  late,  but  only 
because  experienced  teachers  "have  taken 
pity  on  the  children  and  practically  at  the 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


275 


risk  of  their  own  lives  have  by  almost 
superhuman  devotion  and  patience  rewon 
the  love  and  respect  of  the  children."  These 
teachers,  and  all  others,  are  subjected  to 
the  strictest  Bolshevist  discipline  and  super- 
vision, and  if  suspected  any  so-called  "coun- 
ter revolution"  acts  are  dealt  with  "in  a 
merciless  manner." 

"The  moral  chaos"  in  the  schools,  which 
are  "mixed,"  under  this  system,  or  lack  of 
it,  is  said  to  be  "too  appalling  to  imagine." 
There  are,  it  is  said,  very  few  children  left 
in  Bolshevist  Russia.  The  schools  are  closed 
for  months  at  a  time  "owing  to  terrible 
outbreaks  of  infectious  diseases  and  total 
absence  of  heating."  Miss  Adams  says  that 
she  visited  houses  in  Petrograd  in  which 
there  were  "two  or  three  degrees  of  frost  in 
the  rooms."  There  was  practically  no  light- 
ing and  a  total  lack  of  sanitation.  Through 
the  severest  winter  months  many  people 
lived  in  cold,  hunger  and  sickness,  with  no 
electric  light,  no  oil  and  no  cand.es,  "only 
miserable  night  lights  when  procurable." 
Her  account  closes  thus: 

There  was  neither  water  no?  soap 
with  which  to  wash  clothes,  anJ  they 
simply  had  to  be  w*rn  till  they  had 
become  too  horribly  dirty,  and  then 
burned,  with  no  hopes  of  obtaining  a 
fresh  supply.  If  children  receive  one 
(totally  inadequate)  meal  a  day  they 
are  lucky.  The  wan,  pinched  and 
stricken  faces  one  s^es  in  the  streets 
give  one  an  idea  of  the  misery  the/  are 
suffering.  They  are  no  longer  children, 
but  care-worn,  listless,  wizened  human 
beings,  old  long  before  their  time.  Ill, 
hungry,  cold  and  miserably  clad,  they 
are  obliged  to  stand  ior  many  hours  in 
the  streets  in  order  to  obtain  some  piti- 
fully small  ration  of  milk  or  other  sup- 
plies. 

Such  is  "happy"  Russia  under  the  soviet 
system. 

THE  LIP-LAZY  AMERICAN 
An  Editorial 

Ladies'   Home  Journal 

It  is  generally  said  that  the  American  is 
the  most  slovenly  spolen  person  in  the 
world.  This  is,  naturall/,  an  exaggeration, 
as  are  all  general  statements.  3ut_  that 
there  is  a  distinct  basis  for  the  ur.desirable 
reputation  cannot  be  denied. 

The  average  American  is  lip-laz7.  Thou- 
sands of  us  speak  back  of  our  teeth,  nr 
through  our  noses,  or  behind  our  lips.  "We 
do  not  open  our  mouths  when  we  speak;  Cr 
if  we  do  we  yell  or  scream.  A  vell-mody- 
lated  voice  is  the  exception;  clear  enuncioi^ 
tion  is  exceeding  rare.  ' 


I  was  very  forcibly  impressed  with  this  fact 
at  the  Americanization  Conference  held  in 
Washington  last  spring.  Here  was  gathered 
a  company  largely  made  up  of  pedagogues; 
of  men  and  women  high  in  positions  of 
public  instruction  or  education,  who,  in 
their  places,  were  recognized  as  authorities 
in  teaching;  whom  their  communities  had 
raised  to  positions  where  what  they  said 
counted  for  much  in  the  direction  of  public 
training.  Yet  one  could  only  in  the  excep- 
tional instance  understand  what  was  said. 
During  the  four  days  of  the  conference  I 
heard  over  100  persons  speak  from  the  plat- 
form and  the  floor.  Of  all  these  speakers, 
only  eight,  by  actual  count,  opened  their 
lips  and  clearly  enunciated  their  words.  In 
a  number  of  instances  the  speakers  could 
not  be  understood  within  twenty  feet  of 
where  they  were  speaking.  The  majority 
could  not  be  heard  at  the  back  of  the  small 
auditorium. 

The  humorous  aspect  of  the  situation  was 
that  each  of  these  speakers  was  discussing 
the  subject  of  teaching  English  to  the 
foreign-bom;  in  other  words,  each  was 
teaching  a  language  that,  while  undoubtedly 
he  understood  it,  he  could  not  make  under- 
stood because  of  an  absolute  ignorance  of 
vocal  placement:  of  the  use  of  the  lips  or 
the  voice. 

And  yet  these  speakers  were  going  to  be 
the  leading  factors  in  instructing  the  for- 
eign-born! As  a  matter  of  fact,  of  the 
eight  speakers  whom  I  counted  as  speaking 
distinctly  three  were  foreign -bora!  The 
American-born,  the  instructor  of  the  new 
American,  was  deficient  in  the  very  element 
which  is  so  vital  in  the  work  at  his  or  her 
hand! 

Note  in  any  gathering  in  which  you  find 
yourself  within  the  next  few  days,  pulalic 
or  private,  and  watch  how  many  persons 
open  their  lips  and  speak  distinctly,^  and 
the  result  will  be  surprising  and  humiliat- 
ing. 

"I  do  not  expect  ever  to  speak  in  public. 
Why  trouble?"  is  a  favorite  argument  in 
defense  of  lip-laziness.  But  it  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  whether  one  is  destined  to  speak 
in  public  or  not.  How  often  do  we  find  our- 
selves in  a  position  where  something  that 
we  know  or  have  to  tell — some  experience — 
is  of  interest  to  a  home  company  or  to  a 
small  group.  Those  of  us  who  teach  in 
classroom  or  in  Sunday-school,  or  who  speak 
in  small  meetings  of  club,  guild  or  what  not, 
who  appear,  in  plays  or  entertainments,  or 
whose  vocations  in  life  depend  on  the  use 
of  the  voice  in  explaining  or  selling — the 
necessity  for  clear  speech  is  vital  to  thou- 


276 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


sands.  In  "business  matters  it  is  almost  m- 
dispensable  to  man  or  woman.  No  matter 
how  thoroughly  conversant  we  may  be  with 
a  subject,  if  the  capacity  is  not  there  to 
express  that  knowledge  clearly,  if  the  proper 
use  of  the  lips  or  the  voice  is  foreign  to  us, 
we  are  placed  at  a  decided  disadvantage.  A 
clear  enunciation,  a  knowledge  of  the  em- 
phasis on  the  right  words,  the  capacity  to 
make  the  lips  express  what  the  mind  knows, 
are  absolutely  vital  and  may  mean  the  dif- 
ference between  getting  our  message  "over" 
.or  not. 

Notice  the  next  time  you  see  a  play  with 
a  cast  of  English  actors  and  listen  how  dis- 
tinctly each  line  is  spoken,  how  clear-cut  is 
the  enunciation,  and  how,  with  little  ap- 
parent effort,  the  voice  "carries"  to  the  most 
remote  part  of  the  theater. 

Why  do  the  English  speak  better  than  the 
Americans? 

In  the  answer  to  this  question  lies  the 
crux  of  the  whole  matter. 

Proper  attention  is  ^iven  in  all  English 
schools  to  proper  enunciation,  vocal  place- 
ment and  the  use  of  lips  and  voice.  An 
English  boy  or  girl  is  taught,  in  earliest 
years,  the  vaiue  of  distinct  speaking. 

What  emphasis  do  we  place  on  this  subject 
in  our  schools  and  colleges?  None  at  all, 
practically  speaking.  Here  and  there  you 
will  find,  in  the  curriculum,  a  glimmer  of 
recognition  of  the  value  of  this  needful 
study,  but  what  acknowledgment  does  the 
average  school  or  college  give  to  vocal 
placement;  and,  if  given,  what  value  is 
pla(?6d  upon  it?  There  lies  our  trouble,  and 
it  <^s  a  fault  we  should  correct. 

Our  children  should  be  taught,  not  alone 
to  learn  the  English  language,  but  also  how 
to  speak  it.  Before  this  is  done,  however, 
we  elders  must  ourselves  first  get  a  realiz- 
ing  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  gift  of 
"^  clear  speech.  There  is  no  earthly  reason 
why  the  American  should  go  on  with  his 
present  slovenly  method  of  speech;  his  lip- 
laziness.  One  can  learn  to  speak  distinctly 
with  the  same  ease  as  one  drifts  into  speak- 
ing unintelligibly. 

There  is  a  ray  of  hope  in  the  growing 
realization  of  the  value  of  the  voice  on  the 
part  of  the  telephone  companies  and  of  the 
recent  establishment  of  a  Society  of  Amer- 
ican Speech  in  New  York.  The  railroads 
and  all  transportation  companies  are  also 
beginning  to  realize  that  an  integral  part  of 
good  service  is  that  their  conductors  shall 
speak  clearly.  Business  houses  are  awaken- 
ing to  the  fact  that  the  good  salesman  is 
the  man  who  knows  how  to  use  his  voice. 
But  if  we  were  to  get  this  realization  more 


clearly  into  the  minds  of  those  who  control 
our  institutions  for  the  education  of  the 
young,  it  would  be  more  to  the  point.  We 
must  begin  with  the  child  and  see  to  it  not 
only  that  it  speaks  clearly  but  that  it  un- 
derstands the  value  of  why  it  should. 

There  are  some  things  in  our  American 
life  that  we  should  not  carry  on,  and  one 
of  them  is  our  universal  habit  of  lip-laziness. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  HAS 

CROSSED  THE  RUBICON! 


It  Cannot  Allov  Any  Body  of  Men  to  Defy 
the  Law— That  Would  Be  Rebellion! 

Philadelphia   Public   Ledger 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  cer- 
tainly cannot  afford  to  fool  with  this  strike 
situation.  It  cannot  afford  to  have  it  said 
at  any  price  that  a  private  organization 
within  the  commonwealth  can  openly  defy 
the  Government  of  the  nation  and  get  away 
with  iti  A  Government  which  cannot  and 
does  not  assert  and  enforce  its  superiority  to 
any  body  of  men,  however  powerful,  within 
the  namon  it  assunes  to  govern,  abdicates  in 
the  mcst  cowardly  and  contemptible  manner 
open  ^  any  Executive.  It  does  not  matter 
in  th^  least  whether  the  powerful  body  be- 
fore \fhich  it  bows  is  a  cabal  of  titled  rebels, 
a  conspiracy  of  predatory  capitalists,  a  class, 
or  a  jnob.  A  Government  that  backs  down 
befori  a  flagrant  defiance  of  its  authority 
ceasei  automatically  to  be  a  Government. 

Th^  situation  would  be  entirely  different 
if  tm  Administration  had  not  taken  a  hand 
in  this  strike.  Then  it  would  be  precisely 
what  the  acting  president  of  the  United 
MinelWorkers  ren.inds  us  is  one  of  the  con- 
stitut  onal  rights  of  the  workers  of  America 
— the  right  to  stoj  work  at  will.  That  right 
has  npt  been  abrogated,  curtailed  or  even 
challekged.  What  the  Government  has  done 
is  to  mtervene  under  wartime  legislation  in 
a  matter  which  threatens  the  ability  of  the 
nation  to  "carry  on,"  and,  having  inter- 
vened land  havir.g  declared  a  bituminous 
coai  strike  at  this  time  to  be  "unlawful," 
the  Gpvernment  is  bound  effectively  to 
prevent  the  "unlawful"  act  or  call  upon  the 
nation  to  give  it  the  further  power  needed 
to  do  sf 

It  mutet  be  perfectly  clear  to  any  thinking 
man,  be  he  coal  miner  or  operator  or  lawyer 
or  politcian,  tha:  no  Government  can  pos- 
sibly declare  a  thing  to  be  "unlawful"  and 
then  sit  down  in  impotence  and  permit  it 
to  go  oi.  What  are  the  laws  for?  What 
is  the  Government  for?  What  in  such  a 
case   becomes   of  law   and   order  and  the 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


277 


)ower  of  the  sovereign  people  to  govern 
;hemselves  ? 


The  Government  has  struck  a  direct  and 
;elling  blow  by  securing  an  injunction  re- 
straining the  officers  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America  from  all  strike  activi- 
;ies.  They  are  to  recall  the  strike  orders 
ilready  issued  and  refrain  froni  encourag- 
ng,  promoting  or  financing  t^e  strike  in 
my  way.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  blow  did  not 
'all  sooner,  for  its  lateness  must  leave  the 
ess  educated  among  the  working  miners  in 
5ome  degree  of  doubt.  But  that  will  soon 
Jure  itself.  ,' 

The  great  thing  is  that  tKe  Government 
las  now  put  the  judiciary  oehind  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law  and  removed  every 
vrisionary  vestige  of  the  ground  from  be- 
neath whatever  contention  tne  Labor  leaders 
might  be  tempted  to  put  up  against  the 
statement  that  their  strike  is  "unlawful." 
Whatever  it  was  before,  there  can  be  no 
excuse  for  questioning  no#  that  it  is  "un- 
lawful" to  disobey  an  ordeil  of  the  court. 

Still  the  Government  milst  do  better  than 
this.  The  strike  leader^  proposed  quite 
openly  and  brazenly  to  defv  the  Government 
and  perform  an  "unlawful"  act,  wMch  is 
surely  an  act  of  Rebellioji!  And  the  first 
retort  of  the  defied  Government  is  to  go  to 
[law  with  them.  It  looks  just  a  little  too 
^uch  like  a  tactical  campaign  betweei  two 
legitimate  belligerents.  The  Goveri.ment 
proposes  to  hamper,  annoy  and  reduce  to 
impotence  its  "enemy."  I|;  "turns  his  flank" 
with  an  injunction  or  cuts  his  vital  connec- 
tions by  not  allowing  the  ppstman  to  call! 

Surely  a  Government  \jhose  authority  is 
challenged  must  do  someihing  more  vigor- 
ous and  effective  than  thit! 

There  is  no  doubt  abou^  the  damage  that 
a  prolonged  coal  strike  wt)uld  inflict  on  the 
community.  There  is  no  doubt  abort  the 
right  of  the  community  tp  intervene.  The 
coal  miners'  leaders  well!  know  that  they 
wield  a  terrible  weapon.  It  is  an  "un- 
lawful" weapon.  It  is  now  doubly  "unlaw- 
ful" through  the  injunction.  To  persist 
would  be  to  rebel,  to  declare  war  on  the  com- 
munity, to  defy  the  courts,  i 

If  this  should  occur  and  if  the  American 
public  should  lie  down  under  it,  they  could 
no  longer  shoot  out  the  lip  at  the  docile 
Russian  "public"  under  thei knout  of  Lenine., 

This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  the 
demands  of  the  working  Jniners  are  being 
prejudged  or  may  not  be  met.  What  the 
public,  through  the  Presi<lent,  projoses,  is 
examination  and  something  as  nearly  ap- 
proaching arbitration  as  fe  possible  in  such 


a  case.  Absolute  arbitration  fails  where 
one  party  to  the  arbitration  cannot  be  com- 
pelled to  abide  by  the  award.  But  a 
friendly  meeting  with  the  operators  and  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Government  is  promised. 
The  thing,  however,  which  could  not  be 
tolerated  is  that  the  miners  should  go  dog- 
gedly and  defiantly  ahead  doing  the  "un- 
lawful" thing  which  the  Government  has  so 
stigmatized  and  enjoined,  and  has  pledged 
itself  to  exhaust  all  the  resources  at  its 
command  to  stop. 

The  demands  of  the  miners  look  to  the 
casual  bystander  to  be  extreme.  They  want 
a  60  per  cent  increase  in  pay,  a  six-hour 
day  and  a  five-day  week.  But  the  man  who 
does  his  work  at  a  city  desk,  in  a  well-aired 
factory  or  in  the  open  fields  should  not  sit 
in  premature  or  hasty  judgment  on  this 
claim.  The  lot  of  the  coal  miner  is  a  hard 
one  and  he  deserves  special  consideration. 

Still  the  question  must  arise,  when  we  see 
his  leaders  so  brazenly  defying  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  law,  whether  this  demand  is 
bona  fide  and  based  genuinely  on  the  miners' 
labor  conditions.  There  are  demands  being 
made  in  the  world  that  are  not  bona  fide, 
but  are  only  intended  to  inspire  and  precipi- 
tate Revolution!  Yesterday's  Associated 
Press  dispatches  from  Paris  carried,  for  ex- 
ample, the  following: 

Paris,  Oct.  31 — Heavy  preasnire  is  be- 
ing brought  to  bear  by  syndicalist  lead- 
ers upon  railway  men  to  endeavor  to 
induce  them  to  join  the  movement  for 
a  revolutionary  general  strike  Novem- 
ber 7.  Revolutionary  orators  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Federation  of  Ssmdical- 
ists  Thursday  called  upon  the  railroad 
men  to  demand  an  increase  in  wasres  of 
1000  francs  ($200),  not,  as  Citizen 
Sirolle  admitted,  with  the  idea  of  gain- 
ing it,  but  with  the  sole  object  of  creat- 
ing difficulties  by  the  failure  to  obtain 
their  demands. 

Railway    brakemen    and    switchmen 
had  asked  for  a  salary  of  3800  francs 
($760),    and    from    all    indications    it 
seemed  the  demand  would  be  granted. 
M.    Sirolle,    therefore,    proposed    that 
they  should  ask  for  4800  francs  ($960), 
because  the  comrades  must  be  kept  busy 
with  claims  for  increased  wages. 
We  are  as  far  as  possible  from  saying 
that  this  lis  the  case  with  the  coal  miners. 
We  support  th6  Government  policy  of  bring- 
ing the  several  parties  together  to  investi- 
gate precisely  this  question  of  the  soundness 
and  sincerity  of  their  demands.     But  frank 
confessions   like  the   above  must   give  the 
American  people  "furiously  to  think,"  espe- 


278 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


cially  when  such  men  as  Foster  lead  the 
steel  strikers  and  when  the  leaders  of  the 
coal  strike  make  such  ferocious  attacks  upon 
the  fair  and  earnest  efforts  of  the  Adminis- 
tration to  bring  about  a  satisfactory  and 
peaceful  settlement. 

LAW  AND  THE  JUNGLE 

Omaha  Evening  World-Herald 
[This  editorial  by  Harvey  E.  Newbranch,  was 
awarded  the  prize  of  $500  offered  by  the  Puhtzer 
School  of  Journalism,  Columbia  University,  for  the 
editorial  judged  to  be  the  best  contribution  to  public 
good  within  the  year.] 

There  is  the  rule  of  the  jungle  in  this 
world,  and  there  is  the  rule  of  law. 

Under  jungle  rule  no*man's  life  is  safe, 
no  man's  wife,  no  man's  mother,  sister,  chil- 
dren, home,  liberty,  rights,  property.  Un- 
der the  rule  of  law  protection  is  provided 
for  all  these,  and  provided  in  proportion  as 
law  is  efficiently  and  honestly  administered 
and  its  power  and  authority  respected  and 
obeyed. 

Omaha  Sunday  was  disgraced  and  humil- 
iated by  a  monstrous  object  lesson  of  what 
jungle  rule  means.  The  lack  of  efficient 
government  in  Omaha,  the  lack  of  govern- 
mental foresight  and  sagacity  and  energy, 
made  the  exhibition  possible.  It  was  pro- 
vided by  a  few  hundred  hoodlums,  most  of 
them  mere  boys,  organized  as  the  wolf -pack 
is  organized,  inflamed  by  the  spirit  of  an- 
archy and  license,  of  plunder  and  destruc- 
tion. Ten  thousand  or  more  good  citizens, 
without  leadership,  without  organization, 
without  public  authority  that  had  made  an 
effort  U  organize  them  for  the  anticipated 
emer^ncy,  were  obliged  to  stand  as  on- 
lookers, shamed  in  their  hearts,  and  witness 
the  hideous  orgy  of  lawlessness.  Some  of 
them,  to  thedr  blighting  shame  be  it  said, 
respectable  men  with  women  and  children  in 
their  homes,  let  themselves  be  swept  away 
oy  the  mob  spirit.  They  encouraged  if  they 
did  not  aid  the  wolf-pack  that  was  con- 
/  spiring  to  put  down  the  rule  of  law  in 
/  Omaha — that  rule  which  is  the  sole  protec- 
tion for  every  man's  home  and  family. 

It  is  over  now,  thank  God! 

Omaha  henceforth  will  be  as  safe  for  its 
citizens,  and  as  safe  for  the  visitors  within 
its  gates,  as  any  city  in  the  land.  Its  re- 
spectable and  law-abiding  people,  compris- 
ing 99  per  cent  of  the  population,  will  see 
to  that.  They  have  already  taken  the  steps 
to  see  to  it.  The  first  step  was  taken  when 
the  rioting  was  at  its  height — taken  be- 
latedly, it  is  true,  because  they  had  placed 
reliance  on  the  public  authorities  to  safe- 
guard the  order  and  good  name  of  Omaha. 
The  blistering  disgrace  of  the  riot  has 
aroused  them.  There  will  be  no  more  fal- 
tering,  no  more   fickleness,   no   more   pro- 


crastination, no  longer  the  lack  of  a  firi 
hand.    The  military  aid  that  has  been  calU' 
in  is  only  temporary.     It  serves  to  insul 
public  order  and  public  safety  for  the  daj 
for   the  week.     But   the   strengthening    oi 
the  police  force  of  the  city,  its  efficient  or- 
ganization under  wise  and  competent  leader- 
ship, is  a  policy  that  public  sentiment  has 
inaugurated  and  that  it  will  sternly  enforce. 
As  to  that  there  will  be  neither  equivocation 
nor  delay.    Nor  will  there  be  any  hesitancy 
or   laxnass  in  the   organization,  and   rigid 
use  if  need  be,  of  civic  guards  to  keep  the 
streets    and   homes    and    public    places    of 
Omaha  secure. 

The  citizenship  of  Omaha  will  be  anxious 
that  the  outSide  world  should  know  what  it 
was  that  happened  and  why  it  happened. 
Let  there  be  no  mistaking  the  plain  facts. 
The  trouble  is  over  now.  It  was  a  flare-up 
that  died  as  quickly  as  it  was  born.  Omaha 
is  today^  the  same  safe  and  orderly  city  it 
has  always  been.  It  will  be  safer,  indeed, 
hereafter,  and  nore  orderly,  because  of  the 
lesson  it  has  so  dearly  learned.  And  the 
flare-u^  was  the  work — let  this  fact  be  em- 
phasized— of  a  f2w  hundred  rioters,  some  of 
them  Incited  by  an  outrageous  deed,  others 
of  thdm  skulkerg  in  the  anarchistic  under- 
brush] who  urged  them  on  for  their  own 
foul  purposes  of  destroying  property  and 
paralfzing  the  aim  of  the  law.  If  the  miser- 
able negro,  Brovni,  had  been  removed  from 
Omaha  in  time,  as  he  should  have  been;  if, 
failing  to  remove  him,  the  public  authorities 
had  taken  vigorous  measures  to  prevent  the 
congvegation  anc  inflaming  of  the  mob,  the 
riot  would  never  have  occurred.  An  or- 
ganised and  intelligently  directed  effort  in 
advince  would  have  preserved  the  good 
name  of  Omaha  untarnished.  It  would  have 
prevented  the  lynching.  It  would  have  saved 
our  splendid  new  court  house  from  being 
offered  up  in  fla^mes,  its  defense  with  the 
mob-victim  in  it,  a  costly  sacrifice  on  the 
altari  of  law  and  order.  There  would  have 
been  no  thought,  even,  of  the  amazing  at- 
temp;  to  lynch  the  mayor  of  Omaha,  bravely 
and  honorably  discharging  his  duty  as  chief 
magistrate  in  resisting  the  wolf-pack. 

It  A;Tould  be  impossible  to  speak  too  strong- 
ly in  condemnation  of  the  rioters  or  in  the 
uncompromising  demand  for  their  stern  and 
swift  bunishment,  whoever  they  be,  wher- 
ever fiey  can  be  found.  They  not  only 
foully  murdered  a  negro  they  believed  to 
be  guilty.  They  brutally  maltreated  and 
attempted  to  murder  other  negroes  whom 
they  kjiew  to  he  innocent.  They  tried  to 
lynch  ijhe  mayo.'.  They  wantonly  pillaged 
stores  and  destroyed  property.  They  burned 
the  coilrt  house  In  the  sheer  spirit  of 
anarchj  they  pulled  valuable  records  from 


EDITORIALS  OF  CONTROVERSIAL  TENDENCY 


279 


leir  steel  filing  cases,  saturated  them  in 
isoline,  and  burned  them.  They  burned 
)lice  conveyances  and  cut  the  fire  hose,  in- 
ting  the  destruction  by  fire  of  the  entire 
ty.  Their  actions  were  wholly  vile,  wholly 
dl,  and  malignantly  dangerous.  There  is 
)t  a  one  of  them  who  can  be  apprehended, 
id  whose  guilt  can  be  proved,  but  should 
»  sent  for  a  long  term  to  the  state  prison. 
nd  toward  that  end  every  effort  of  every 
>od  citizen,  as  well  as  every  effort  of  the 
iblic  authorities,  from  the  humblest  po- 
leman  to  the  presiding  judge  on  the  bench, 
ust  be  directed.  There  can  be  no  senti- 
entalizing,  no  fearful  hesitancy,  no  con- 
)ning  the  offense  of  these  red-handed  crim- 
lals.  The  pitiful  bluff  they  have  put  up 
^ainst  the  majesty  of  the  law,  against  the 
iviolability  of  American  institutions,  must 

2  called  and  called  fearlessly. 

To  the  law-abiding  negroes  of  Omaha, 
ho,  like  the  law^biding  whites,  are  the 
ist  majority  of  their  race,  it  is  timely  to 
3eak  a  word  of  caution  as  well  as  a  word 
f  sympathy  and  support.  Any  effort  on 
tie  part  of  any  of  them  to  take  the  law 
ito  their  own  hands  would  be  as  culpable 
nd  as  certainly  disastrous  as  was  the  effort 
£  the  mob.  In  the  running  down  and  mal- 
reating  of  unoffending  men  of  their  color, 
lerely  because  they  were  of  that  color,  they 
ave  been  done  odious  wrong.  They  nat- 
rally  and  properly  resent  it.  They  natural- 
7  and  properly  resent  having  been  confined 

3  their  homes,  in  trembling  fear  of  their 
ves,  while  red  riot  ran  the  streets  of  the 
^ty.  But  their  duty  as  good  citizens  is 
Precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  rest  of  us, 
11  of  whom  have  been  outraged  and  shamed 
,s  citizens.  It  is  to  look  to  the  law  for  their 
protection,  for  their  vindication,  and  to  give 
he  law  every  possible  support  as  it  moves 
n  its  course.  The  law  is  their  only  shield, 
.s  it  is  the  only  shield  of  every  white  man, 
10  matter  how  lowly  or  how  great.  And  it 
s  the  duty  of  all,  v/hites  and  blacks  alike, 


to  uphold  especially  the  might  of  the  law — 
to  insist,  if  need  be,  on  its  full  exercise — in 
protecting  every  colored  citizen  of  Omaha 
in  his  lawful  and  constitutional  rights. 

For  the  first  time  in  many  years — and  for 
the  last  time,  let  us  hope,  for  many  years 
to  come — Omaha  has  had  an  experience  with 
lawlessness.  We  have  seen  what  it  is.  We 
have  seen  how  it  works.  We  have  felt,  how- 
ever briefly,  the  fetid  breath  of  anarchy  on 
our  cheeks.  We  have  experienced  the  cold 
chill  of  fear  which  it  arouses.  We  have 
seen,  as  in  a  nightmare,  its  awful  possibili- 
ties. We  have  learned  how  frail  is  the 
barrier  which  divides  civilization  from  the 
primal  jungle — and  we  have  been  given  to 
see  clearly  what  that  barrier  is. 

It  is  the  Law!  It  is  the  might  of  the 
Law,  wisely  and  fearlessly  administered!  It 
is  respect  for  and  obedience  to  the  Law  on 
the  part  of  the  members  of  society! 

When  these  fail  us,  all  things  fail.  When 
these  are  lost,  all  will  be  lost.  Should  the 
day  ever  come  when  the  rule  that  was  in 
Omaha  Sunday  night  became  the  dominant 
rule,  the  grasses  of  the  jungle  would  over- 
spread our  civilization,  its  wild  denizens, 
human  and  brute,  would  make  their  foul 
feast  on  the  ruins,  and  the  God  who  rules 
over  us  would  turn  His  face  in  sorrow  from 
a  world  given  over  to  bestiality. 

May  the  lesson  of  Sunday  night  sink 
deep!  May  we  take  home  to  our  hearts, 
there  to  be  cherished  and  never  for  a  mo- 
ment forgotten,  the  words  of  the  revered 
Lincoln: 

"Let  reverence  of  the  law  be  breathed  by 
every  mother  to  the  lisping  babe  that  prat- 
tles on  her  lap;  let  it  be  taught  in  schools, 
seminaries  and  colleges;  let  it  be  written 
in  primers,  spelling  books  and  almanacs; 
let  it  be  preached  from  pulpits  and  pro- 
claimed in  legislative  halls  and  enforced 
in  courts  of  justice;  LET  IT  BECOME 
THE  POLITICAL  RELIGION  OF  THE 
NATION." 


CHAPTER    VIII 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


In  Chapter  VIII  of  Part  I  the 
editorial-essay  was  considered.  The 
articles  here  reprinted  represent  the 
kind  of  writing  in  which  editorial  and 
essay  characteristics  unite.    In  some 


of  the  preceding  divisions  appear  cer- 
tain longer  editorials  that  can  be 
classified  as  editorial-essays.  The 
student  should  turn  back  and  ex- 
amine those  also. 


AMY  LOWELL'S  COLLECTION 

OF  MODERN  VERSE 

The  Review- 
Messrs.  Doubleday,  Page  and  Company 
give  notice  of  a  "Bookshelf,"  comprising 
fifty-four  volumes  of  representative  modern 
verse,  selected  by  Miss  Amy  Lowell,  and 
offered  for  sale,  in  collected  form,  at  the 
New  York  bookstores  of  the  firm.  The 
choice  of  Miss  Lowell  as  chooser  is  saga- 
cious, and  the  inclusion  in  her  list  of  four 
volumes  written  by  herself  is  altogether 
right  and  proper.  Books  in  the  "old  idiom" 
are  allowed  a  minority  representation;  one 
anthology  and  three  books  of  criticism  are 
included.  The  series  is  to  furnish  an  "au- 
thoritative guide"  to  people  interested  in 
new  verse  who  have  heard  "the  clamor  of 
the  fight  from  far."  (The  metaphor  is  in- 
teresting as  sjmiptomatic  of  the  outbreak  of 
poetry  in  our  time  in  the  commercial  notices 
of  publishers;  today  not  only  the  vines,  but 
the  elms  that  support  the  vines,  bear 
grapes.)  If  there  is  any  weakness  in  the 
interesting  plan  of  Messrs.  Doubleday  and 
Page,  it  lies  possibly  in  the  vagueness  of 
the  constituency  to  which  they  appeal.  Un- 
doubtedly they  can  find  persons  who  need  to 
be  guided  to  the  primary  text-books  in 
modem  verse.  Presumably  they  can  find 
persons  who  are  willing  to  read  fifty-four 
volumes  of  modern  poetry,  though  the  Re- 
view would  shrink  from  participation  in 
the  search.  But  where  is  the  reader  to  be 
found  who  belongs  in  both  these  classes? 
One  hardly  spreads  a  bookshelf  before  per- 
sons who  are  obliged  to  inquire  the  road  to 
the  library.  Depths  of  ignorance  commonly 
go  with  shallow  curiosities.  Miss  Lowell's 
list  will  certainly  interest  critics,  but  the 
man  whom  Messrs.  Doubleday  and  Page 
have  in  mind  would  be  better  served  by 
counsel  to  read  the  Monroe-Henderson  an- 
thology through  in  connection  with  Miss 
Lowell's  "Tendencies  in  Modern  American 
Poetry." 


In  partial  compliance  with  a  suggestioi 
of  the  publishers,  the  Review  will  give  her( 
and  now  a  brief  summary  of  the  chief  stepi 
in  the  radical  movement  of  contemporary 
verse. 

In  1855  Walt  Whitman  published  "Leavei 
of  Grass."  He  handled  many  topics  am 
used  many  words  which  were  strange  to  tb 
poetry  of  his  day,  and  he  wrote  in  a  rhyme 
less  and  metreless  verse  of  which  th 
rhythms  were  indefinite  and  variable.  Th 
verse  was  thought  to  be  new  and  free.  It 
freedom  was  unquestionable;  its  novelty  ha( 
to  be  judged  in  the  light  of  the  fact  tha 
poetry  which  looked  like  prose  and  pros 
which  sounded  like  poetry  were  not  un 
known,  or  even  very  unusual,  in  Englis] 
and  other  literatures.  More  must  be  knowi 
of  prose  rhythm  and  more  of  free-verse 
rhythm  before  the  amount  of  originality  in 
the  latter  can  be  fixed  with  any  permanence. 

Whitman,  then,  was  a  double  innovator: 
an  innovator  on  the  side  of  matter  and  dic- 
tion, and  an  innovator  on  the  side  of 
technique.  Both  of  these  novelties  had  se- 
quels. The  sequel  in  England,  which  may 
or  may  not  have  been  a  result,  was  an  ex- 
pansion in  matter  and  diction  on  lines  not 
markedly  Whitmanesque.  In  1874  W.  E. 
Henley  published  his  "Hospital  Sketches." 
Kipling's  electrical  "Barrack-Room  Ballads" 
and  "Seven  Seas"  came  out  in  1892  and 
1896.  Thomas  Hardy's  grim  verse  had  its 
beginning  in  "Wessex  Poems"  in  1898.  In 
1913  came  the  shock  of  John  Masefield's 
"Everlasting  Mercy,"  a  poem  riotous  in  dic- 
tion and  setting,  though  its  teaching  was 
meekness  itself.  Meanwhile,  the  plays  and 
tales  of  Mr.  W.  W.  Gibson  had  put  into 
the  plainest  language  the  crudest  facts  in 
the  lives  of  humble  men  and  women. 

Innovation  in  England,  then,  applied  itself 
mainly  to  subject  and  vocabulary — in  France 
it  laid  hold  of  versification.  Between  1890 
and  1893,  a  group  of  young  French  poets, 
very  unlike  Whitman,  but  very  tired  of  the 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


281 


)ld  French  verse-forms,  fell  in  with  Whit- 
nan's  liberated  rhythms.  M.  Viele-Griffin 
published  translations  of  the  American  poet 
n  his  review,  Les  Entretiens  politiques  et 
itteraires.  M.  Henri  de  Regnier,  between 
1890  and  1900,  put  elasticity  and  versatility 
nto  French  rhythms,  without  robbing  them 
Df  their  ancient  stay  of  rhyme.  M.  Paul 
Fort,  fertile  in  "Ballades"  between  1894 
md  1898,  made  the  boundary  between  verse 
and  prose  waver  and  oscillate  in  the  freak-» 
ish  diversity  of  his  experiments. 

These  undertakings  in  France  found  an 
eager  and  adroit  pupil  in  Miss  Amy  Lowell, 
an  American  poetess,  whose  "Sword-Blades 
and  Poppy-Seed,"  dating  from  1914,  was 
followed  in  1916  by  "Men,  Women  and 
Ghosts."  Free  verse,  as  Miss  Lowell  wrote 
it,  may  be  defined  as  a  rhymeless  form  in 
which  the  verses  (or  lines)  obey  no  single 
or  common  law.  But  while  her  coadjutors, 
mostly  English,  perfected  the  fine  and 
fragile  technique  of  the  form,  Miss  Lowell 
herself  was  turning  to  another  form  known 
as  "polyphonic  prose."  Polyphonic  prose, 
though  sprinkled  with  rhyme  and  assonance, 
is  prose  to  the  eye,  and  its  basis  is  a  richly 
rhythmed  and  strongly  segmented  sentence, 
the  members  of  which  show  a  balance  that 
is  both  exquisite  and  monotonous.  Miss 
Lowell  is  experimenter  and  expositor  quite 
as  much  as  poet.  She  placed  militant  pref- 
aces, like  vedettes,  in  front  of  her  books  of 
jverse,  and,  viewing  them,  very  properly,  as 
non-combatants,  supplied  them  with  body- 
guards in  the  shape  of  two  critical  treatises, 
"Six  French  Poets"  (1915)  and  "Tendencies 
in  Modern  American  Poetry"  (1916). 

America  had  thus  reclaimed  from  France 
the  metrical  impulse  which  France  in  the 
early  nineties  had  borrowed  from-  Whitman. 
She  was  also  to  reclaim  from  England — 
or  perhaps  merely  to  revive  in  herself — the 
impulse  towards  liberality  of  subject  in 
which  she  had  anticipated  or  prompted  the 
mother  country.  The  very  curious  thing  is 
that  these  things  happened  at  almost  the 
same  time;  the  formal  revolt  and  the  ma- 
terial revolt  were  practically  simultaneous. 
"Sword-Blades  and  Poppy-Seed"  was  issued 
in  1914.  In  1914  and  in  1915  appeared 
"North  of  Boston"  by  Robert  Frost  and 
"Spoon  River  Anthology"  by  Edgar  Lee 
Masters.  Neither  of  these  books  lacked  nov- 
elty in  form,  but  the  significance  of  both 
lay  in  their  material,  in  the  appropriation 
by  poetry  of  realistic  intensities  which  had 
hitherto  been  relinquished  to  prose  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  homely  or  sordid. 
They  were  very  different  books  in  other 
-ways:  Mr.  Frost  gave  poignancy  to  inner 
lieartbregks;   Mr.   Masters   imparted  grim- 


ness  to  melodrama  on  a  civic  scale.  But 
together  they  formed  the  complement  to 
Miss  Lowell's  work;  America  had  fathered 
both  tendencies;  like  parted  brothers  they 
rejoined  each  other  at  their  common  birth- 
place. 

The  result  of  these  coincidences  must  have 
surprised  everybody.  The  public  took  fire; 
books  of  poetry  were  bought,  were  read, 
were  sought  by  publishers;  poets  wrote  un- 
der new  stimuli  for  a  widened  audience,  and 
an  amazed  nation  called  itself  to  account, 
in  criticism  and  debate,  for  its  unexampled 
interest  in  poetry.  Into  the  worth  or  dura- 
tion of  this  movement  it  is  not  the  purpose 
of  this  meagre  and  imperfect  summary  to 
inquire.  We  have  carried  Messrs.  Double- 
day  and  Page's  reader  as  far  on  his  journey 
as  we  could,  and  we  now  abandon  him,  with 
a  friendliness  not  untouched  with  compas- 
sion, to  his  fifty-four  volumes. 

WHAT  IS  VALUE? 
HOTTENTOT  VENUS 
BLACK  POPPY,  100-YEAR  EGGS 
THE  $17,000  ROOSTER 

Arthur  Brisbane  in  Pittsburgh  Press 

What  is  value?  An  African  savage  will 
give  30  cows  for  a  bride.  A  Hottentot  will 
pay  twice  as  much  for  a  fat  bride  as  for  one 
half  as  fat.  With  you,  perhaps,  it  would  be 
just  the  other  way. 

The  "Hottentot  Venus"  who  died  in  Paris 
many  years  ago,  and  whose  exact  figure  was 
preserved,  in  wax  or  plaster,  in  the  museum 
of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  would  surprise 
you  if  you  could  see  it.  Even  a  description 
would  surprise  you.  It  would  take  up  too 
much  space,  as  the  lady  herself  does. 

Her  mother  had  fed  her  on  camel's  milk- 
stuffed  her  with  it.  Hottentot  mothers  stuff 
their  young  daughters  as  Strasbourg  farm- 
ers stuff  geese,  when  the  mothers  marry 
them  off  at  their  fattest.  The  proudest 
bridegroom  has  the  fattest  bride.  Our  girls 
starve  themselves,  and  freeze  themselves. 

At  one  time  in  Holland  a  black  poppy 
bulb  was  worth  a  fortune,  although  that 
flower  is  much  more  beautiful  and  interest- 
ing with  the  many  marvelous  colors  that 
the  sun  lends  to  it. 

Here  you  pay  a  dollar  or  more  in  winter 
for  12  eggs,  and  console  yourself  with  the 
thought  that  they  are,  perhaps,  absolutely 
fresh. 

The  Chinese  mandarin  will  pay  10  times 
the  price  for  eggs  50  or  more  years  old, 
and  consider  them  a  great  delicacy. 

In  the  intestines  of  the  spermaceti  whale, 
that  carries  the  big  reservoir  of  valuable 


282 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


fat  in  its  head,  are  found  occasionally  lumps 
of  ambergris,  a  substance  disagreeably  con- 
nected with  the  biliary  apparatus.  He  who 
finds  a  great  lump  of  this  absolutely  worth- 
less material  in  the  inside  of  a  whale,  or 
washed  up  on  the  shore,  has  found  a  for- 
tune. 

The  ignorant  in  the  east  attach  great 
importance  to  it  for  use  in  medicine.  West- 
erns use  it  in  preparing  perfumery.  Some 
have  used  it  in  flavoring  food.  Macaulay 
tells  you  in  his  "History  of  England"  that 
'the  favorite  dish  of  Charles  II  was  eggs  and 
ambergris. 


Many  in  this  country  support  themselves 
by  digging  ginseng  root.  It  is  sent  to  the 
Chinese,  who  pay  extravagant  prices  for 
it,  considering  it  the  most  valuable  medicinal 
remedy  in  the  world.  To  us  it  is  absolutely 
useless.  Perhaps  its  aromatic  stimulating 
properties  help  defend  the  Chinese  against 
germs  with  which  their  insides  are  afflicted, 
thanks  to  lack  of  plumbing  and  decent 
sewerage.  We  laugh  at  the  Chinese,  who 
sets  such  value  on  ginseng  or  on  eggs  older 
than  himself. 


What  about  the  American  who,  having 
five  or  ten  millions  more  than  he  can  spend 
sanely,  works  himself  to  death  trying  to  get 
five  or  ten  millions  more? 

When  you  have  enough,  gold  is  worth 
even  less  than  ginseng.  On  a  desert  island 
you  might  keep  alive  chewing  a  ginseng 
root.    It  would  do  you  no  good  to  chew  gold. 

When  Macbeth  made  his  second  visit  to 
the  witches  they  put  into  their  hell  broth, 
among  other  things,  the  following: 

Baboons'  blood,  fillet  of  a  fenny  snake, 
eye  of  newt  and  toe  of  frog,  wool  of  bat  and 
tongue  of  dog,  adder's  fork  and  blindworm's 
sting,  lizard's  leg  and  howlet's  wing. 

As  late  as  Shakespeare's  day  many  would 
have  paid  huge  sums  for  such  ingredients  in 
a  witch  broth  to  make  power  for  themselves 
or  trouble  for  others.  They  would  have  paid 
even  more  if  they  could  have  added,  as 
Shakespeare  does,  a  witch's  "mummy,  maw 
and  gulf  of  the  ravin'd  salt  sea  shark,"  and 
especially  the  "nose  of  Turk  and  Tartar's 
hps"  and  "finger  of  birth-strangled  babe." 

We  of  today  know  that  there  is  not  any 
special  power  in  all  that  mixture;  we  would 
not  pay  10  cents  for  it. 

But  many  of  us  are  paying  many  times 
10  cents  to  well-meaning  doctors  for  mix- 
tures not  more  valuable,  some  of  them  much 
more  harmful. 


We  know  more  than  we  used  to.  Thou- 
sands of  years  ago  in  Rome,  on  a  high  hill, 
they  erected  a  temple  to  fever,  with  com- 
plimentary words  on  the  front  of  it,  and 
spent  money  trying  to  placate  the  evil 
power,  fever,  that  killed  so  many  through 
centuries. 

The  other  day  a  few  scientific  men,  ex- 
posing themselves  to  danger,  proved  that  if 
you  kill  the  mosquitoes  that  planted  the 
fever  in  the  blood  of  the  Romans  you  need 
no  temple  to  fever,  or  any  placating  of  the 
"malignant  power." 

From  this  you  gather  that  wherever  else 
real  worth  may  be  located,  it  is  surely  to  be   J 
found   in    science,   in  the   intelligence   that   | 
grows  in  the  brain  of  man,  as  the  ambergris 
grows  in  the  whale's  insides. 

The  American  public  pay  Bamum  a  for- 
tune for  the  pleasure  of  looking  at  a  white 
elephant,  no  more  interesting  than  an  ordi- 
nary elephant. 

Rulers  of  Siam  insisted  always  on  having 
a  sacred  white  elephant  near  the  palace.  It 
was  really  the  religion  of  the  little  boy  that 
ke«ps  a  couple  of  toads  and  a  garter  snake 
— if  his  mother  will  let  him. 

The  public  also  paid  Barnum  for  the  priv- 
ilege of  looking  upon  his  "What  is  it,"  a  ^ 
miserable  creature  with  the  frontal  angle  of 
a  marmoset,  forehead  one-eighth  of  an  inch 
high. 

The  deformed  idiot  was  "worth"  half  a 
million  dollars.  Much  more  than  Shake- 
speare, Milton  and  Dante  combined. 


The  Empress  Catherine  of  Russia  was  one 
of  the  first  rulers  to  be  vaccinated  against 
the  smallpox,  and  it  took.  She  was  grateful 
to  the  little  boy  from  whose  arm  was  taken 
the  smallpox  virus  injected  into  her  body. 
She  thought  it  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
"value"  of  that  little  drop  of  poison,  so  she 
created  that  boy  "The  Duke  of  Smallpox." 

The  same  empress  bought  all  the  books 
and  fixings  in  the  house  of  Voltaire,  at  Fer- 
ney,  when  he  died — his  paintings,  his  books 
with  the  interesting  notes  on  the  margins. 
Lenine  or  Trotsky  should  dig  them  up  and 
give  them  a  special  place  of  honor  in  some 
museum,  if  they  haven't  done  it  already. 
Probably  that  empress  attached  more  im- 
portance to  the  poison  that  protected  her 
unimportant  system  against  smallpox  than 
to  Voltaire's  entire  life  time.  So  "What  is 
VALUE?" 

The  other  day,  on  the  way  to  Cuba,  there 
passed  through  New  York  City  a  game 
cock  "worth"  $17,000.  When  he  gets  to 
Cuba  he  will  have  sharp  steel  spurs  fas- 
tened to  the  stumps  of  his  natural  spurs, 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


283 


and  while  crowds  gesticulate,  applaud 
and  bet  he  will  fight  until  some  other  rooster 
puts  a  steel  shaft  through  his  brain.  After 
that,  he  will  be  worth  not  $17,000,  but  17 
cents — too  muscular  and  tough,  except  for 
soup.  Even  so,  he  will  be  really  "worth" 
more  as  a  dead  rooster  than  Caesar  as  a 
dead  ruler. 

We  wonder  why  the  Hottentot  likes  his 
wife  five  feet  wide  at  the  hips.  We  wonder 
how  the  Turk  can  take  any  pleasure  in  the 
society  of  a  lady  whom  he  has  bought. 

We  wonder  especially  at  the  $17,000  value 
put  on  the  fighting  rooster. 

Yet  we  erect  expensive  monuments  to 
men  that  among  human  beings  are  worth  no 
more  than  the  fighting  rooster  among 
animals. 

We  shall  be  better  fitted  for  criticizing 
the  price  put  on  fighting  roosters  and  the 
value  attached  to  Hottentot  Venuses  when 
we  build  more  monuments  to  thinking  men 
and  fewer  to  mere  fighters. 

CLEMENCEAU  AND  THE 

PRESIDENCY  OF  FRANCE 

The  Outlook 

When  some  men  accused  him  of  wanting 
to  be  king,  Theodore  Roosevelt  answered 
the  fools  according  to  their  folly  by  remark- 
ing, with  the  characteristic  falsetto  break 
in  his  voice  that  betrayed  his  amusement: 
"They  don't  know  kings,  and  I  do.  A  king 
is  a  cross  between  a  perpetual  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  a  leader  of  the  Four  Hundred." 

One  might  as  well  be  a  king  as  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  French  Republic.  It  is  well  that 
the  world  was  spared  the  spectacle  of 
Georges  Clemenceau  trying  to  fill  that  role. 
When  his  political  enemies  the  other  day 
prevented  his  election  to  that  high,  orna- 
mental, very  necessary,  but  chiefly  symbolic 
office,  they  did  him  as  well  as  France  a 
service.  The  French  have  a  keen  sense  of 
the  fitness  of  things;  and  they  have  shown  it 
in  revolting  at  the  idea  of  caging  the 
"Tiger." 

In  order  to  understand  what  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  French  Republic  is,  an  American 
must  remove  from  his  mind  most  of  the 
ideas  which  he  associates  with  the  office  of 
President  of  the  United  States.  When  the 
American  Constitution  was  formed,  the 
English  king  exercised  much  greater  powers 
than  he  exercises  today.  The  American 
President  has  inherited  much,  if  not  all,  of 
that  monarchical  power,  and  has  received  in 
addition  much,  if  not  most,  of  the  power  of 
the  English  Prime  Minister.  Meantime  the 
power  of  the  English  king  has  declined.  To- 
day the  King  of  England  is  chiefly  the 
hunian  symbol  of  the  British  Empire's  unity 


and  glory.  Now  what  we  have  united  into 
one  office  here  in  America  the  French  have 
kept  separate.  They  have  created  two  Pres- 
idents. One,  the  President  of  the  Republic, 
has  much  of  the  function  of  the  English 
kmg— not  the  English  king  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  the  English  king  of  today.  The 
other,  the  President  of  the  Council  of  Min- 
isters (or,  as  we  commonly  say,  the  Pre- 
mier) has  a  function  very  similar  to  that  of 
the  English  Prime  Minister.  It  is  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Council  that  has  the  real  gov- 
erning power;  it  is  the  President  of  the 
Republic  that,  as  it  were,  simply  bears  the 
scepter  and  wears  the  crown.  For  the 
preservation  of  our  liberties  we  Americans 
trust  chiefly  to  the  limitation  of  four  years 
which  is  placed  upon  our  monarchical  pres- 
ident's term  of  stewardship.  The  French, 
on  the  other  hand,  keep  the  President  of  the 
Council  constantly  under  control,  turning 
him  out  at  will,  while  allowing  the  orna- 
mental and  symbolic  President  of  the  Re- 
public to  enjoy  his  honors  for  seven  years. 
The  president  of  the  Republic  dwells  apart 
in  the  Elysee  Palace,  makes  speeches,  pre- 
sides at  ceremonies,  and  signs  documents. 
The  President  of  the  Council  dwells  where 
he  will,  and  is  in  the  midst  of  the  political 
conflict,  guiding  the  Government  with  one 
hand  and  with  the  other  defending  his  own 
position  against  those  who  would  turn  him 
out. 

It  is  in  this  political  conflict,  giving  and 
taking  blows,  that  Georges  Clemenceau  has 
always  been  engaged.  Most  of  the  time  he 
has  been  either  in  political  office,  or  else, 
when  out  of  it,  hammering  those  who  were 
in.  To  place  this  man  where  his  sole  duty 
would  be  to  represent  a  republic's  version 
of  royalty  would  seem  to  be  inartistic,  and 
that  France  cannot  very  well  be. 

Not  that  Georges  Clemenceau  would  not 
have  served  very  well  as  a  symbol  of  France, 
the  real  France,  the  France  not  of  the  boule- 
vards, but  of  the  conservative,  home-loving, 
thrifty,  valiant,  rational,  contented,  alert, 
philosophical  people  whom  the  war  discov- 
ered to  the  world;  but,  we  have  no  doubt, 
he  would  nevertheless  have  seemed  to  him- 
self, to  France,  and  to  the  world  very  much 
out  of  place. 

Indeed,  the  French  came  very  near  doing 
the  inartistic  thing  out  of  gratitude  for 
what  Clemenceau  had  achieved  on  behalf  of 
his  country.  They  brought  him  to  the  very 
gate  of  the  Elysee  Palace,  and  told  him  that 
that  was  where  they  would  like  to  see  him 
spend  in  dignified  ease  the  remaining  days 
that  are  to  crown  his  life;  but  they  perhaps 
wondered  at  the  last  minute  what  the 
"Tiger"   would    do   to   that  residence,    and 


284 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


they  certainly  drew  back  at  the  thought  of 
what  such  a  residence  might  do  to  thQ 
"Tiger."  So,  through  their  Senators  and 
Deputies,  they  selected  a  man  whom  Roy- 
alists and  Socialists  could  agree  in  choos- 
ing. It  is  a  pity  that  the  second  thought 
of  the  French  did  not  occur  to  them  until 
after  Clemenceau  had  acquiesced  in  the  pro- 
posal and  the  world  had  assumed  that  his 
unpretentious  figure  was  about  to  be  used 
as  a  National  decoration,  that  his  penetrat- 
ing and  often  mordant  personality  would  be 
employed  in  gracing  urbane  and  ceremonial 
occasions.  As  a  consequence,  the  Germans 
are  likely  to  interpret  his  defeat  as  an  in- 
dication that  France  is  losing  the  spirit  that 
carried  her  through  the  war,  and  the  extreme 
pro-Bolshevist  Socialists  are  already  inter- 
preting his  defeat  as  a  tribute  to  the  grow- 
ing power  of  their  anarchistic  communism. 
Of  course  it  is  neither.  France  has  not 
forgotten  what  Clemenceau  did  for  her,  nor 
is  she  likely  willingly  to  throw  away  the 
fruits  of  the  victory  which  she  could  not 
have  won  but  for  his  indomitable  will. 

It  was  when  the  fortunes  of  France  had 
reached  their  lowest  ebb  that  Clemenceau 
came  into  the  control  of  the  government. 
It  was  not  merely  that  the  military  power 
of  France  and  her  allies  seemed  to  have 
reached  its  limit  with  little  prospect  of 
speedy  reinforcement  from  America,  but 
that  the  courage  of  the  people  was  being 
sapped  from  within.  French  resistance  to 
the  Germans  had  been  weakened  by  the 
work  of  two  types  of  defeatists.  On  the 
one  flank  there  had  come  attacks  from  men 
who  were  out-and-out  materialists.  The 
most  sordid  of  these  were  engaged  in  in- 
trigues that  finally  led  to  the  trial  and  ex- 
ecution of  Bolo  Pasha.  These  people  mis- 
represented the  spirit  of  France,  but  were 
nevertheless  not  without  power  in  affecting 
her  course  On  the  other  flank  were  de- 
featists of  another  type.  These  were  the 
sentimentalists.  They  argued  that  the  Ger- 
man people  were  democratic  at  heart  and 
that  the  time  had  come  for  France  to  recog- 
nize that  the  war  was  not  to  be  won  by 
overcoming  them,  but  rather  than  peace  was 
to  be  secured  by  welcoming  the  Germans  as 
brothers  und^^r  a  new  internationalism. 
These  sentimentalists  were  not  obviously 
sordid  and  corrupt.  They  were  therefore 
the  more  dangerous.  In  spite  of  the  ex- 
perience received  at  the  hand  sof  the  Hun, 
they,  like  kindred  spirits  in  America,  wel- 
comed the  thought  of  peace  without  victory. 
Though  the  sentimentalists  so  far  as  they 
were  sincere,  hated  the  materialists,  and  the 
materialists    despised    the    sentimentalists. 


they  were  in  practice  allies  in  working  for 
defeat. 

What  added  to  the  confusion  was  the  fact 
that  these  two  enemies  of  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty and  law  masqueraded  under  false 
names.  The  sentimentalists  were  called 
idealists.  The  sordid  materialists  were  dig- 
nified by  the  name  of  realists.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  there  was  neither  realism  nor 
idealism  in  either  group.  The  idealist  is 
one  who  holds  fast  to  a  great  conception. 
The  realist  is  one  who  refuses  to  ignore  the 
facts  of  life.  The  sentimentalists  were  will- 
ing to  sacrifice  an  ideal  in  order  to  salve 
their  emotions.  The  materialists  ignored  the 
most  potent  fact  of  life — ^the  willingness  of 
men  to  die  for  an  ideal.  And  yet  appar- 
ently intelligent  men  of  common  sense  were 
in  danger  of  being  swept  into  the  defeatist 
current  by  imagining  that  the  sentimental- 
ists represented  the  ideal  of  the  war,  and 
that  the  materialists  were  the  only  ones  who 
saw  the  hard  facts. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Clemenceau 
became  the  political  leader  of  France.  At 
once,  he  showed  himself  to  be  the  implacable 
enemy  of  sentimentalist  and  materialist 
alike.  Under  his  guidance  the  foul  crew 
that  would  have  sold  out  France  to  the 
Hun  was  broken  up;  and  also  under  his 
guidance  the  sentimentalists  who  were 
preaching  anti-patriotic  internationalism 
were  gradually  reduced  to  at  least  tem- 
porary impotence.  As  a  consequence  Clem- 
enceau incurred  the  enmity  of  both  groups; 
but,  by  the  same  token,  he  won  the  confi- 
dence of  France.  He  proved  himself  both 
realist  and  idealist.  As  realist  he  dissipated 
the  illusions  about  the  facts  of  the  situa- 
tion and  the  character  of  the  beast  that 
France  was  fighting.  As  idealist  he  re- 
newed the  faith  of  France  in  the  cause  for 
which  she  fought  and  in  ultimate  victory. 

During  the  months  of  strain  that  preceded 
the  armistice,  Clemenceau  made  his  mis- 
takes. He  is  not  of  suave  disposition.  He 
can  use  words  that  stab.  He  has  none  of 
Lincoln's  power  of  conciliation.  He  can  be 
dogmatic  and  exasperatingly  inconsiderate 
of  sensitive  natures.  He  is  not  averse  to  in- 
cisive satire  which  does  not  become  grateful 
by  virtue  of  its  being  true.  Yet  with  all 
his  sharpness  he  won  not  only  admiration 
and  support,  but  even  affection.  In  his  visits 
to  the  soldiers  at  the  front,  in  his  terse 
summons  time  and  time  again  to  the  spirit 
of  the  French  people,  in  his  fearless 
handling  of  dangerous  political  situations,  in 
his  whole  course,  he  well  earned  his  title. 
Father  Victory. 

What  Venizelos,  the  Greek  Premier,  said 
of  himself  may  be  said  with  equal  truth  of 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


285 


Georges  Clemenceau.  Speaking  extem- 
poraneously to  a  group  in  Paris,  one  of 
whom  was  a  representative  of  The  Outlook, 
Venizelos  said  something  like  this:  "I  am 
an  idealist.  But  I  am  also  a  realist.  As  I 
understand  it,  idealism  is  not  opposed  to 
realism,  but  to  materialism."  Since  the 
armistice,  as  before,  Clemenceau  has  proved 
himself  to  be  an  idealist  who  is  big  enough 
to  be  at  the  same  time  a  realist.  Nobody- 
has  ever  accused  him  of  sentimentalism,  but 
many  have  accused  him  of  materialism. 
Though  there  is  nothing  of  the  sentimental- 
ist about  him,  no  Frenchman  has  proved 
more  clearly  than  Clemenceau  that  he  is  a 
lover  of  his  country.  And  though  people 
who  imagine  that  one  has  to  be  a  mate- 
rialist in  order  to  face  the  facts  have  accused 
him  of  materialism,  it  is  because  Clemen- 
ceau could  face  the  facts  that  he  proved 
himself  the  only  kind  of  idealist  that  is  of 
any  use  when  ideals  are  put  to  the  test. 

This  great  Frenchman,  veteran  of  num- 
berless political  battles,  whose  compact,  aged 
body  that  survived  an  assassin's  attack  is 
matched  by  an  equally  compact  and  vigorous 
mind,  has  served  the  world  in  serving 
France.  He  needs  no  office  to  embellish  his 
name.  The  enmity  which  the  foes  of  civ- 
ilization have  attached  to  him  is  a  worthier 
and  more  enduring  decoration.  Some  day 
Americans  will  realize  better  than  they  do 
now  that  by  his  sturdy  insistence  on  keeping 
ideals  attached  to  facts  he  served  their 
country  as  well  as  his  own. 

TEXTILE  PROFITEERS 


They   Were  in  Minority,  But  Yam  Prices 
Show  How  Far  They  Went 

Lincoln  Cromwell,  who  durincr  the  war  was  buyer 
of  knit  goods  for  the  War  Department  and  had 
charge  of  knitting  mill  production  for  the  War  In- 
dustries Board,  addressed  the  National  Association 
of  Hosiery  and  Underwear  Manufacturers  at  its  re- 
cent convention  in  Philadelphia.  That  part  of  the 
address  dealing  with  reconstruction  conditions  in  the 
textile    industry    is   presented   herewith. 

By  Lincoln  Cromwell 

New  York  Times 

We  may  almost  say  that  the  war  has  de- 
monetized wealth.  When  you  put  out  a 
dollar  on  mortgage  six  years  ago  you  loaned 
a  definite  purchasing  power  measured  in 
cotton  or  steel  or  personal  service.  When 
that  dollar  comes  back  to  you  today  its  value 
has  changed  astonishingly.  According  to 
Bradstreet,  in  January  last,  it  was  worth 
on  the  average  only  45  cents.  If  you  take 
that  dollar  to  the  wholesaler,  its  value  has 
shrunk  to  54  cents  in  exchange  for  fuel,  41 
cents  for  farm  products,  40  cents  for  food, 


38  cents  for  lumber,  34  cents  for  house  fur- 
nishings and  30  cents  for  clothing. 

In  hosiery  prices  that  old  dollar  is  now 
worth  about  40  cents  on  the  average  sales, 
but  only  20  cents  in  buying  women's  mer- 
cerized 220  needle  stockings  and  24  cents 
in  a  standard  grade  of  women's  black  cotton 
stockings.  In  underwear  it  will  average 
with  the  clothing  list  at  about  30  cents. 
But  when  the  knitter  tries  to  buy  cotton 
yarn  with  that  old  dollar,  the  colloquial 
comparison  with  30  cents  is  a  compliment. 
It  has  withered  to  15  cents  in  buying  fine 
mercerized  yarns,  to  20  cents  in  fine-combed 
and  carded  yarns,  and  to  25  cents  in  coarse 
carded  yams.  It  will,  however,  buy  from 
40  to  45  per  cent  of  its  former  labor  value. 

A  striking  exception  from  these  figures  is 
the  cost  of  transportation,  for  the  old  dollar 
is  still  worth  66  cents  in  the  passenger  train 
and  75  cents  in  the  freight  car.  These 
figures  for  the  United  States,  showing  an 
increase  of  the  wholesale  price  index  from 
100  to  221,  are  less  startling  than  the  in- 
creases abroad,  where  neutral  countries 
have  fared  as  badly  as  the  belligerents. 
The  index  today  is  300  for  Norway,  307  for 
Sweden,  203  for  Holland,  240  for  Switzer- 
land, 238  for  Paris  and  288  for  England. 
Mr.  Bryan's  free  silver  coinage  was  a  plan 
to  allow  debtors  to  pay  in  dollars  then 
worth  50  cents.  That  would  have  been  a 
moderate  hardship  on  the  creditor  compared 
with  the  change  made  by  the  great  war  in 
the  value  of  the  fixed  incomes  of  the  moneyed 
class.  But  high  prices  have  been  beyond 
human  control. 

Some  Real  Profiteering 

This  is  not,  however,  to  give  a  clean  bill 
of  health  to  everybody.  Some  mean  advan- 
tage has  been  taken.  In  many  towns  a  wage 
increase  in  the  mills  has  been  followed  the 
next  day  by  higher  prices  in  the  stores. 
Federal  agents  have  arrested  some  retailers 
under  the  Lever  law  for  charging  unjust 
profits,  but  these  were  small  game  for  the 
profiteer  hunters.  A  Brooklyn  haberdasher, 
arrested  for  selling  a  raincoat  at  100  per 
cent  profit,  committed  suicide.  Huge  profits 
have  been  made  by  speculation  in  wholesale 
stocks,  in  machinery  and  in  mills.  Silks 
have  been  sold  and  resold  five  times  before 
reaching  the  retailer.  They  were  often  paid 
for  by  trade  acceptances  discounted  at  the 
banks,  thus  inflating  credit  and  increasing 
prices  at  each  sale. 

Incidentally,  I  know  of  one  silk  mill  which 
was  sold  three  times  before  it  was  finished. 
A  church  was  sold  for  a  silk  mill  in  Scran- 
ton  and  a  saloon  in  Paterson.  Second  hand 
machinery  has  brought  the  price  of  new, 
and  some  mills  have  earned  their  cost  price 


286 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


in  six  months.  Prices  have  advanced  so 
fast  and  so  steadily  that  manufacturers 
could  not  help  making  money. 

Of  all  textile  prices,  however,  the  ad- 
vances on  cotton  yarns  were  in  a  class  by 
themselves.  Such  advantage  has  been  taken 
of  the  famine  in  cotton  yams  that  prices, 
especially  for  the  finer  counts,  are  stupidly 
high  and  excite  resentment.  The  profiteer- 
ing landlord  who  boosts  rents  150  per  cent 
has  a  heart  compared  with  the  cotton  yam 
spinner  whose  prices  range  from  4%  to  7 
times  what  they  were  in  1915.  The  ad- 
vances look  even  more  unreasonable  in  the 
actual  prices,  showing  No.  30  carded  peeler 
pushed  up  90  cents  a  pound  from  25  cents 
to  $1.15;  No.  30  combed  peeler  up  $1.31^ 
a  pound  from  33^^  cents  to  $1.65;  and  fine 
numbers  like  801-2  mercerized  up  $5  a  pound 
from  86  cents  to  about  $6. 

Any  attempt  to  justify  present  yarn  prices 
on  a  basis  of  fair  profit  to  the  mill  and  de- 
cent regard  for  living  costs  to  the  public 
must  explain  away  the  100  per  cent  stock 
dividends  declared  by  spinning  mills,  and 
the  statements  of  profits  issued  by  several 
groups  on  the  flotation  of  additional  stock 
to  increase  control  of  this  business.  It  is 
the  big  abuses  of  opportunity  which  dis- 
credit the  whole  capitalistic  system  and  ex- 
pose us  to  the  danger  of  State  regulation. 
We  are  soon  going  to  hear  a  loud  call  for 
Federal  licensing  and  other  control  of  busi- 
ness. If  that  calamity  befalls  us,  it  will  be 
due  as  much  to  some  cotton  yam  spinners 
as  to  anybody  else.  Their  kind  of  unsocial 
greed  v^rrote  Schedule  K  into  the  Payne- 
Aldrich  bill  and  so  discredited  the  Taft  Ad- 
ministration that  its  defeat  was  sure  long 
before  1912. 

Heaven  help  the  United  States  if  that 
spirit  has  influence  with  the  Chicago  con- 
vention! A  necessary  part  of  our  recon- 
struction is  a  rebellion  against  grossly  ex- 
cessive profits.  It  will  occur  when  the  public 
learns  who  are  making  them,  and  refuses  to 
pay  a  tribute  which  is  unjust  and  dishonor- 
able. It  is  just  as  dishonorable  when  cap- 
ital goes  into  partnership  with  labor  to  raise 
prices  and  divide  the  spoils  as  when  capi- 
talists or  labor  leaders  play  the  highwayman 
all  by  themselves. 

Textile  Price  Outlook 

We  are  making  slow  progress  in  building 
up  reserve  stock  of  goods,  or  of  raw  mate- 
rials. Agricultural  costs  are  likely  to  in- 
crease. The  world  needs  more  cotton  than 
is  grown,  more  wool  than  is  clipped.  There 
will  be  no  quantity  of  linen  while  Russian 
trade  is  barred.  The  little  news  coming 
out  of  Japan  shows  her  in  serious  domestic 
trouble  which  may  stop   speculation  there 


and  lower  the  price  of  silk,  but  prices  of  the 
other  textile  materials  are  apparently  firm. 
We  must  expect  fabric  prices  to  hold  up 
unless  they  are  lowered  by  increased  pro- 
duction overtaking  the  demand  when  com- 
petition will  squeee  the  profits  of  makers 
and  distributers — or  unless  wages  are  cut. 
There  is  evidence  that  labor  is  settling  down 
to  steadier  work,  that  production  is  increas- 
ing, and  that  competitive  conditions  are  re- 
turning in  some  lines. 

Nobody  expects  wages  to  be  cut.  No  de- 
cent citizen  wants  them  cut.  I  do  not  trust 
myself  to  say  in  public  what  I  think  of 
some  mills  which  recently  proposed  that  all 
in  their  city  shut  down  three  days  a  week 
"to  put  labor  in  its  place"  as  they  express  it. 
But  unless  experience  fails  us  now,  the  ex- 
traordinary high  prices  and  high  interest 
rates  mean  the  end  of  a  period  of  industrial 
activity.  It  may  not  come  this  year.  But  it 
will  come.  It  may  bring  only  a  temporary 
drop  in  prices,  for  if  it  comes  soon  the 
shortage  of  supplies  will  put  prices  up 
again  just  as  it  did  last  year.  But  it  will 
surely  bring  unemployment.  We  shall  then 
enter  the  critical  phase  of  our  reconstruc- 
tion. 

P'or  in  that  day  labor,  union  and  nonunion, 
will  protect  itself  with  a  new  power  and  a 
clear  idea  of  what  it  needs.  It  will  scorn 
the  charity  of  bread  lines.  It  will  demand 
employment.  If  it  cannot  find  private  em- 
ployment it  will  demand  it  from  the  public, 
paid  for  by  taxes  on  the  rich.  The  heaviest 
burden  of  the  working  class  is  its  constant 
dread  of  losing  a  job.  You  who  are  used  to 
yearly  contracts,  to  the  running  of  busi- 
nesses established  in  the  patronage  of  hun- 
dreds of  customers,  who  have  reserves  of 
capital  and  ability  to  take  care  of  yourselves 
in  time  of  sickness  or  of  trouble,  rarely  ap- 
preciate the  precarious  hold  of  the  workmen 
on  an  economic  independence.  Many  em- 
ployments expose  him  to  personal  dangers. 
If  he  is  sick  or  disabled,  his  pay  stops.  If 
a  mother  stays  home  to  care  for  a  sick 
child,  her  pay  stops. 

Most  manufacturers  get  uneasy  weeks 
before  they  are  out  of  orders.  But  nearly 
every  man  and  woman  in  their  mills  is  em- 
ployed only  from  day  to  day  under  all  the 
risks  of  the  business  and  often  liable  to  dis- 
charge at  the  mere  whim  of  an  overseer. 
Remember,  too,  that  the  employer's  work  is 
busied  by  a  range  of  duties  which  puts  va- 
riety and  interest  into  his  work,  whereas  the 
specialized  labor  of  modern  industry  has 
reduced  each  operation  to  a  monotonous 
grind,  deadening  ambition  and  lessening 
loyalty  to  the  employer.  The  same  disparity 
continues  in  the  leisure  hours  of  the  cap- 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


287 


italist  and  the  laborer.  The  workman  is 
deprived  now  even  of  the  social  relaxation 
he  used  to  get  over  a  glass  of  beer.  It  is 
small  wonder  that  the  five  million  men  who 
touched  bigger  things  in  our  army  and 
navy,  and  the  many  million  men  and  women 
who  worked  at  home  in  the  novelty  and 
excitement  of  war  work,  have  found  their 
old  employments  so  much  like  drudgery  and 
have  fallen  down  in  their  daily  output. 

Capitalism  vs.  Socialism 

Do  not  think  that  I  have  turned  Socialist 
and  gone  over  to  maudlin  sentimentality. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  so  sure  that  the  capi- 
talistic basis  of  society  is  the  only  system 
that  can  produce  enough  to  keep  today's 
population  alive,  that  the  chance  of  per- 
sonal gain  is  the  only  incentive  to  make  men 
work  enough,  that  life  is  safest  where  pri- 
vate property  is  best  protected,  and  that 
State  socialism  is  a  bankrupt  theory,  that  I 
am  pointing  out  a  few  of  the  inequalities 
which  always  have  and  will  exist,  but  which 
a  real  reconstruction  will  try  to  relieve. 
The  greatest  injustice  in  life  is  that  one  man 
is  born  with  ability  and  another  without  it. 
No  form  of  Government  can  make  them 
equal;  neither  socialism,  Bolshevism,  nor 
any  other  ism  can  prevent  one  man  from 
failing  while  another  succeeds.  The  first 
colony  at  Plymouth  started  as  communists, 
but  so  many  wasted  their  time  hunting  in- 
stead of  plowing  in  Summer  that  half  of 
the  colony  died  of  scurvy  the  first  Winter, 
and  in  self-protection  they  had  to  abandon 
their  share-and-share-alike  theory. 

The  bees  are  perfect  Socialists,  but  until 
men  are  born  and  bred  as  much  alike  as  the 
bees  in  a  hive,  some  will  always  be  getting 
rich  and  others  staying  poor.  Debs,  Hay- 
wood, Foster,  Gruneau  and  Howat  probably 
have  at  the  hands  of  stupid  employers  suf- 
fered cruel  injustices.  I  grant  their  sin- 
cerity and  personal  unselfishness,  but  their 
rage  against  capitalistic  society  will  not  con- 
vert the  American  people  to  revolutionary 
ideas.  I  would  suggest  that  we  study  closer 
the  conditions  which  unbalanced  Debs  and 
his  kind,  and  see  if  we  cannot  learn  of  some 
things  to  avoid  in  the  future.  There  has 
been  a  lack  of  honor  and  justice  somewhere 
when  workmen  are  driven  to  follow  an- 
archists. 

In  our  labor  reconstruction  I  hope  to  see 
the  workman  made  more  secure  in  his  job 
by  better  business  management.  This  as- 
sociation is  doing  a  fine  service  by  inform- 
ing its  members  about  requirements  of  the 
trade  and  about  stocks  on  hand.  Fuller 
knowledge  of  conditions  will  allow  planning 
further  ahead,  keep  prices  steadier,  and 
avoid  breaks  in  employment. 


OUR  NEW  ATTITUDE 

TO  PEACE  PROBLEMS 
No  Surrender  of  Our  Interest  in  Their  Set- 
tlement Despite  Treaty  Entanglement 


MIGHT 


INVOLVE 


US 


LATER 


Firm   Stand  Against  Opportunist  Compro- 
mises and  a  Broad  Outlook  for  the  Future 

Special  to  the  New  York  Times 

WASHINGTON,  April  3.— The  attitude 
taken  by  the  American  Government  in  deal- 
ing with  allied  tentative  proposals  for  a 
solution  of  the  Turkish  problem  is  now 
realized  here  as  involving  considerations  of 
great  importance,  not  only  because  of  its 
bearing  on  a  situation  that  constitutes  one 
of  the  world's  storm  centers,  but  also  on 
account  of  its  revelation  that  in  the  absence 
of  the  ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  Versailles 
the  Washington  Administration  has  adopted 
a  new  method  of  dealing  with  outstanding 
European  issues. 

The  note  on  the  Turkish  situation  was 
handed  to  M.  Jusserand,  the  French  Am- 
bassador at  Washington,  on  March  24.  It 
stated  the  attitude  of  Washington  in  favor 
of  the  expulsion  of  the  Turk  from  Constanti-^ 
nople,  the  establishment  of  a  northern  fron- 
tier for  the  Arabs  on  ethnographic  lines, 
the  protection  of  Russian  vital  interests  in 
any  arrangement  made  concerning  the  gov- 
ernment and  control  of  Constantinople  and 
the  straits,  and  dealt  with  the  disposition 
of  Turkish  Thrace,  as  well  as  the  future 
status  of  Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  Arabia, 
Palestine,  Syria  and  the  Turkish  islands. 
The  note  itself  contains  proof  of  the  new 
attitude  in  the  conduct  of  American  foreign 
policy  in  its  bearing  on  the  situation  in 
Europe. 

"The  President  feels,  however,"  it  said 
after  expressing  the  inadvisability  of  hav- 
ing this  Government  in  present  circum- 
stances represented  by  a  plenipotentiary  in 
the  Turkish  peace  treaty  conferences,  "that 
as  this  Government  is  vitally  interested  in 
the  future  peace  of  the  world,  it  should 
frankly  express  its  views  on  the  proposed 
solutions  of  the  difficult  questions  connected 
with  the  Turkish  treaty.  While  it  is  true 
that  the  United  States  of  America  was  not 
at  war  with  Turkey,  yet  it  was  at  war  with 
the  principal  allies  of  that  country  and  con- 
tributed to  the  defeat  of  those  allies,  and, 
therefore,  to  the  defeat  of  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment. For  that  reason,  too,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  it  is  the  duty  of  this  Govern- 
ment to  make  known  its  views  and  urge  a 
solution  which  will  be  both  just  and  lasting." 


288 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Must  Be  Consulted 


The  turning  point  in  this  new  policy  came 
on  Jan.  19,  when  Secretary  Lansing,  by 
direction  of  President  Wilson,  cabled  in- 
structions to  American  Ambassador  Wal- 
lace at  Paris  to  "take  up  with  M.  Clemen- 
ceau  and  Mr.  Lloyd  George  the  question  of 
the  way  the  Kussian  and  Italian  problems 
have  been  handled  and  ascertain  their  point 
of  view."  This  was  the  note  that  precipi- 
tated the  new  exchanges  of  correspondence 
between  Washington,  London  and  Paris  over 
the  Adriatic  question.  It  meant  that,  de- 
spite the  jeopardy  in  which  the  Treaty  of 
Versailles  had  been  placed  by  the  attitude 
of  the  Senate,  the  executive  branch  of  the 
American  Government  insisted  on  being  con- 
sulted with  regard  to  the  future  settlements 
to  be  made  concerning  the  Adriatic,  Hun- 
garian and  Turkish  phases  of  the  general 
peace  settlement. 

"Is  it  the  intention  of  the  British  and 
French  Governments,"  the  Lansing  note  of 
Jan.  19  asked,  "in  the  future  to  dispose  of 
the  various  questions  pending  in  Europe 
and  to  communicate  the  results  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States?" 

This  was  followed  by  the  President's  note 
of  Feb.  10,  also  sent  by  Mr.  Lansing,  in 
which  he  made  plain  that  President  Wilson 
felt  that  the  Adriatic  issue  had  raised  the 
fundamental  question  whether  the  Ameri- 
can Government  could  on  any  terms  co- 
operate with  its  European  associates  in  the 
work  of  maintaining  the  peace  of  the  world 
by  removing  the  primary  causes  of  war,  and 
in  which  warning  was  served  that  the  Pres- 
ident might  have  to  take  under  serious  con- 
sideration the  withdrawal  of  the  Treaty  of 
Versailles  and  the  Franco -American  agree- 
ment of  defense  from  the  Senate. 

Isolation  at  an  End 

The  substance  of  the  new  policy — ^which 
had  its  turning  point  in  the  exchange  of 
notes  over  the  Adriatic  issue,  and  again  has 
been  revealed  in  the  note  of  March  24  on 
the  Turkish  settlement — is  one  of  refrain- 
ing from  plenipotentiary  participation  in  the 
framing  of  the  remaining  peace  treaties 
and,  in  the  absence  of  ratification  of  the 
Versailles  Treaty,  of  keeping  aloof  from 
collective  action  with  the  European  powers, 
but  without  any  essential  isolation  of  the 
United  States  or  surrender  of  American  in- 
terest in  the  settlement  of  the  European 
problems  raised  by  the  war,  the  armistice 
and  the  Peace  Conference.  While  under  ex- 
isting circumstance  it  is  not  possible  for 
the  United  States  to  refuse  to  concern  itself 
with    European    international    affairs    the 


)H|' United  States  is  vitally  interested  in  what 


is  done  in  the  unfinished  peace  settlements; 
that  we  were  vitally  interested  in  the  war 
and  the  aims  for  which  it  was  fought;  that 
we  entered  the  war  to  achieve  certain  ob- 
jects, and  that  we  are  opposed  to  the 
triumph  of  imperialism  or  the  revival  of 
militarism  in  Europe,  or  to  any  shaping  of 
peace  settlements  by  reversion  to  the  old 
order  of  diplomacy  such  as  might  compro- 
mise the  future  peace  of  the  world. 

The  Administration's  position  is  therefore 
that  the  United  States  has  too  great  an 
interest  in  the  kind  of  peace  settlements 
which  are  yet  to  be  made  in  Europe — and 
they  remain  unmade  so  far  as  the  Adriatic, 
Hungary  and  Turkey  are  concerned— to  be 
ignored.  The  President  considers  these  in- 
terests so  vital — treaty  or  no  treaty — that 
he  will  continue  to  speak,  independent  of 
the  treaty,  in  an  effort  to  point  the  way,  as 
he  sees  it,  toward  peace  settlements  of  a 
just  and  lasting  character,  feeling  that 
America  has  a  direct  concern  in  any  wrong 
settlement  of  questions  such  as  might  pre- 
cipitate future  wars  in  which  the  United 
States  might  become  embroiled  through  an 
endangering  of  its  rights  abroad  or  on  the 
high  seas. 

A  feeling  relative  to  European  affairs 
has  been  gaining  ground  here  that  the  spirit 
of  common  cause  in  which  the  allied  and 
associated  Governments  decided  that  the 
peace  settlement  should  be  framed,  which 
prevailed  at  the  moment  of  the  armistice 
and  revealed  itself  in  allied  acceptance  of 
the  American  platform  of  the  Fourteen 
Points,  has  been  dissipated,  and  that,  instead 
of  displaying  a  genuine  and  sincere  effort 
on  the  part  of  all  European  Governments 
and  peoples  to  join  in  a  supreme  effort  to 
settle  down  in  international  relations  on 
principles  of  justice  and  fairness,  such  as 
might  abate  international  hatred  and  de- 
crease armaments,  much  of  Europe  is 
aflame  with  what  for  want  of  a  better  phrase 
has  been  called  imperialistic  ambition. 
There  is  ample  evidence  of  the  spirit  of 
annexation  and  actual  practice  is  revealing 
the  old  methods  of  secret  diplomacy  against 
which  American  spirit  has  revolted. 

The  question  is  now  being  asked  in  Wash- 
ington whether  the  advantages  gained  by 
close  international  association  or  through  ; 
being  parties  to  the  formulation  of  the  new 
treaties,  were  sufficiently  counterbalanced  by 
the  laws  of  free  expression  and  free  ad- ' 
vocacy  of  principles,  agreed  to  at  the  time 
of  the  armistice,  but  which  have  been  lost 
in  proposals  for  remaining  peace  arrange- 
ments. 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


289 


Clear  Attitude  on  Russia 

The  most  interesting  evidence  of  the  new 
policy  adopted  in  the  American  note  on  the 
Turkish  problem  is  the  manner  in  which 
Russia  is  mentioned.  Close  students  of  the 
situation  were  quick  to  detect  the  very  dif- 
ferent tone  in  which  Russia  is  drawn  into 
account  in  this  note,  as  compared  with  past 
performances.  Ever  since  the  Bolshevist 
revolt  in  Russia,  although  Russia  has  been 
an  international  topic  more  than  any  other 
European  question,  consideration  of  Russia 
has  been  either  along  the  line  of  aiding  a 
suffering  people  or  of  counteracting  the 
spread  of  Bolshevism  into  the  rest  of  the 
world.  For  thirty  months  responsible 
molders  of  foreign  policies  have  scarcely 
mentioned  Russia  as  an  actual  factor  in  the 
international  equation.  Only  in  this  newest 
American  note  is  Russia  so  treated.  The 
United  States  takes  the  initiative,  in  its 
Turkish  note,  in  considering  that  "future 
Russia"  will  be  an  active  factor  in  the 
family  of  nations  whose  participation  along 
certain  lines  in  foreign  affairs  must  be 
anticipated  by  the  other  powers. 

"This  Government,"  the  new  American 
note  declares,  "is  convinced  that  no  arrange- 
ment that  is  now  made  concerning  the  gov- 
ernment and  control  of  Constantinople  and 
the  straits  can  have  any  elements  of  per- 
manency unless  the  vital  interests  of  Russia 
in  those  problems  are  carefully  provided  for 
and  protected,  and  unless  it  is  understood 
that  Russia,  when  it  has  a  government  rec- 
ognized by  the  civilized  world,  may  assert 
its  right  to  be  heard  in  regard  to  the  de- 
cisions now  made.  It  is  noted  with  pleasure 
that  the  questions  of  passage  of  warships 
and  the  regime  of  the  straits  in  war  time 
are  still  under  advisement,  as  this  Govern- 
ment is  convinced  that  no  final  decision 
should  or  can  be  made  without  the  consent 
of  Russia." 

Thus  three  important  facts  stand  out,  in 
an  analysis  of  these  allusions: 

First,  the  American  Government  records 
its  faith  in  the  restoration  of  Russia,  and 
when  it  speaks  of  Russia  being  destined  to 
have  a  Government  that  can  and  will  be 
recognized  by  the  civilized  world,  it  means 
that  the  American  Government  regards  the 
present  Soviet  regime  as  a  mere  passing 
phase  and  looks  forward  to  the  restoration 
in  Russia  of  a  strong  constitutional  Govern- 
ment. 

Second,  the  entire  spirit  of  friendship  in 
carefully  providing  for  and  trying  to  pro- 
tect Russian  interests  in  the  straits,  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  note,  shows  it  is  the  desire  of 
the  American  Government  to  shape  its  Rus- 
sian policy  so  as  to  have  the  Russia  of  the 


future  friendly  to  the  great  powers  and  the 
United  States.  The  whole  aim  of  this  policy 
is  built  around  the  idea  of  what  Russia  is  to 
be  in  the  future  rather  than  on  what  she  is 
today. 

Third,  an  understanding  and  appreciation 
of  Russia's  importance  in  the  correlation  be- 
tween nations,  as  well  as  evidence  the  note 
offers  that  America,  looking  forward,  seems 
to  realize  that,  after  Russia  is  restored,  she 
will  be  vigorous  and  influential  in  interna- 
tional affairs;  and  that  if  such  a  Russia  has 
reason  to  feel  that  she  has  been  injured  or 
dealt  with  in  an  unfriendly  way,  the  founda- 
tion would  be  laid  for  future  serious  world 
disturbance. 

The  American  policy  as  thus  revealed, 
however,  is  fully  consistent  with  the  main 
principles  that  have  guided  this  Government 
in  its  attitude  toward  Russia  during  the  last 
year,  and  which  have  been  emphasized  in 
these  dispatches.  In  these  months  the 
United  States  seems  to  have  been  the  only 
country  which  has  had  anything  like  a  defi- 
nite, underlying  principle  running  through 
its  Russian  policy  as  opposed  to  the  short- 
sighted opportunism  in  the  Russian  policy 
of  European  Governments. 

Maintains  Our  Attitude 

The  American  Government  has  stood  out 
against  the  disintegration  and  dismember- 
ment of  national  Russia  and  refused  to  ac- 
cord recognition  to  the  new  States  of 
Esthonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  the  Ukraine 
and  the  Caucasian  republics  carved  out  of 
Russian  territory.  It  has  never  given  its 
approval  to  the  idea  of  the  so-called  "cordon 
sanitaire,"  or  sanitary  barrier,  between 
Russia  and  the  Central  Powers,  and  it  has 
•  steadily  opposed  the  imperialistic  claims  of 
the  Russian  border  States  which,  although 
now  benefiting  from  an  application  of  the 
principles  of  nationality  and  justice,  have 
turned  their  ambitions  toward  annexationist 
experiments. 

Similarly,  with  full  sympathy  for  the  lib- 
eration of  Poland  and  the  establishment  of 
Polish  independence  within  an  ethnographic 
frontier,  the  American  Government  has  con- 
sistently opposed  imperialistic  ambitions  of 
Polish  landlordship  and  militarism  such  as 
were  revealed  in  the  demand  in  Poland's 
peace  terms  to  Soviet  Russia  for  the  sur- 
render of  Russian  sovereignty  over  20,000,- 
000  Russians  east  of  the  line  of  1772,  which 
was  the  eastern  frontier  before  the  first 
partition  of  Poland. 

The  same  point  of  view  was  consistently 
maintained  by  the  American  Government  in 
its  opposition  to  the  annexation  of  Bessara- 
bia by  Rumania.    Washington  insisted  that 


290 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


the  Bessarabian  question  should  be  settled, 
without  detriment  to  Russian  interests,  by 
a  just  and  impartial  plebiscite. 

Again,  in  its  attitude  toward  the  allied 
proposals  for  trading  with  Soviet  Russia,  in 
the  advocacy  of  which  certain  European 
elements  seemed  to  be  inspired  by  motives 
of  political  expediency  or  immediate  profits, 
the  United  States,  looking  still  to  the  fu- 
ture, took  its  stand  against  having  any  gov- 
ernmental dealings  whatever  with,  or  recog- 
nition of,  the  Soviet  Republic.  That  position 
is  still  being  maintained.  While  individual 
Americans,  if  they  so  wished,  might  em- 
bark on  trade  ventures  with  Russia,  the 
Government  let  it  be  known  that  they  must 
do  so  on  their  own  responsibility. 

American  policy  thus  has  been  framed  on 
broad  general  lines,  without  running  coun- 
ter to  or  taking  advantage  of  the  future 
interests  of  the  Russian  people  as  a  whole, 
and  without  prejudicing  American  relations 
with  the  Russia  of  the  future. 

THE  KILLING  OF  THE  TREATY 

Philadelphia  North  American 

Although  clearly  foreshadowed,  and  to 
some  extent  discounted,  the  defeat  of  the 
peace  treaty  must  seem  to  every  thoughtful 
American  an  event  of  extreme  gravity.  The 
certain  and  possible  consequences  are  so  se- 
rious that  all  those  who  bear  any  part  of  the 
responsibility  must  be  prepared  to  offer  con- 
vincing reasons  in  justification  of  their 
course,  or  to  suffer  lasting  condemnation. 
In  any  case  the  struggle  which  began  in  the 
senate  eight  months  ago,  but  which  really 
had  its  inception  at  least  three  years  before, 
will  provide  one  of  the  most  important  chap- 
ters in  American  history;  for  there  have 
been  involved  not  only  far-reaching  issues 
of  international  policy,  but  fundamental 
principles  of  this  nation's  system  of  govern- 
ment. 

This  marked  the  third  defeat  of  the  treaty 
by  the  senate.  On  November  19,  exactly 
four  months  before,  it  was  voted  down 
twice,  only  to  be  revived  in  February  and  re- 
considered. But  last  Friday's  action  was  de- 
cisive, for  the  treaty  was  returned  to  the 
president,  with  formal  notice  that  it  had 
been  rejected.  So  far  as  the  senate  is  con- 
cerned the  disposition  is  final;  to  reopen  the 
case  would  require  resubmission  of  the 
treaty  by  the  president,  and  there  is  no 
likelihood  that  he  will  take  such  action.  He 
has  fulfilled  his  threat  to  make  the  peace 
of  the  world  an  issue  in  the  presidential 
campaign. 

With  astonishing  hardihood,  the  presi- 
dent's partisans  represent  him  as  a  cham- 
pion of  ratification,  and  the  adverse  vote  as 


a  calamity  which  he  strove  to  avert.  The 
facts  are  precisely  contrary  to  this  pre- 
tense. On  the  direct  issue  of  ratification 
he  was  on  the  negative  side.  The  senators 
whom  he  accuses  of  obstructing  peace  are 
those  who  voted  to  ratify  the  treaty;  those 
who  obeyed  his  orders  voted  to  kill  ^  it. 
Thus  while  the  essential  result  was  rejec- 
tion, through  failure  to  get  a  two-thirds 
vote  in  the  affirmative,  it  is  on  record  that 
the  senate,  by  a  clear  majority,  voted  to 
ratify,  and  that  effective  approval  was  pre- 
vented by  Mr.  Wilson. 

Apart  from  this,  the  outstanding  feature 
was  the  president's  loss  of  support  since  the 
former  test.  The  first  vote  on  November  19 
showed  35  Republicans  and  4  Democrats  for 
ratification,  13  Republicans  and  42  Demo- 
crats against;  upon  reconsideration  34  Re- 
publicans and  7  Democrats  voted  to  ratify, 
while  the  adverse  group  was  made  up  of  13 
Republicans,  as  before,  with  37  Democrats. 
Hence  there  was  a  majority  of  16,  and  then 
of  9,  against  ratification.  Last  Friday,  on 
the  contrary,  the  vote  was  49  to  35  in  favor 
of  ratification.  The  majority  included  28 
Republicans  and  21  Democrats,  the  minor- 
ity 12  Republicans  and  23  Democrats;  thus 

14  Democrats  joined  the  original  7  in  dis- 
obeying the  orders  of  the  president.  All  of 
the  twelve  senators  absent  or  not  voting 
were  paired,  and,  a  two-thirds  majority  be- 
ing required,  each  one  against  ratification 
was  paired  with  two  favoring  it.  If  the 
entire  membership  had  voted  the  result 
would  have  stood:  For  ratification,  34  Re- 
publicans, 23  Democrats,  total  57;  against, 

15  Republicans,  24  Democrats;  total  39.  No 
very  close  analysis  of  these  votes  is  neces- 
sary to  refute  the  charge  that  the  issue  was 
decided  upon  motives  of  partisanship.  As 
a  fact,  on  few  important  questions  have 
party  lines  been  more  nearly  obliterated. 

A  Democratic  senator — Mr.  King  of  Utah 
— gave  the  most  concise  possible  explanation 
of  the  result.  "It  was  due,"  he  said,  "to  the 
implacable  hostility  of  some  Republicans  and 
the  indefensible  position  of  some  Demo- 
crats." The  former  comprised  a  group  of 
senators  who  felt  that  the  league  of  nations 
covenant  could  not  be  made  safe  for  this 
country  even  by  the  reservations  adopted; 
the  latter  comprised  those  Democrats  who, 
regardless  of  their  personal  convictions, 
adopted  the  president's  view  that  the  whole 
treaty  should  be  killed  rather  than  that 
American  rights  and  interests  in  the  league 
of  nations  should  be  safeguarded  by  the 
reservations  which  a  decisive  majority  had 
approved. 

Obviously,  however,  the  senate's  action 
cannot  be  fairly  judged  without  study   of 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


291 


the  preceding  incidents  in  the  prolonged 
and  intricate  contest.  And  that  past  history- 
is  necessarily  a  record  of  President  Wilson's 
actions  and  utterances,  which  have  dictated 
or  influenced  every  development. 

Even  before  the  United  States  entered  the 
war  he  had  undertaken  to  direct  the  course 
of  the  settlement,  and  long  before  the  conflict 
closed  he  had  declared  in  the  name  of  this 
country  a  peace  program  embodying  fea- 
tures distinctly  foreign  to  American  tradi- 
tions and  policies.  In  support  of  this  plan 
he  asked  the  nation  to  sign  a  blank  check 
of  authority  by  electing  a  congress  con- 
trolled by  his  partisans.  His  request  was 
denied,  for  a  congress  was  elected  with  a 
majority  in  both  houses  against  him. 
Nevertheless,  although  he  had  promised  to 
abide  by  the  result,  he  disregarded  it  by 
going  to  Europe  and  pledging  the  United 
States  for  all  time  to  engagements  which 
the  nation  had  never  authorized  and  to  which 
it  was  manifestly  opposed. 

His  main  purpose  was  to  merge  the  power 
of  this  country  in  a  world  league,  upon  the 
theory  that  this  sacrifice  of  American  na- 
tionalism would  benefit  mankind;  that  cause 
he  considered,  he  said,  "greater  than  the 
government."  He  had  a  secondary  object, 
however;  he  was  determined  to  nullify  the 
constitutional  power  of  the  senate  as  a  co- 
equal part  of  the  treaty-making  power,  and 
to  create  an  executive  absolutism  in  this 
function  of  the  government.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  he  excluded  the  senate  wholly 
from  his  confidence,  and  denied  to  that  body, 
for  the  first  time  in  American  history,  rep- 
resentation upon  a  treaty-making  mission. 

When  presenting  the  league  covenant  to 
the  international  conference,  in  February, 
1919,  he  made  the  baseless  assertion  that 
he  had  an  "imperative  mandate"  from  the 
American  people  so  to  do.  Upon  returning 
temporarily  to  this  country  a  few  weeks 
later  he  found  strong  opposition  to  his 
course,  but  expressed  complete  disregard  for 
it.  On  the  eve  of  his  second  departure  he 
received  formal  notice,  signed  by  forty-one 
members  of  the  incoming  senate,  that  the 
league  covenant  as  framed  would  not  be  ac- 
cepted, but  his  response  was  an  angry  de- 
fiance. He  would,  he  declared,  so  inter- 
twine the  peace  treaty  and  the  covenant  that 
they  could  not  be  separated  "without  de- 
stroying the  whole  vital  structure,"  and  he 
proclaimed  that  America  must  "make  the 
supreme  sacrifice,  without  counting  the 
cost." 

In  the  face  of  constantly  growing  pro- 
tests he  carried  out  his  plan,  and  on  July  10 
presented  to  the  senate  the  combined  treaty 
and  covenant.    The  defects  and  dangers  of 


the  instrument  were  so  obvious  that  drastic 
reservations  were  demanded;  but  President 
Wilson  declared  forthwith  the  position  from 
which  he  never  receded— that  the  nation 
must  accept  every  obligation  he  had  pledged 
and  that  the  senate  must  ratify  without 
modification  the  document  he  presented. 
Failing  to  bend  individual  senators  to  his 
will,  he  undertook  to  coerce  them  by  in- 
citing public  opinion  against  them.  During 
the  month  of  September  he  toured  the  coun- 
try, and  in  a  series  of  speeches  advocated 
acceptance  of  his  work,  while  denouncing 
the  opposing  senators  as  "contemptible 
quitters,"  pro-Germans  and  enemies  of 
peace.  No  more  elaborate  ^d  determined 
propaganda  was  ever  conducted,  but  its 
demonstrated  result  was  to  intensify  the  de- 
mand, both  throughout  the  country  and  in 
the  senate,  for  reservations  to  the  covenant 
which  would  preserve  American  sovereignty 
and  independence. 

When  the  tour  was  near  its  end  the  presi- 
dent became  ill,  and  he  was  compelled  to  go 
into  seclusion  for  nearly  six  months.  Mean- 
while the  treaty  had  been  under  prolonged 
consideration  in  the  foreign  relations  com- 
mittee and  in  the  senate,  and  in  November 
fifteen  reservations  were  adopted,  supported 
by  the  votes  of  from  three  to  ten  Demo- 
crats in  each  case.  They  were  included  in  the 
resolution  of  ratification.  On  November  18, 
the  day  before  the  final  vote  was  to  be  taken, 
President  Wilson  wrote  a  letter  requesting 
the  administration  senators  to  vote  down  the 
resolution,  and  his  order  was  obeyed,  the 
senate  adjourning  immediately  thereafter. 

His  supporters  said  he  would  resubmit  the 
treaty  at  the  new  session,  but  he  held  that 
it  was  still  before  the  senate,  and,  after 
remaining  silent  for  two  weeks,  while  nego- 
tiations for  compromise  went  on  incessant- 
ly, he  issued  curt  notice  that  he  would  con- 
sent to  "no  compromise  or  concession  of 
any  kind."  Efforts  to  find  a  basis  of  settle- 
ment continued,  nevertheless,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  reveal  more  nakedly  his  arbi- 
trary purpose.  On  January  8  he  wrote  a 
letter  condemning  all  reservations.  "I  do 
not  accept  the  action  of  the  senate  as  the 
decision  of  the  nation,"  he  said,  and  declared 
that  rather  than  accept  the  treaty  with  them 
he  would  "submit  it  for  determination  at 
the  next  election."  So  little  sway  did  par- 
tisanship have  in  the  senate  that  even  after 
this  sweeping  rejection  of  compromise  the 
opposing  groups  continued  their  own  efforts 
and  reached  agreement  on  virtually  all  of 
the  reservations  except  that  affecting  Ar- 
ticle X. 

On  February  1  came  an  incident  which 
completed  the  discrediting  of  the  president's 


292 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


intolerant  position.  One  of  his  main  argu- 
ments had  been  that  America  must  make 
"the  supreme  sacrifice"  because  "our  fidelity 
to  our  associates  in  the  war  is  in  question." 
But  it  had  long  been  known  that  the  Allies 
were  ready  to  assent  to  all  the  vital  Ameri- 
can reservations,  and  their  position  ^  was 
made  known  definitely  in  a  letter  published 
by  Viscount  Grey,  British  ambassador  in 
Washington.  Addressing  his  countrymen, 
he  explained  the  constitutional  powers  of 
the  senate,  repudiated  the  charge  that  reser- 
vations would  involve  bad  faith,  justified 
the  limiting  of  this  country's  obligations 
under  the  league,  and  explained  why  it  was 
wise  to  provide  against  the  possibility  that 
a  president  might  make  engagements  which 
congress  and  the  people  might  disapprove. 

President  Wilson  never  publicly  com- 
mented upon  this  letter,  but  he  showed  that 
solicitude  for  our  associates  in  the  war  was 
not  the  reason  behind  his  arbitrary  posi- 
tion; for,  after  the  senate  had  readopted 
the  reservations — again  by  bi-partisan  vote 
— he  wrote  once  more  condemning  them,  and 
a  few  days  ago  returned  the  draft  of  a  com- 
promise reservation  with  the  peremptory 
marginal  note,  "This  is  unacceptable  to  me." 

A  survey  of  the  record  shows  three  funda- 
mental reasons  why  the  league  idea,  which 
in  the  beginning  had  strong  support  in  this 
country,  fell  into  discredit  and  finally  met 
repudiation.  First,  President  Wilson,  by 
written  appeal,  made  it  a  partisan  issue, 
and  it  never  recovered  from  that  blighting 
designation.  Second,  he  attempted  to  nul- 
lify the  constitutional  powers  of  the  senate, 
a  course  which  neither  that  body  nor  the 
people  would  tolerate.  Third,  he  undertook 
to  force  upon  the  country  a  revolutionary 
change  in  policy,  involving  a  surrender  of 
that  freedom  of  judgment  and  action  which 
is  the  first  prerogative  of  nationhood  and 
which  has  been  the  means  through  which 
America  has  served  the  cause  of  liberty  for 
a  century  and  a  half. 

When  it  was  shovra  that  no  such  sacrifice 
was  necessary,  the  Allies  themselves  assent- 
ing to  the  reservations,  the  last  pretense 
supporting  his  contentions  was  swept  away, 
and  he  was  revealed  as  one  who  put  his 
personal  will  above  the  interests  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  welfare  of  the  world. 

A  single  word  from  President  Wilson,  at 
any  time  during  the  last  six  months,  would 
have  insured  instant  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  and  the  league  of  nations 
covenant,  in  a  form  safe  for  America  and 
satisfactory  to  the  stricken  nations  of  Eu- 
rope that  have  pleaded  for  our  co-operation. 
But  that  word  he  would  not  utter;  rather 
would  he  "break  the  heart  of  the  world" 


than  bend  his  will  to  that  of  the  Ameril 
people.  Is  it  to  be  doubted  where  histoi 
will  apply  the  description  which  an  adminis 
tration  organ  strangely  applies  to  the  cours 
of  the  senate — a  "prolonged  and  disgracefi 
exhibition  of  mean-spirited  partisanship  an^ 
incompetence?" 

THE  MOOD  OF  THE  IRISH  MIND 

By  Lloyd  R.  Morris 

The  Outlook 

To  the  poet,  as  to  the  politician,  the 
duality  of  Ireland  has  always  been  appar- 
ent. Ignoring  the  facile  and  somewhat 
casual  distinction  drawn  by  his  more  vol- 
uble compatriots,  the  poet  of  the  Celtic 
renascence  has  celebrated  an  Ireland  hav- 
ing its  existence  in  the  world  of  reality,  and 
another,  none  the  less  real,  in  which  the 
most  familiar  dwellers  are  vision  and  imag- 
ination. The  paths  which  have  led  to  this 
legendary  and  fabulous  country  are  as  vari- 
ous as  the  spirit  of  its  discoverers,  but  the 
voyage  itself  has  had  a  special  significance 
in  its  relation  to  English  literature  of  the 
past  quarter-century. 

The  writings  of  Lady  Gregory  afford  per- 
haps the  best  of  introductions  to  the  body  of 
literature  produced  in  Ireland  during  the 
past  thirty  years  because,  superficially  at 
least,  they  exemplify  the  qualities  common- 
ly assumed  to  be  characteristic  of  the  lit- 
erary expression  of  the  renascence.  Three 
of  its  major  preoccupations  have  profoundly 
influenced  her  work — the  revival  of  interest 
in  Gaelic  tradition  and  legend,  the  discovery 
of  peasant  life  as  the  subject-matter  of  a 
literature,  and  the  use  of  peasant  idiom  as  a 
means  of  literary  expression.  To  a  very 
high  degree  her  work  has  been  the  result  of 
a  conscious  desire  to  justify  these  interests 
which  in  the  early  days  of  the  literary  re- 
nascence had  not  acquired  the  force  of  an 
accepted  theory  of  art,  but  were  tentative 
principles  put  forth  by  Yeats,  A.  E.  and 
Douglas  Hyde. 

It  was  from  Yeats  that  Lady  Gregory  bor- 
rowed the  programme  on  which  she  founded 
her  long  series  of  books.  Yeats  began  with 
the  desire  to  create  a  body  of  literature 
founded  upon  national  tradition  and  directly 
expressive  of  national  spiritual  life,  written 
in  a  language  at  once  poetic  and  colloquial. 
He  found  the  subject-matter  of  this  litera- 
ture in  the  ancient  folk-tales  and  its  lan- 
guage in  the  imaginative  and  vigorous  idiom 
of  the  peasantry  of  the  western  counties. 
To  Lady  Gregory,  who  possessed  the  knowl- 
edge of  Gaelic  which  he  lacked,  Yeats  sug- 
gested the  scheme  of  a  modern  rendering  of 
the  old  folk-tales  in  this  idiom,  which  is  es- 
sentially  but   a   literal   translation   of  col- 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


293 


loquial  Gaelic.  The  genesis  of  the  pro- 
gramme was  "Cuchulain  of  Muirthemne," 
published  in  1902,  and  with  the  passage  of 
time  and  the  achievement  of  greater  lit- 
erary maturity  Lady  Gregory  developed  a 
distinctly  individual  ability  to  record  con- 
temporary peasant  life  in  Galway  in  its  own 
terms,  a  talent  which  she  carefully  fostered 
by  assiduously  collecting  peasant  dialect  in 
her  native  parish  of  Kiltartan. 

Her  latest  book — "Visions  and  Beliefs  in 
the  West  of  Ireland"— is  a  substantial  rec- 
ord of  her  many  years  of  diligent  observa- 
tion and  immediate  contact  with  the  peas- 
antry of  Kiltartan.  The  two  volumes  are  a 
note-book  of  those  conversations  in  which 
discussion  has  turned  upon  the  subject  of 
the  supernatural;  they  are  a  direct  tran- 
scription of  actual  experiences,  arranged  and 
edited  for  publication,  but  presumably  in  no 
wise  modified.  The  first  and  most  striking 
impression  derived  from  the  book  is  a  re- 
newed conviction  of  the  faithfulness  and  the 
essential  realism  with  which  Lady  Gregory, 
in  her  creative  writing,  has  rendered  the 
spirit  and  the  atmosphere  of  life  in  the 
western  counties.  For  in  these  brief  and 
fragmentary  records  there  is  the  concrete, 
pungent  expression  and  image-making  qual- 
ity of  the  peasant  mind  and  the  peasant 
idiom  which  have  been  revealed  in  her  plays, 
and  with  more  conspicuous  art,  though  no 
more  scrupulous  fidelity,  in  the  plays  of 
Synge.  To  a  very  high  degree  the  colloquial 
speech  of  the  country  folk  is  an  accurate 
index  to^  their  psychology.  Poetic  and  in- 
stinct with  a  superbly  exuberant  beauty  of 
phrase,  it  seems  the  expression  of  an  imme- 
diate reaction  to  experience,  and,  in  the 
case  of  the  Kiltartan  people,  is  obviously 
unconscious  of  any  art.  It  has  something 
of  the  quality  of  that  magic  wonder  at 
familiar  things,  the  fresh,  unconventional 
vision  so  characteristic  of  imaginative  chil- 
dren. Take,  for  example,  the  description 
of  the  banshee  given  to  Lady  Gregory  by  a 
spinning  woman: 

"The  Banshee  is  all  I  ever  saw  myself.  It 
was  when  I  was  a  slip  of  a  girl,  picking  po- 
tatoes along  with  the  other  girls,  we  heard 
crying,  crying,  in  the  graveyard  beyond  at 
Ryanrush,  so  we  ran  like  foals  to  see  who 
was  being  buried,  and  I  was  first,  and  leaped 
up  on  the  wall.  And  there  she  was  and  gave 
me  a  slap  on  the  jaw,  and  she  just  like  a 
countrywoman  with  a  red  petticoat.  Often 
they  hear  her  crying  if  any  one  is  going  to 
die  in  the  village." 

Equally  vivid  and  suggestive  is  the  way  in 
which  a  woman  from  the  shore  describes  the 
cry  of  the  banshee: 


"One  time  there  was  a  man  in  the  village 
was  dying,  and  I  stood  at  the  door  in  the 
evening  and  I  heard  a  crying — the  grandest 
crying  you  ever  heard— and  I  said,  'Glynn's 
after  dying,  and  they're  crying  him.'  And 
they  all  came  to  the  door  and  heard  it. 
But  my  mother  went  out  after  that  and 
found  him  gasping  still. 

"Sure  enough,  it  was  the  Banshee  we 
heard  that  evening. 

"And  out  there  where  the  turf-boat  is 
lying  with  its  sail  down  outside  Aughanish, 
there  the  Banshee  does  always  be  crying, 
crying,  for  some  that  went  down  there  some 
time." 

Of  the  visions  and  beliefs  of  the  country 
folk  of  Kiltartan  much  could  be  written  by 
way  of  commentary.  Mr.  Yeats,  in  two 
characteristic  essays  appended  to  the  vol- 
umes under  consideration,  strives,  with  no 
little  show  of  scholarship,  to  connect  them 
with  the  main  current  of  traditional  mys- 
tical philosophy  to  which  his  own  theories 
of  both  life  and  art  owe  so  much.  But  the 
conformity  of  belief  which  he  adduces  is 
hardly  a  profitable  consideration  to  any  but 
the  student  of  folk  legend  and  its  relation 
to  historical  systems  of  supernatural  phi- 
losophy. And  any  interpretation  which  pro- 
ceeds by  postulating  the  analogy  of  a 
philosophical  theory  fails,  by  reason  of  its 
dependence  upon  intellectual  subtleties,  to 
explain  the  most  primitive  expression  of 
faith. 

The  essentially  individual  quality  of  the 
Kiltartan  cosmology,  that  which  distin- 
guishes it  from  the  lore  of  other  imagina- 
tive folk,  is  the  sheer  poetry  immanent  in 
its  animistic  conception  of  nature.  The  Irish 
peasant  creates  and  localizes  a  tradition  of 
familiar  presences  with  which  he  peoples 
the  neighborhood  of  his  home.  There  are 
places  under  the  special  protection  of  the 
Sidhe — raths  and  forths  and  thorn  bushes. 
The  Sidhe  themselves  dwell  in  Tir-nan-Og, 
the  country  of  the  ever-young,  which  lies 
close  beyond  the  borders  of  the  world  of 
daily  existence.  They  appear  to  the  mortal 
eye  as  clouds  of  dust  borne  by  the  wind,  or 
as  a  flock  of  wool  floating  idly  in  the  au- 
tumn air,  as  bird,  or  beast,  or  blade  of  grass. 
They  may  be  friendly  to  man,  in  which  case 
his  work  prospers,  or  with  joyous  malice 
plague  him  should  he  disturb  their  life. 
From  them  wise  women  and  old  men  derive 
their  power  to  foretell  the  future,  heal  the 
sick,  and  cast  magic  spells.  The  Sidhe  call 
"away"  to  their  world  many  of  the  dwellers 
in  this,  usually  by  a  touch,  or  a  glance  from 
the  evil  eye  of  a  neighbor,  or  some  unwonted 
"terror."  Those  who  have  been  "touched" 
or  called  disappear  from  the  world  of  life 


294 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


into  that  of  shadow,  leaving  a  body  not  their 
own,  but  the  like  of  it,  in  their  place.  Some- 
times those  who  have  been  called  "away" 
return  for  a  brief  space,  or,  when  old  and 
useless  to  the  Sidhe,  to  die  and  get  burial 
on  earth.  To  certain  people  only  is  the 
faculty  of  seeing  these  presences  given; 
usually  it  is  a  reward  for  some  simple  act 
of  kindness,  such  as  leaving  a  bit  of  milk  or 
a  few  potatoes  in  the  house  of  a  night  for 
the  little  folk  to  sup  on.  The  dead  are 
frequently  among  them,  and  they  will  give 
counsel  to  their  friends  in  this  world.  Cer- 
tain familiar  objects  of  our  daily  life  par- 
take of  this  spirit  of  activity;  butter  is  one, 
and  there  are  certain  animals  which  are 
"sheoguey"  or  haunted. 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  characteris- 
tic of  this  other  world  is  the  fact  of  its  co- 
existence with  the  abiding  Catholicism  of 
the  Irish  peasantry.  Religious  belief  has 
added  to.  it  only  an  interpretation;  it  has  not 
shaken  the  primitive  faith.  The  Sidhe  have 
been  identified  with  the  fallen  angels  and 
the  unquiet  spirits  of  the  dead.  Tir-nan-og 
is  a  vision  of  purgatory,  and  the  Fool  of 
the  Forth,  or  Amadan-na-Briona,  the  su- 
preme power  of  evil,  is  but  an  aspect  of 
Satan.  Priests  can,  if  they  will,  perform  the 
magic  cures  of  the  wise  women  that  have 
their  knowledge  of  the  Sidhe.  But,  it  seems, 
this  practice  is  discouraged,  and  the  use  of 
this  wisdom  is,  in  the  main,  left  to  "knowl- 
edgeable folk"  who  are  in  ecclesiastical 
disfavor. 

"Visions  and  Beliefs  in  the  West  of  Ire- 
land" is  a  notable  contribution  to  folk 
poetry  and  a  valuable  revelation  of  the  mood 
of  the  Irish  mind.  To  some  it  will  make 
apparent  a  peculiarly  emotional  and  imag- 
inative sensitiveness  which  is  characteristic 
of  this  mood.  To  others,  less  incredulous 
and  less  disposed  to  accept  a^  final  the  sanc- 
tions of  demonstrable  scientific  fact,  it  will 
convey  some  sense  of  the  tenuity  of  the 
shifting  boundaries  which  separate  a  world 
of  tangible  reality  from  one  of  spirit.  The. 
incredulous  have  for  their  position  the  au- 
thority of  a  great  poet,  though  a  harsh 
critic  of  Ireland,  who,  in  a  dialogue  of  "A 
View  of  the  Present  State  of  Ireland,"  re- 
marked that  Irish  superstition  was  in  no 
sense  noteworthy,  since  "it  is  the  manner 
of  all  barbarous  nations  to  be  very  supersti- 
tious, and  diligent  observers  of  old  customs 
and  antiquityes;  which  they  receave  by  con- 
tinuall  tradition  from  theyr  parents,  by  re- 
cording of  theyr  Bards  and  Chronicles,  in 
theyr  songes,  and  by  daylye  use  and  ex- 
amples of  theyr  elders." 

Tentatively  we  may  find  the  explanation 
of  this  quality  in  the  harsh  reality  of  their 


lives  and  in  the  consequent  revolt  against 
the  despotism  of  fact,  which  opposes  to  the 
world  of  actual  experience  demonstrated  by 
physical  sense  a  world  of  beauty  revealed 
in  visions.  "Your  old  m.en,"  it  was  once 
told  another  nation,  "shall  dream  dreams, 
your  young  men  shall  see  visions." 

THIS  IS  THE  LIFE 

Boston  Evening  Globe 

A  good  woman  who  used  to  cultivate  the 
young  idea  in  a  suburban  high  school  had  a 
pet  aversion  to  the  phrase,  "common  peo- 
ple," which  she  labored  incessantly  to  have 
her  pupils  share.  She  said  that  people  could 
be  poor,  illiterate,  barbaric,  cruel,  selfish, 
but  not  common.  No  living,  breathing 
human  being  was  uninteresting.  Reference 
to  the  less-privileged,  hard-scrubbing 
classes,  which  make  up  so  large  a  part  of 
our  citizenship,  as  "the  common  people"  was 
to  her  mind  the  most  atrocious  of  libels. 

Would  you  like  to  find  romance  outside  of 
the  movies  (in  real,  instead  of  reel  life,  as 
the  caricaturist  puts  it)'  Then  look  about 
you — in  home,  shop  or  office.  Select  the 
nearest  person  and  you  can  say:  "This  is 
no  common  man  or  woman.  Here  is  a 
volume  which  could  yield  an  absorbing  story. 
Over  it  I  should  laugh  and  weep." 

It  would  be  impossible  to  get  the  whole 
story.  If  the  person,  in  a  frank  and  con- 
fiding mood,  were  to  divulge  everything 
within  his  or  her  knowledge,  the  mystery  of 
that  human  life  would  be  still  far  from 
explained.  The  most  you  could  hope  for 
would  be  a  peek  into  it. 

Must  you  have  romance?  Then,  delve 
into  your  own  personal  story.  What  are  you 
— and  why?  Can  you  imagine  your  cave- 
man progenitors  of  the  dim,  obscure  ages 
shaping  habits  and  characteristics  to  be  in- 
herited by  you  and  associated  with  your  per- 
sonality these  thousands  of  years  later? 
What  do  you  know,  anyway,  about  that 
amazing  self  of  yours?  How  little  you  can 
find  out. 


Introspection 

Poor  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  did  what  few 
persons  dare  to  do.  He  explored  the  inner 
recesses  of  his  own  soul,  stripped  it  stark- 
naked  and  held  the  mirror  up  for  public 
scrutiny.  His  intention  was  to  reveal  him- 
self— to  let  everybody  see  what  manner  of 
man  he  was.  But  as  no  man  can  explain 
himself,  he  merely  succeeded  in  approach- 
ing the  brink  of  madness. 

Listen  to  Jean  Jacques,  testifying  to  the 
strange  threads  of  superstition  engrafted 
in  the  woof  and  warp  of  his  mind  by  cen- 
turies of  fanciful  forbears: 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


295 


"The  dread  of  hell  frequently  tormented 
me.  One  day,  meditating  on  the  melancholy 
subject,  I  exercised  myself  in  throwing 
stones  at  trees.  I  said:  *I  will  throw  this 
stone  at  the  tree  facing  me;  if  I  hit  my 
mark  I  will  consider  it  as  a  sign  of  salva- 
tion; if  I  miss  it,  as  a  token  of  damnation/" 
.  .  .  He  was  careful  to  choose  trees  that 
were  large  and  conveniently  near. 

Do  you  dodge  around  ladders?  Are  you 
wary  of  black  cats  ?  Do  you  front-face  with 
a  nervous  jerk  when  you  catch  yourself  look- 
ing at  the  moon  over  the  wrong  shoulder? 

Whoever  pleads  guilty  may  blam_e  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  his  antediluvian  ancestors. 
It  takes  a  long  time  to  shake  off  old  habits 
and  notions. 


Why  Be  Bored? 

What  a  wonderful,  complex  creature  is 
every  man  and  woman.  In  you  are  the  sins 
and  virtues  of  your  line,  diluted  or  rein- 
forced by  what  your  own  mind  has  absorbed 
in  its  rough-and-tumble  contest  with  the 
world. 

Childhood  impressions  have  stamped 
themselves  upon  your  brain  while  it  was 
most  plastic,  and  helped  to  mold  your  ideas 
and  prejudices,  your  methods  of  thought 
and  action.  Very  likely  to  put  on  your  left 
sock  before  the  right  one  every  morning. 

What  has  environment — time  and  place — 
done  for  or  against  you?  If  you  are  mar- 
ried and  have  children  what  whim  of  fate 
decreed  that  your  peculiar  inherited  traits 
should  be  merged  with  those  of  the  particu- 
lar partner  you  chose  and  be  passed  on  to 
your  children  and  children's  children? 

A  bachelor,  past  middle  age,  casually  dis- 
cussed a  few  days  ago  an  incident  of  his 
ov/n  life.  A  barefoot  country  boy  in  a  rural 
school,  he  struck  up  an  acquaintance  with 
a  little  girl.  Some  controlling  influence 
transplanted  him  from  country  to  city,  still 
cherishing  the  memory.  A  few  years 
passed.  Then,  skating  one  afternoon  on 
Boston  Common,  he  looked  up — and  saw  the 
girl.  Just  a  glimpse.  He  wanted  to  hail 
her.  Boyish  timidity  closed  his  mouth. 
Other  years  flitted  by.  The  man,  full-grown 
and  traveling  with  a  theatrical  troupe,  was 
playing  in  a  Massachusetts  city.  Again, 
from  somewhere,  the  same  girl  popped  up 
before  his  vision.  And  once  more  he  hesi- 
tated, and  let  her  pass. 

What  might  have  happened  had  he  re- 
newed the  acquaintance  ?  What  intervened  ? 
Did  this  spoil  a  romance  ?  Did  it  affect  two 
lives?  If  he  had  married,  would  he  be 
happier  or  unhappier  than  he  is  today, 
richer  or  poorer,  a  more  useful  or  a  less 
useful  citizen?    Who  knows? 


But  don't  be  bored  by  life.  Don't  depend 
for  romance  upon  weak,  artificial  imitations 
of  the  real  thing. 

What  Controls  You? 

Appreciation  of  the  grandeur  and  at  the 
same  time  of  the  fatalism  of  human  life  is 
the  best  antidote  for  vanity  and  conceit. 
The  most  precious  birthright  of  man  is  his 
inherent  capacity  for  developing  will  power 
and  a  measure  of  control  over  his  destinies. 
No  matter  how  he  may  be  buffeted  by  Fate, 
it  is  his  duty  to  exercise  always,  so  far  as 
he  is  able,  that  little  rudder  of  control. 
But,  in  reality,  what  limited  control  he  has! 
Of  how  little  avail  is  the  rudder  of  man  on 
the  storm-tossed  sea  of  life! 

Did  the  assassination  of  an  Austrian  noble 
at  a  remote  place,  called  Sarajevo,  set  forces 
in  motion  which  were  ultimately  to  trans- 
form you  from  a  light-hearted  traveler, 
dilly-dallying  along  the  byways  of  life,  into 
a  fighting  man  with  a  gun  on  his  shoulder? 

Are  you  thinking  today  as  you  were 
thinking  in  1914?  Are  you  thinking  about 
the  little  world  inside  the  four  walls  of 
your  house,  or  are  you  thinking  about  the 
tangled  forces  of  the  big  world  outside, 
which  hold  you  and  your  home  and  the  fu- 
ture of  your  children  within  their  control? 

Individually,  we  are  of  no  importance;  to- 
gether, millions  of  us,  thinking  about  our 
great  common  home,  the  world,  we  can 
shape  and  direct  our  destinies. 

"A  Few  Faint  Clews'* 

Profound  humility  has  characterized 
those  few  illustrious  figures  who  have  be- 
come immortal.  The  really  great  man  is 
humble  because  he  feels  he  is  merely  an 
instrument  being  used  for  some  purpose  far 
greater  than  he.  From  the  army  of  "com- 
mon people"  an  unseen,  unfathomable  power 
has  selected  him  to  lead.  Lincoln,  with  a 
picture  of  human  slavery  photographed  on 
his  mind  from  boyhood,  knew  only  that  he 
was  fated  to  oppose  the  advance  of  that 
power,  and  dismissed  his  personal  fortunes 
with  a  line  from  Shakspere:  "There  is  a 
destiny  that  shapes  our  ends." 

Victor  Hugo,  in  "Toilers  of  the  Sea," 
philosophises: 

"There  are  times  when  the  unknown  re- 
veals itself  in  startling  ways  to  the  spirit  of 
man.  A  sudden  rent  in  the  veil  makes 
manifest  things  hitherto  unseen  and  then 
closes  again  upon  the  mysteries  within. 
Sometimes  such  visions  effect  transfigura- 
tions. They  convert  a  poor  camel  driver 
into  a  Mahomet;  a  peasant  girl  tending  her 
goats  into  a  Joan  of  Arc." 


296 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Walt  Whitman  reads  a  biography  and 
ponders  over  it: 

And   is   this   then    (said   I)    what   the 

author  calls  a  man's  life? 
And  so  will  someone  when  I  am  dead 

and  gone  write  my  life  ? 
(As  if  any  man  really  knew  aught  of 

my  life.) 
Why  even  I  myself,  I  often  think,  know 

little  or  nothing  of  my  real  life, 
Only  a  few  hints,  a  few  diffused  faint 

clews  and  indirections 
I  seek  for  my  own  use  to  trace  out  here. 
Life  is  a  wonderful  heritage,  never  drab 
or  common.  (The  potentiality  of  "common" 
lives  has  been  too  often  demonstrated.) 
The  great,  contemplating  the  mystery,  are 
humble;  by  conscientiously  striving  to  fol- 
low "a  few  faint  clews  and  indirections" 
mankind  redeems  the  birthright  and  gropes 
patiently  upward  to  the  light. 

— Uncle  Dudley. 
SATURDAY  NIGHT  THOUGHTS 
The  Springing  Up  of  Flame 

Boston    Transcript 

The  most  beautiful,  the  most  memorable 
thing,  I  sometimes  believe,  in  the  long  rec- 
ord of  human  emotion  and  experience,  is  the 
springing  up  of  flame.  The  match  is  struck. 
The  glowing  coals  on  the  hearth  are  drawn 
together;  they  smoulder  and  smoke  and 
suddenly  burst  out  in  cheerful,  flickering 
light.  One  needs  to  get  back  to  primitive 
conditions  to  feel  the  full  comfort  and 
beauty  of  that  experience.  Have  you  ever 
felt  the  difference  at  the  close  of  day,  after 
a  long  march  through  the  dripping  woods, 
when  a  camp  site  is  chosen  and  after  many 
difficulties  the  wet  fuel  is  at  last  coaxed 
into  a  flame? 

At  that  very  point  of  the  first  deliberately 
kindled  fire,  man,  who  for  all  his  clawless 
nakedness  is  lord  of  the  world,  parts  com- 
pany with  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  forest. 
Pittsburgh  and  Detroit  and  Cleveland,  Shef- 
field and  Birmingham,  all  leaped  prophetic 
in  that  first  jet  of  kindled  flame.  Mowgli 
nursing  his  torch  with  the  red  flower  in 
blossom  to  wave  in  the  face  of  the  tiger  is 
a  symbol  of  the  whole  earth's  history,  the 
story  not  merely  of  the  jungle,  but  also  of 
Thebes  and  Nineveh,  of  Athens  and  Rome, 
of  Boston  and  Washington.  When  it  dawned 
on  the  primeval  man  that  the  terror  of  the 
volcano  and  of  the  thunder  cloud  was  a 
servant  to  be  tamed  and  housed,  a  friend 
and  fellow-workman,  the  long  record  of 
what  we  call  civilization  had  begun. 

So  much  of  our  racial  history  is  summed 
up  and  brought  to  recollection  in  this  mo- 


ment of  the  outbursting  flame  that  it  is  noi 
strange  that  we  feel  ourselves  not  merely  a 
home  but  are  often  brought  into  a  medita 
tive  mood  by  the  hearthside.    The  flower  o: 
flame!    No  wonder  we  have  coupled  it  witl 
aspiration  and  desire,  with  inherited  emo 
tions   and  visions   of  the  future,  with  th( 
suggestions  of  thought  that  come  we  kno"v 
not  whence,  with  the  swift  illumination  o; 
vision,  with  unlooked-for   springing  up   a 
affection     between     those     who     yesterda; 
were  strangers,  with  the  disciple's  glow  o 
heart  when  he  first  feels  the  guiding  am 
uplifting  dominance  of  a  master.     Given  i 
mind  at  ease,  a  quiet  hour  and  a  seat  by 
the  upleaping  flame,  and  we  all  see  visions 
in  the  firelight.     It  is,  no  doubt,  excellent 
economy  to  have  the  latest  form  of  steam 
or  hot  water  heat  in  all  your  rooms.    But  it 
may  not  be  good  economy   of  thought  to 
miss    the    age-long    companionship    of   the 
leaping  flame. 

All  those  whose  work  in  any  wise  makes 
drafts  upon  the  faculty  of  invention  know 
the  exhilaration  of  that  flowering  up  of 
mental  heat  that  sets  the  hand  or  tongue 
at  work.  There  is  the  orator.  He  has 
thought  and  brooded  over  what  he  is  to  say, 
but  it  is  all  like  a  dull  and  smouldering  fire 
in  his  soul  until  he  stands  upon  his  feet  and 
looks  into  the  eyes  of  his  audience.  Then 
the  flame  breaks  forth  and  from  his  burning 
words  a  thousand  hearts  are  kindled.  The 
inventor  feels  his  way,  plans  and  experi- 
ments, but  always  meets  a  difficulty  or  suf- 
fers a  check.  And  then  in  some  happy 
moment  the  right  solution  of  his  problem 
dawns  upon  him  like  a  burst  of  clear  flame 
among  the  embers.  We  have  to  allow  in 
our  own  experience  for  these  smouldering, 
often  smoky,  times  which  precede  attain- 
ment. When  we  feel  least  capable  of  our 
best  accomplishment  we  have  no  right  to 
despair.  Our  business  is  to  draw  the  scat- 
tered embers  of  smouldering  thought  to- 
gether and  to  give  thanks  that  something 
of  the  sacred  fire  remains.  We  are  not  quite 
just  sometimes,  in  our  impatience,  with  our 
own  laggard  selves.  For  we  do  not  under- 
stand how  necessary  these  times  of  prep- 
aration often  are  to  prepare  the  way  for 
some  special  triumph  of  attainment. 

We  are  not  quite  just  either  to  one  another 
in  our  expectation  that  the  fire  of  thought 
or  of  wit  must  be  continuous  and  always 
equally  ablaze.  It  is  said  of  Talleyrand  that 
he  would  sit  quite  silent  in  company,  not 
always  in  appearance  even  listening;  and 
then,  suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  would  say 
some  memorable  or  startling  thing,  witty  or 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


297 


keen  or  cynical.  But  if  a  man  has  made 
his  reputation  as  a  humorist  whenever  he 
opens  his  mouth  in  company  everybody  is 
suddenly  agog  with  laughter,  even  though 
he  merely  remarks  that  the  weather  prom- 
ises to  rain  before  morning.  Some  of  us  are 
wise  enough  to  know  when  we  are  at  our 
best;  and,  when  we  are  not,  to  withdraw 
from  social  presence  and  competitions.  When 
Luella  is  weary  of  gadding  and  of  gossip 
she  takes  refuge  with  a  novel  or  her  knit- 
ting in  her  own  secluded  room.  But  vanity 
pushes  us  forward,  or  necessity  compels  us 
to  take  our  part  in  the  competitive  world 
when  it  would  be  better  for  our  peace  of 
mind  to  be  in  our  beds.  Luella,  who  has 
her  own  reserves  of  seclusion,  always  ex- 
pects her  favorite  novelist  to  be  equally 
brilliant  in  all  his  books  and  even  pages.  A 
lapse  into  dullness  is  what  she  cannot  bear; 
When  she  goes  to  church  she  complains  if 
the  preacher  is  not  at  his  most  thoughtful 
and  eloquent  best  in  every  sermon.  We  are 
not  quite  just,  I  say,  in  this  matter.  We 
forget  that  the  equal  days  and  weeks  come 
hurrying  round,  but  that  no  man — not  Na- 
poleon, nor  Wellington,  nor  Dickens,  nor 
Fenelon — is  always  at  his  best.  When  any 
man  is  always  at  his  best,  in  fact,  it  is 
usually  because  his  highest  level  is  not 
really  high.  But  how  much  poorer  this  old 
world  would  be  if  there  were  no  masters 
and  no  masterpieces,  and  their  appearance 
is  often  like  the  sudden  springing  up  of 
flame. 

I  like  to  think  that  there  are  smouldering 
lives,  lives  on  fire  at  the  heart  and  full  of 
promise,  which  never  come  to  full  expres- 
sion in  these  hurrying  days,  but  which  will 
reach  their  moments  of  the  leaping  up  of 
flames,  their  glorious  self-expression  and 
their  consoling  recognition,  in  some  expe- 
rience that  is  to  come.  God  is  not  so  hope- 
less of  us  as  we  are  of  each  other.  He  is 
patient  with  these  lives  of  slight  apparent 
fulfilment,  these  smouldering  fires  which 
seem  to  have  no  spirit  of  unleaping  in  them 
and  never  burst  into  a  flame.  We  may  be 
quite  mistaken  as  to  our  neighbors'  quality 
as  we  may  be  grievously  astray  about  their 
usefulness.  Perhaps  they  keep  alive  a  fire 
of  the  heart  which  will  only  come  to  evidence 
in  their  children.  Great  mothers  are  the 
root  and  not  the  flower  of  genius.  What 
was  Shakspeare's  mother  like,  we  wonder. 
Or  perhaps  these  silent  lives  are  partners 
of  those  who  shine  so  that  the  honor  of  the 
leaping  flames  in  justice  must  belong  to 
both  alike.  They  remind  us  of  the  great 
dark  stars  of  which  we  are  told,  where 
bright  and  dark  go  on  in  a  continual  com- 


panionship   of   revolution,    one   about   the 

other. 

There  are,  then,  inspiring  and  evocative, 
as  well  as  flaming  and  scintillating  people. 
We  lean  upon  those  who  never  get  the 
credit  that  we  stand.  We  go  to  some  of 
our  acquaintances,  that  by  their  influence  we 
may  learn  to  make  the  best  of  our  own 
powers.  They  are  like  flint  to  steel  for  the 
kindling  of  the  spark  that  lights  the  tinder 
of  the  brain.  I  knew  a  poet  who  was  dumb 
until  he  found  the  inspiration  of  a  friend. 
There  was  a  preacher  once  who  told  me  that 
he  never  could  have  made  the  sermons  that 
his  congregation  loved  if  it  had  not  been  for 
conversation  with  a  few  quite  humble,  un- 
known and  unlettered  souls.  These  unknown 
people  somehow  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  draw  the  scattered  embers  of  his  thought 
and  faith  together  until,  under  the  breath 
of  his  necessity,  they  burst  into  a  flame. 

And  the  part  these  helpers  and  inspirers 
play  in  life  is  as  necessary  as  it  is  beau- 
tiful. What  is  Numa  without  Egeria? 
What  would  Dante  have  found  to  tune  his 
lyre  in  place  of  Beatrice?  The  artist  must 
have  his  model,  the  reformer  his  cause,  the 
patriot  his  fatherland,  A  world  of  smoul- 
dering, ineffective,  utterance-bound  great 
geniuses,  unhelped,  uncared  for  and  unin- 
spired— a  world  of  solitary  Rembrandts  or 
Petrarchs  or  Beethovens — might  be  the 
most  helpless  of  all  the  worlds  our  imagina- 
tion could  picture.  We  are  wrong  in 
thinking  that  the  sudden  flame  of  high 
achievements  belongs  wholly  to  the  act  or 
utterance  that  is  deliberately  shaped  for 
some  large  audience  or  in  careful  thought  of 
world-wide  fame.  Often  they  come  in  the 
service  of  a  few.  The  inspirations  and  at- 
tainments of  duty  and  affection  which  are 
effective  in  the  thoughts  of  workers  are  also 
am.ong  the  beautiful  and  priceless  things  of 
life. 

A  very  small  encouragement  will  often 
wonderfully  suffice  to  bring  the  smouldering 
embers  of  courage  in  some  timid  or  waver- 
ing heart  into  a  flame.  The  best  of  us  are 
strangely  sensitive  to  the  atmosphere  that 
others  make  around  us.  If  we  cannot,  then, 
or  cannot  always,  be  on  the  heights  our- 
selves, we  can  at  least  encourage  other  folks 
to  climb.  And  it  may  happen,  since  we  are 
so  weak  and  so  often  turned  aside  from  our 
own  high  attainment,  that  our  best  accom- 
plishment in  life  may  be  in  helping  others 
to  attain.  I  had  rather  be  an  encourager 
than  to  be  always  prating  about  what  I 
have  done  or  sometime  mean  to  do.    I  fear 


298 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


rather  to  hold  others  back  than  to  fail  to  be 
as  big  a  personage  as  I  esteemed  myself  in 
the  years  of  adolescence  when  it  seemed  as 
if  I  might  accomplish  anything  I  wished. 

Ah,  but  the  fire  that  is  man's  servant  and 
his  friend  must  be  served  and  tended.  How 
beautiful  we  say  is  the  springing  up  of 
flame!  The  earliest  fires  of  affection,  the 
first  days  of  friendship  are  so  wonderful! 
Yes,  but  how  many  married  lives  grow  cold 
and  all  their  fires  of  love  drop  to  ashes  for 
lack  of  tending.  How  much  more  beautiful 
the  love  that  burns  with  steady  flame  to 
its  golden  anniversary.  Do  not  let  affection 
fade  and  die.  You  have  nothing  more 
precious,  nothing  so  beautiful.  Give  it  the 
tendance  that  it  needs  continually  and  it 
will  last  to  warm  and  glorify  your  hearts. 

BEQUEATHED  ENERGY 

The   Nation    (London). 

If  there  is  one  pitfall  more  than  another 
against  which  the  young  Darwinian  is 
warned  by  his  teachers,  it  is  that  of  sup- 
posing for  one  moment  that  an  acquired 
character  can  be  inherited.  However  lustily 
the  blacksmith  may  swing  his  hammer,  till 
his  own  muscles  swell  like  loaves,  his  son 
will  not  thereby  be  more  than  normally  de- 
veloped. And  so,  when  a  race  of  pigeons 
produces,  generation  after  generation,  more 
and  more  expert  tumblers,  the  diligence  ap- 
plied by  a  particular  bird  to  the  art  does  not 
give  an  extra  advance  to  his  progeny.  It 
is  only  a  symptom  of  the  progress  of  the 
tumbling  habit,  long  ago  determined  by  the 
departure  in  that  direction  of  a  germ  cell. 
Conversely,  the  first  dodo  that  neglected 
its  flying  exercise  did  not  thereby  condemn 
its  chicks  to  a  weakness  of  wing  likely  to 
go  further  if  it  was  not  checked.  It  was 
the  environment  that  had  affected  the  germ 
cell  of  the  first  lazy  dodo.  We  are  allowed 
to  believe,  perhaps,  that  ever  so  many  gen- 
erations of  special  exercise  or  idleness  added 
together  would  produce  an  heritable  quality 
— as  though  a  thousand  times  nothing  would 
make  something — but  we  must  not  think 
that  somatic  modifications  acquired  by  one 
generation  can  be  handed  to  the  next. 

A  somewhat  destructive  interpretation 
reconciles  most  of  us  to  this  hard  prohibi- 
tion. Almost  the  only  malcontent  is  Pro- 
fessor Henslow,  who,  in  the  realm  of  botany, 
refuses  to  give  up  the  right  of  a  parent  to 
bequeath  something  of  its  individual  expe- 
rience. And  now,  from  America,  comes  a 
new  protagonist  who,  for  all  he  says  of 
them,  may  never  have  heard  of  Weismann, 
Mendel,  or  even  Darwin,  but  who  puts  in  a 
claim  for  somatic  inheritance,  and  backs 
it  with  substantial  credentials.    Mr.  Caspar 


L.  Redfield's  book  is  called  Dynamic  Evoli 
tion  (Putnam).  His  message  is  that  th 
breeder  for  specific  quality,  whether  in 
trotter,  a  milker,  or  a  setter,  must  be  care 
ful  to  have  sires  and  dams  at  their  highes 
dynamic  development.  The  surplus  energ 
that  is  theirs  will  then  pass  to  their  progenj 
and  give  them  a  better  start  in  life  tha 
the  parent  had.  The  significance  of  hi 
claim  does  not  yet  appear.  Some  of  th 
surplus  energy  of  the  sire  comes  fror 
growth,  and  is  racial.  By  all  means,  say 
every  school,  brefed  only  from  mature  par 
ents.  That  is  elementary  wisdom.  But  M^ 
Redfield  asserts  that  the  energy  that  com" 
from  work  also  can  be  inherited.  Does  th 
matter?  Have  we  denied  that  the  energe 
blacksmith  will  not  have  an  energetic  soi 
But,  says  Mr.  Redfield,  you  cannot  ha 
energy  without  location  and  direction,  ai-„ 
in  whatever  organ  work  has  put  the  energy 
in  that  organ  will  it  be  inherited.  He  couh 
scarcely  go  nearer  saying  that  the  black 
smith's  son  will  inherit  unusual  biceps. 

Excessive  use  would  soon  thin  out  th( 
word  "energy"  into  an  empty  name.  I 
seems  apt  enough,  however,  to  explain  tht 
quality  that  distinguishes  the  Americai 
trotter.  A  hundred  years  ago  there  wat 
not  a  horse  in  the  world  that  could  trot  i 
mile  in  three  minutes.  Now,  the  record  haj 
shrunk  to  two  minutes.  "Whence  came  thij 
increase  in  amount  of  available  energy?' 
asks  Mr.  Redfield.  "You  can't  get  some- 
thing out  of  nothing."  The  usual  reply  tc 
the  question  is  that  when  trotting  came 
into  fashion,  enormous  numbers  of  the  trot- 
ting strain  were  produced,  and  by  continual 
selection  among  these  great  numbers 
swifter  and  swifter  animals  were  found 
The  3.10  trotter  was  the  best  of,  say,  a 
hundred  of  its  contemporaries,  the  2.30 
trotter  the  best  of  twenty  thousand.  By 
multiplying  the  numbers,  we  have  given 
greater  scope  to  the  tendency  to  vary. 

Mr.  Redfield  seems  to  have  a  better  reply 
than  that.  The  method  of  the  breeders  of 
trotting  horses  has  been,  from  one  cause  and 
another,  perfectly  free  from  the  fallacy  of 
inherited  acquired  characters.  One  horse  is 
trained  and  raced,  and  another  of  the  same 
family  kept  for  reproducing.  So  long  as 
the  right  blood  is  obtained,  owners  prefer 
to  send  their  mares,  not  to  the  champion 
himself,  even  if  he  be  available,  but  to  a 
brother  or  uncle  or  nephew.  But  line  after 
line  has  falsified  the  hopes  of  its  backers, 
and_  time  after  time  the  champion  trotter 
of  its  day  has  sprung  from  a  neglected 
pedigree.  Whenever  that  has  happened,  it 
has  been  possible  to  point  at  one  or  both  of 
the   factors    of   superior   dynamic   develop- 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


299 


]  ment  in  the  immediate  ancestors  of  the  new 
J  champion.  Those  two  factors  are  time  and 
""work.  A  horse  may  acquire  his  energy 
speedily  on  the  race-track,  or  in  the  course 
'^of  more  years  of  a  normal,  healthy  life. 
^\  Thus,  of  the  fifty-eight  sires  of  stallions 
»'  able  to  do  the  miles  in  two  minutes  and  ten 
^y  seconds,  forty-five  with  records  averaged 
^.Uiearly  ten  years  of  age,  and  thirteen  with- 
in' out  records  averaged  nearly  fourteen  years 
"'of  age. 

®     The  reader  will  see  that,  in  spite  of  what 
^'we    have    said,   champions    do    become   the 
l'^  sires  of  champions,  and  that  in  considerable 
^^  numbers.     That   is  just  the  point.     There 
^  are   twenty   or   thirty   thousand   registered 
?  trotters,  and  it  is  estimated  that  only  5  per 
'jcent  of  these  are  bred  from  parents  with 
'  records.      There    are    only   a    hundred    and 
'''  eighty   capable   of  trotting  a  mile   in  two 
^'  minutes  and  ten  seconds  or  under,  and  of 
J  these,  67  per  cent  were  by  sires  with  records. 
''In  one  of  his  tables,  Mr.  Redfield  compares 
Hhe  respective  progeny  of  full  brothers.     It 
can,    perhaps,    be    understood   that   a   non- 
i(  record  horse  will  sire  more  foals  than  his 
[t  record  brothers.    Those  that  reach  the  class 
If  of  performers  are  compared,  with  the  re- 
sult that  eighty-eight  horses  with  records 
sired    thirty-three    perfonners    apiece,    and 
ninety-six  full  brothers  of  the  same  horses 
without  records  sired  ten  performers  apiece. 
Not  content  with  that,  he  examines  the  his- 
tory   of   those   non-record   sires,   and   finds 
that  some  of  them  were  trained  though  not 
raced,  and  that  these  had  a  better  average 
of  performer  progeny  than  the  others.     In 
other  words,  he  shows  by  individual  cases, 
and  from  large  masses  of  fact,  that  a  horse 
that  has  been  practiced  for  speed  is  more 
likely   to    have    speedy   offspring  than   an- 
other horse  of  the  selfsame  blood  that  has 
not  been  practiced. 

The  energy  it  has  acquired  by  work  is 
handed  on,  and  endows  the  foal  in  the 
organs  that  acquired  it  in  the  parent. 

In  a  recent  book.  Professor  Arthur  Thomp- 
son especially  warned  us  against  believing 
that  the  setter  could  bequeath  the  skill  it 
had  itself  acquired.  The  setter  is  one  of 
Mr.  Redfield's  object  lessons.  Laverack  be- 
gan with  a  "stray  pair  he  purchased  from  a 
neighbor,"  and  in  forty  years  had  "the  best 
setters  in  the  world."  He  simply  bred  in 
and  in,  working  one  pair  of  dogs  in  the 
field  till  they  were  old,  then  breeding  an- 
other pair  from  them. 

The  results  were  so  astounding  that  ex- 
perts would  not  believe  that  his  niethods 
were  correctly  stated,  the  age  at  which  his 
dogs  bred  (six,  seven,  or  eight  years)  being 
as  great  a  stumbling-^block  as  the  fact  that 


he  never  took  in  new  blood.  Descendants 
of  these  dogs,  crossed  with  those  of  Llewel- 
lin,  founded  the  American  strain  about  1870, 
and  an  examination  of  the  pedigrees  of  the 
six  champion  American  setters  of  today 
proves  that  their  lines  of  descent  are 
"through  the  dogs  which  were  trained  and 
ran  for  prizes  in  field  trials,"  and  the  av- 
erage time  between  the  generations  is  over 
six  years.  Younger  sires  than  that,  how- 
ever good  they  were,  have  been  eliminated 
as  ancestors,  except  one  which  was  trained 
for  field  trials  "at  a  very  early  age." 

That  is,  in  part,  the  case  presented  by 
this  searching  of  pedigrees.  It  may  be  that 
its  hostility  to  the  doctrine  of  somatic  un- 
teachableness  is  modified  by  the  statement 
that  this  dynamic  inheritance  mainly  fol- 
lows the  same  line  as  does  secondary  sexual 
character.  Thus,  the  energy  of  the  dam 
does  not  go  as  available  energy  to  her  son, 
but  reappears  in  the  daughters  of  the  next 
generation.  In  its  simplest  terms,  it  means 
that  the  young  but  thoroughly  adult  father 
gives  to  his  son  no  more  than  the  racial 
inheritance  and  possibilities  that  he  him- 
self received.  In  a  few  years'  time  he  is 
another  being,  and  therefore  another  father. 
Circumstances  have  led  to  the  greater  exer- 
cise of  some  set  of  muscles,  some  function 
of  the  brain,  or  to  responsiveness  of  the 
nerves  to  some  certain  stimulus.  These  ex- 
ercises have  induced  an  accretion  of  energy 
somewhere,  and  something  passes  in  the 
same  direction  to  the  son.  Perhaps  this  is 
a  very  volatile  part  of  one's  inheritance. 
If  not  closely  followed  up,  perhaps  it  soon 
vanishes.  In  a  state  of  nature,  whatever 
one  receives  is  usually  made  the  most  of. 
It  may  be  that  a  woodpecker  that  has  dealt 
with  particularly  hard  trees  cannot  hand  on 
his  acquired  skill.  But  it  may  be  that  he 
can  hand  on  the  increase  of  dynamic  power 
stored  in  his  neck  muscles,  and  that  may 
make  an  unusual  woodpecker  of  his  son. 
THE   DRIFT  OF  OUR  TIMES 

Indianapolis   News 

Signs  of  the  Times 

Comparative    Method 

The  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger  recently 
printed  a  letter  from  an  anonymous  corre- 
spondent predicting  revolution  as  a  cer- 
tainty, and  commending  it  as  desirable  for 
reasons  that  would  hardly  commend  them- 
selves to  those  who  are  supposed  to  be 
leaders  in  the  so-called  revolutionary  move- 
ment. Our  trouble,  according  to  the  writer 
of  the  letter,  is  that  we  have  debased  the 
church  and  the  college,  and  "pay  a  peddler 
of  life  insurance  or  a  drummer  of  shoes  or 
a  hard-boiled  plumber  ten  times  what  we 
pay  a  teacher  or  a  preacher."     In  the  old 


300 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


days,  so  we  are  told,  "we  h^d  loyalty, 
patriotism,  respect  for  constituted  author- 
ity, and  college  graduates  who  were  not 
only  educated,  but  who  were  generally  gen- 
tlemen." "The  country,"  so  the  writer  con- 
tinues, "may  not  have  noticed  it,  but  it  was 
a  good  investment,"  since  "the  system  pro- 
duced honest,  loyal,  law-abiding  citizens." 
The  Ledger  does  not  take  so  gloomy  a  view, 
and  is  in  no  fear  of  a  revolution,  but  it 
agrees  with  its  correspondent  in  thinking 
that  our  national  life  is  far  from  what  it 
ought  to  be.  It  says  that  "in  our  fatuous 
worship  of  materialism,  our  fat  and  com- 
placent prosperity,  we  have  turned  a  con- 
temptuous eye  on  the  twin  pillars  of  stabil- 
ity and  power — religion  and  education. 
.  .  .  Class  war,  anarchy  and  massacre 
have  sealed  the  graves  of  the  nations  which 
worshiped  at  the  altars  of  gross  indul- 
gence." In  these  days  pessimism  is  more 
fashionable  than  optimism.  Nevertheless, 
let  us  see  whether  it  is  not  possible,  without 
minimizing  any  of  the  evils,  which  are  gross 
and  glaring,  to  extract  some  ray  of  light 
from  the  gloom  that  seems  to  hang  over 
Philadelphia.  Perhaps  the  causes  for  it  are 
local.  It  may  be  that  the  letter  is  that  of 
a  young  man  without  sufficient  perspective, 
or  an  old  one  who  gilds  the  past  with  a 
glory  that  never  belonged  to  it.  To-  one 
using  the  comparative  method  the  first 
thought  that  comes  to  mind  is  that  there 
has  been  something  that  looks  very  much 
like  progress  during  the  last  half  century. 
In  such  discussions  as  this  memory  is  as 
useful  as  observation. 

Looking:  Back 

A  recent  writer  in  the  London  Times  dis- 
coursed on  "The  Gap  Between  Generations." 
It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  form  a  fair 
judgment  of  his  times  unless  he  is  able  to 
bridge  that  gap.  For  instance,  there  are 
millions  of  people  in  America  who  know 
little,  and  of  course  nothing  experimentally, 
of  the  social  and  political  morality  of  Amer- 
ica in  the  days  following  the  civil  war.  It 
would  be  well  for  disheartened  souls  to  give 
some  time  to  the  investigation  of  that  sub- 
ject. They  were  the  days  of  the  Tweed 
ring,  Fisk,  Gould,  Judges  Barnard  and  Car- 
dozo,  days  in  which  materialism  was  ram- 
pant, and  corruption  touched  and  poisoned 
every  department  of  the  government.  The 
speculation  then  went  beyond  anything 
with  which  we  are  familiar  even  today.  The 
ramifications  of  the  whisky  ring  reached 
even  the  doors  of  the  White  House.  Then, 
as  now,  there  were  millions  of  honest.  God- 
fearing people.  But  the  point  that  it  is 
now  desired  to  make  is  that  everjrthing  that 


the  Philadelphia  authorities  say,  and  mucl 
more,  could  have  been  said  of  the  years  be- 
tween 1865  and  1875.  Politics  was  corrupt 
beyond  anything  that  we  can  now  imagine. 
Public  opinion  was  poisoned,  and  tolerated, 
if  it  did  not  justify,  offenses  which  would 
today  if  proved  send  those  guilty  of  them 
to  the  penitentiary.  Writing  of  those  times, 
Whitman  says: 

The  spectacle  is  appalling.  We  live 
in  an  atmosphere  of  hypocrisy  through- 
out. The  men  believe  not  in  the  women, 
nor  the  women  in  the  men.  A  scornful 
superciliousness  rules  in  literature.  A 
lot  of  churches,  sects,  etc.,  the  most 
dismal  phantasms  I  know,  usurp  the 
name  of  religion.  An  acute  and  candid 
person,  in  the  revenue  department  in 
Washington,  who  is  led  by  the  course 
of  his  employment  to  regularly  visit  the 
cities,  north,  south  and  west,  to  investi- 
gate frauds,  has  talked  much  with  me 
about  his  discoveries.  The  depravity  of 
the  business  classes  of  our  country  is 
not  less  than  has  been  supposed,  but  in- 
fintely  greater.  The  official  services  of 
America,  national,  state  and  municipal,^ 
in  all  their  branches  and  departments,* 
except  the  judiciary,  are  saturated  in 
corruption,  bribery,  falsehood,  mal- 
administration, and  the  judiciary  is 
tainted.  The  great  cities  reek  with  re- 
spectable as  much  as  nonrespectable 
robbery  and  scoundrelism.  The  best 
class  we  show  is  but  a  mob  of  fashion- 
ably dressed  speculators  and  vulgarians. 
But  the  man  who  made  this  stem,  yet 
true,  analysis,  saw  beyond  it  all,  and  realized, 
none  more  profoundly,  that  there  was  plenty 
of  virtue  in  the  nation  to  save  it,  and  he 
gave  the  reasons  for  his  unshakable  faith. 


Progrress 

The  state  of  the  country,  politically,  so- 
cially, educationally  and  religiously,  was 
much  worse  then  than  it  is  now,  and  there 
were  too  the  same  melancholy  predictions, 
yet  no  revolution  followed.  Yet  it  would  be 
that  mistake,  and  most  illogical,  to  conclude 
that  because  there  was  no  serious  trouble 
then  there  will  be  none  now.  But  it  is  as 
great  a  mistake — and  this  is  the  point — to 
base  our  reasoning  on  the  theory  that  the 
evils,  which  all  deplore,  are  new,  and  worse 
and  more  menacing  than  ever  known  before. 
For  that  is  not  true.  Perhaps  one  may 
measure  the  nation's  ability  to  triumph  over 
dangers  somewhat  by  its  past  successes  in 
meeting  and  overcoming  them.  So  far,  how- 
ever, from  condemning  present  criticism, 
even  of  the  extreme  sort,  one  must  recog- 
nize it  as  one  of  the  elements  in  all  the 


EDITORIALS  OF  ESSAY  NATURE 


301 


victories  that  have  been  won,  and  as  most 
necessary  today.  But  for  that  the  country 
might  indeed  be  in  grave  peril,  as  is  always 
the  case  with  any  country  of  which  it  may 
be  said: 

So,  with  a  sullen  "All's  for  the  best," 
The  land  seems  settling  to  its  rest. 
Nothing  can  be  more  deadly  than  resigna- 
tion to  abuses  as  inevitable  and  irremedia- 
ble. There  was  nothing  of  this  forty  years 
ago,  and  there  should  be  none  today.  But 
despair  and  pessimism  are  equally  for- 
bidden, for  they  paralyze  action  and  destroy 
faith.  Nor  is  there  any  basis  for  them. 
No  man  can  be  a  prey  to  them  who  makes 
the  suggested  comparison,  and  who  realizes 
how  great  has  been  the  progress  made  in 
the  last  half  century.  It  is  due  to  the  in- 
herent soundness  of  the  people,  and  to  the 
clear-sighted  courage  of  the  men  who  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  great  work  of  re- 
form. Always  the  need  is  for  leadership, 
and  the  supreme  leadership  is  that  of  ideas. 
It  is  also  well  to  realize  that  things  will 
never  be  as  they  ought  to  be,  or  as  we 
should  like  to  have  them  in  free  societies — 
^r  in  any  other — as  long  as  society  is  com- 
posed of  human  beings.  Many  of  our  social 
defects  are  the  result  of  defects  in  indi- 
vidual character. 


Principles 


Faith 


The  study  of  the  past  ought  to  have  the 
effect  of  greatly  strengthening  men's  faith 
— faith  in  God,  in  humanity,  and  in  Amer- 
ica. It  is  in  this  great  faculty  that  people 
today  seem  to  be  most  lacking.  Knowledge 
of  the  past,  and  of  the  achievements  of  men, 
must  endow  men  with  faith  in  the  future. 
Whitman  had  it.  After  saying  that  "in  any 
vigor  the  element  of  the  moral  conscience, 
the  most  important,  the  verteber  to  the  state 
or  man,  seems  to  me  entirely  lacking,  or 
seriously  enfeebled  or  ungrown,"  he  con- 
tinues, "behind  this  fantastic  farce,  enacted 
on  the  visible  stage  of  society,  solid  things 
and  stupendous  labors  are  to  be  discovered, 
existing  crudely  and  going  on  in  the  back- 
ground, to  advance  and  tell  themselves  in 
time."  One  of  the  most  touching  and  pa- 
thetic of  prayers  is  this:  "And  the  apostles 
said  unto  the  Lord,  increase  our  faith."  It 
should  be  often  on  the  lips  of  men,  for  with- 
out faith  there  can  be  neither  courage  in 
facing  difficulties,  nor  power  in  action.  There 
are  always  reinforcements  the  existence  of 
which  the  doubtful  and  timorous  do  not  even 
suspect.  "If,"  said  Emerson,  "the  single 
man  plant  himself  indomitably  on  his  in- 
stincts, and  there  abide,  the  huge  world  will 


come  round  to  him."  Kipling  makes  his 
old  soldier  in  the  armies  of  Napoleon  say 
that  "nothing  is  stronger  than  a  man."  To 
think  of  this  country,  therefore,  as  the  mere 
prey  or  sport  of  supposedly  natural  forces 
is  to  think  wrongly;  while  to  yield  to  any 
such  conclusion  is  to  make  almost  certain 
the  triumph  of  such  forces.  It  is  not  in 
this  weak  and  fatalistic  spirit  that  the 
American  people  have  dealt  with  emergen- 
cies. Rather  they  have  faced  them  in  the 
firm  belief  that  they  could  be,  as  they  have 
been,  mastered.  Emerson,  to  quote  him 
again,  puts  it  thus: 

Neither  can  we  ever  construct  that 
heavenly  society  you  prate  of  out  of 
foolish,  sick,  selfish  men  and  women, 
such  as  we  know  them  to  be.  But  the 
believer  not  only  beholds  his  heaven  to 
be  possible,  but  already  to  begin  to  exist 
— not  by  men  or  materials  the  states- 
man uses,  but  by  men  transfigured  and 
raised  above  themselves  by  the  power 
of  principles.  To  principles  something 
else  is  possible  that  transcends  all  the 
power  of  expedients. 

Inspiration 

Those  people  who  almost  seem  to  revel  in 
forebodings,  and  are  unable  to  see  any  light 
even  on  the  distant  horizon,  would  be  much 
happier  and  more  useful,  and  at  the  same 
time  contribute  much  to  the  forces  of 
righteousness,  if  they  would  occasionally 
take  a  bravely  cheerful  view  of  present 
conditions.  What  the  world  needs  almost  as 
much  as  it  needs  food,  is  inspiration.  And 
nothing  is  more  inspiring  than  faith  in  ac- 
tion, hope  in  the  process  of  realization,  or 
courage  in  the  hour  of  danger.  These  can- 
not be  had  from  the  prophets  of  evil,  the 
fearful  and  the  faithless.  But  there  is  a 
still  deeper  faith,  and  that  is  in  the  tough- 
ness of  the  social  order.  Those  who  are 
haunted  by  fear  may  get  some  cheer  out  of 
these  words  of  Sumner: 

The  great  stream  of  time  and  earthly 
things  will  sweep  on  just  the  same  in 
spite  of  us.  It  bears  with  it  now  all 
the  errors  and  follies  of  the  past,  the 
wreckage  of  all  the  philosophies,  the 
fragments  of  all  the  civilization,  the 
wisdom  of  all  abandoned  ethical  sys- 
tems, the  debris  of  all  the  institutions, 
and  the  penalties  of  all  the  mistakes.  It 
is  only  in  imagination  that  we  stand  by 
and  look  at  and  criticise  it  and  plan  to 
change  it.  Every  one  of  us  is  a  child 
of  his  age  and  cannot  get  out  of  it.  He 
is  in  the  stream  and  is  swept  along  with 
it.  All  his  sciences  and  philosophy 
come  to  him  out  of  it.     Therefore  the 


302 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


tide  will  not  be  changed  by  us.    It  will 
swallow   up   both   us   and   our   experi- 
ments.    It  will   absorb   the   efforts   at 
change  and  take  them  into  itself  as  new 
but  trivial  components,  and  the  great 
movement  of  tradition  and  work  will  go 
on  unchanged  by  our  fads  and  schemes. 
The  conclusion   is,  not  that  men   should 
despair    of    improving    conditions — for    the 
life  of  Sumner  himself  was  devoted  to  that 
object — but  rather  that  we  must  be  content 
with  small  results  due  to  efforts  to  modify 
"the  tendencies  of   some   of  the  forces  at 
work,  so  that  after  a  sufficient  time,  their 
action  may  be  changed  a  little."     "It  is," 
he  says,  "at  any  rate  a  tough  old  world," 
as  many  a  reformer  has  found  to  his  sorrow 
— and  many  a  revolutionist.     People  should 
try  to  acquire  both  a  depth  and  a  breadth  of 
view.     The  more  clearly  they  see  the  less 
likely  are  they  to  be  panic-stricken.     Cour- 
age  will   come   to   them,   and   a   wonderful 
strengthening   of  their  faith.     And  out  of 
these  they  will  get  an  inspiration  that  will 
flow  far  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  life, 
which  will  give  courage  and  kindle  hope. 


Will 

There  is  an  old  prayer  in  which  God  is 
anproached  as  One  "who  alone  canst  order 
the  unruly  wills  and  affections  of  sinful 
men."  The  petition  is:  "Grant  unto  Thy 
people,  that  they  may  love  the  things  which 
Thou  commandest,  and  desire  that  which 
Thou  dost  promise;  that  so,  among  the 
sundry  and  manifold  changes  of  the  world, 
our  hearts  may  surely  there  be  fixed,  where 
true  joys  are  to  be  found."  "The  unruly 
wills  and  affections  of  sinful  men" — surely 


it  is  from  these  that  the  danger  comes. 
And  they  are  to  be  controlled  through  love 
of  the  right  and  desire  for  the  good.  Men 
must  build,  if  they  would  build  permanently, 
on  the  unshakable  foundation  of  righteous- 
ness. In  our  meditations  on  reform  and  re- 
construction we  do  not  give  much  thought  to 
the  human  will  as  a  disturbing  element,  but 
it  is  well  that  we  should  do  so.  For  the 
will  is  the  man,  and  society  is  but  man  writ 
large.  There  is  abundant  reason  for  hope- 
fulness, and  would  be  even  were  conditions 
much  worse  than  they  are,  as  b^d  as  they 
were  fifty  years  ago.  The  men  of  that  day 
were  conquerors,  and  so  may  we  be.  The 
surprising  thing  is,  as  a  financial  expert 
recently  showed,  that  the  reaction  in  this 
country  from  the  war  is  much  less  violent 
than  it  was  supposed  it  could  be.  Many 
seem  to  imagine  a  perfect  social  order,  and 
then  to  find  fault  because  present  condi- 
tions do  not  measure  up  to  that  standard. 
Troubles  there  are,  too  many  of  them,  and 
have  been,  and  as  far  as  one  can  see,  always 
have  been,  and  as  far  as  one  can  see,  always 
will  be,  troubles.  The  important,  the  vital 
thing  is  that  men  should  not  be  daunted  by 
them.  One  can  always  "front  the  hour," 
and  "hope  the  best"  even  though  one  "fear 
the  worst."  It  is  always  possible  to  "cast 
off  the  works  of  darkness"  and  to  "put  on 
the  armor  of  light,"  and  "walk  honestly 
as  in  the  day."  The  world  owes  much,  more 
perhaps  than  it  realizes,  to  him  of  whom 
it  can  be  said: 

A  man  he  seems  of  cheerful  yesterdays 

And  confident  tomorrows. 

"In  returning  and  rest  shall  ye  be  saved; 
in  quietness  and  in  cohfidenc©  shall  be  your 
strength." 


CHAPTER    IX 
EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 

The  characteristics  of  the  essay  of  editorials  that  here  follow  are  brought 
casual  mood  or  subject  were  ex-  together  because  each  is  in  some  re- 
plained  in  Part  I,  Chapter  IX.    The     spect  akin  to  the  casual  essay 


THE  DOOM  OF  THE  DAMN 

Haverhill   Gazette 

"The  best  comes  out,"  says  the  Rev.  James 
I.  Vance  of  the  Inter-Church  Movement,  "not 
under  the  lash  of  the  oath,  but  under  the 
spell  of  an  example." 

Thus  does  Dr.  Vance  prove  the  inefficiency 
of  profanity  as  a  getter  of  results. 

Modern  man,  staunch  believer  in  efficiency 
in  all  things,  will  not  long  tolerate  the  in- 
efficiency of  profanity.  This  itself  indicates 
the  close  approaching  doom  of  cussing. 

RHODY  ISN'T  SO  LITTLE 

New  York  Sun 

It  has  been  declared  by  reputable  mathe- 
maticians, and  nobody  has  taken  the  pains 
to  put  it  to  practical  test,  that  all  the  people 
in  the  world  could  stand  on  the  ice  of  Lake 
Champlain  and  have  room  to  turn  around 
comfortably.  We  mention  this  as  a  comfort 
to  persons  who  may  fear  the  overcrowding 
of  Rhode  Island  in  the  event  of  that  State's 
successfully  resisting  the  enforcement  of  the 
eighteenth  amendment. 

The  surface  of  Lake  Champlain  is  only 
600  square  miles,  while  the  land  surface  of 
Rhode  Island  is  1067  square  miles.  Little 
as  Rhody  appears  on  the  map,  there  would 
be  room  in  her  for  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  and  each  could  have  four 
times  as  much  space  as  there  is  in  a  Harlem 
hall  bedroom.     Surely  that's  elbow  room. 

SIMPLICITY 

Tyler    (Texas)    Tribune 

Simplicity  is  a  quality  it  is  well  to  pos- 
sess. In  dress,  manners,  writing  or  speech, 
the  absence  of  excessive  or  artificial  orna- 
ment is  desirable.  Elaborate  attire  may 
gain  some  favored  glances  in  the  cabaret 
party,  but  it's  the  simple  frock  or  hat  that 
wins  approval  of  the  correct  dresser  every 
time.  Likewise  the  forceful  writer  and 
orator  wins  the  largest  audiences,  because 
he  writes  or  speaks  in  the  language  most 
people  understand.  Unfortunately,  many 
make  the  mistake  of  trying  to  impress  the 


world  with  their  importance  and  intelligence 
by  assummg  an  unnatural  air.  The  great 
game  of  bluff  at  times  may  accomplish  a 
great  deal.  It  may  win  temporarily  and 
brmg  one  considerable  satisfaction  and 
some  success.  But  eventually— if  given  a 
chance— It  will  react  disastrously,  because 
It  IS  wrong.  The  wily  politician  doesn't 
electioneer  m  a  Prince  Albert  and  silk  hat. 
Ihose  who  win  the  greatest  support  and 
favor  must  meet  the  people  on  common 
ground  More  than  this,  they  must  live  and 
speak  like  the  majority,  so  they  may  know 
their  whims  and  fancies  and  be  humble. 

STRAW  HAT  DAY 

Sun   and   New   York  Herald 

In  the  ancient  days,  meaning  three  or  four 
years  ago,  May  15  was  the  day  sacred  to  the 
straw  hat.  Those  were  warm  times.  All 
the  commuters'  gardens  were  planted  by  the 
end  of  balmy  April,  and  men  who  rule  their 
costume  by  the  calendar  went  through  the 
first  fortnight  of  May  with  beads  on  their 
brows  and  prayers  in  their  hearts  that  Straw 
Jlat  Day  might  hurry. 

Now  men  spend  their  straw  hat  money  for 
extra  coal  and  wear  their  ulsters  over  their 
old  suits.  What  was  once  the  period  of  early 
summer  raiment,  Panama,  Bangkok  and 
Mackinaw  lids,  and  drinks  with  ice  in  them, 
has  become  the  sad  tail-end  of  winter  It 
was  only  two  degrees  above  freezing  Friday 
morning  m  Cincinnati  and  Milwaukee.  Is  it 
because  those  towns,  beerless,  must  be  cheer- 
less also?  Has  the  Gulf  Stream  anything 
to  do  with  New  York's  temperature.  48 
degrees  above  in  the  middle  of  May?  Or 
fi^}  we  blame  it  on  the  weather-man's  pet, 
that  high  pressure  which  seems  continually 
to  be  developing  in  the  Northwest? 

bometimes  it  seems  as  if  Sol,  the  formerly 
reliable  celestial  furnace  man,  had  been 
listening  to  the  soap-box  orators  and  had 
joined  the  foolish  of  earth  in  their  inclina- 
tion to  lay  off  the  job.  Or  has  he  accepted 
a  retainer  from  the  felt-hat  barons  of 
Danbury  ? 


304 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WKITING 


LEVELING  UP  LUDENDORFF 

The  Review 

I  wonder  if  the  world  seems  as  queer  and 
topsy  turvy  to  you  as  it  does  to  Ludendorff 
and  me.  Ludendorff  and  I  are  writing  pieces 
for  the  papers.  It's  my  regular  job.  I  am 
used  to  it.  It's  a  new  game  to  Ludendorff, 
but  it's  his  way  and  my  way  of  making  a 
living  at  the  present  juncture  in  the  on- 
ward march  of  civilization.  After  all  the 
turmoil  and  convulsion,  after  all  the  rack 
and  ruin,  as  the  murk  clears  and  the  dust 
settles  down,  Ludendorff  and  I  are  revealed 
each  at  the  old  typewriter  pounding  out 
copy.  I  am  sure  there  is  a  great  moral 
lesson  in  the  spectacle  if  I  could  only  formu- 
late it  and  drag  it  to  light. 

The  whirligig  of  chance  and  the  sportive 
little  gods  that  control  men's  destinies  have 
never  done  anything  more  comic.  When  I 
think  of  what  Ludendorff  was!  Only  a  year 
ago  I  was  huddled  in  a  hole  wondering 
whether  he  was  going  to  gobble  me  up.  He 
was  a  menace  to  the  world,  breathing  fire 
and  slaughter  and  destruction.  His  word 
put  great  masses  of  armed  men  in  motion, 
and  death  and  devastation  followed  in  their 
track.  Now,  in  our  office,  his  stuff  goes  up- 
stairs to  the  composing  room  at  night 
slugged  "Heinie"  and  gets  put  on  page  four 
with  the  furniture  ads. 

ENRICHING  FARM  VOCABULARY 

Rochester   Democrat    and   Chronicle 

Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  modern 
agriculture  is  running  away  with  the  dic- 
tionary. In  other  words,  the  progress  of 
farming  is  producing  a  vocabulary  faster 
than  the  dictionary  can  assimilate  it.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that 
industry  connected  with  the  soil  is  coining 
words  and  phrases  faster  than  the  guides 
of  polite  language  are  willing  to  give  them 
sanction.  Possibly  the  haste  in  which  this 
creating  of  language  is  done  is  such  that 
the  result  in  some  cases  is  crude  enough  to 
warrant  hesitation  as  to  its  official  accept- 
ance into  the  family  of  legitimate  words  and 
phrases.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  there  are  in  daily  use  in  agricul- 
tural literature  words  that  cannot  be  found 
in  the  dictionary.  "Blood-line"  is  an  exam- 
ple of  wandering  from  the  beaten  path  by 
stock  breeders.  It  is  not  in  the  dictionary; 
no  one  knows  whether  it  should  be  written 
as  one  word,  with  a  hyphen,  or  as  two  words ; 
yet  its  use  is  common.  Other  examples 
quoted  are:  "Overrun,"  a  term  used  to  ex- 
press the  determining  factor  of  profits  in 
creameries;  "standard  bred"  and  "trap- 
nests."  An  effort  is  being  made  to  stand- 
ardize the  use  of  such  terms,  and  already 


some  thirty  of  them  have  been  taken  up 
for  consideration.  It  would  seem  that  agri- 
culture is  destined  to  acquire  a  list  of  tech- 
nical terms  as  distinctive  as  are  those  of 
the  arts  and  sciences.  Probably  it  has  a 
perfect  right  to  do  this. 

"IT  SOUNDS  FAMILIAR'* 

Indianapolis   News 

In  the  query  column  of  the  book  supple- 
ment of  a  recent  issue  of  the  New  York 
Times,  under  the  head  of  "Appeals  to  Read- 
ers," may  be  found  the  following: 

Can  any  of  your  readers  tell  me  where 
to  find  the  saying  "To  suffer  fools 
gladly"?  It  was  used  in  the  "Red 
Planet"  without  quotation  marks,  but 
it  sounds  familiar. 

Doubtless  some  of  the  readers  to  whom 
this  appeal  was  addressed  will  in  due  course 
respond.  That,  at  any  rate,  is  our  hope. 
It  is  sometimes  the  case  that  words  which  \ 
are  the  most  "familiar"  are  most  difficult 
to  trace,  especially  when,  as  here,  they  do 
not  appear  in  that  bible  of  the  newspaper 
worker,  "Bartlett's  Familiar  Quotations." 
But  there  are  other  bibles,  one  in  particular 
— namely  that  "appointed  to  be  read  in 
churches" — and  there  are  also  concordances, 
and  to  these  the  author  of  this  rather  pa- 
thetic "appeal"  is  respectfully  referred. 
With  this  tip  the  search  can  be  easily  prose- 
cuted, and  in  his  quest  the  searcher  may 
renew  his  acquaintance  with  many  another 
phrase  that  "sounds  familiar,"  but  which 
may  have  been  eclipsed  by  the  "Red  Planet." 

"GONE  ARE  THE  DAYS" 

Portland   Oregonian 

It  was  bound  to  come.  In  these  rebellious 
times,  when  every  craft  and  industry  is 
rebelling  against  this  or  that,  and  raising 
wages  and  elevating  prices,  from  toothpicks 
to  platinum  trinkets,  there  was  no  escaping 
it.  Destiny  was  at  work.  The  only  mem- 
ber of  society  who  isn't  rebelling,  and  who 
is  far  too  busied  at  keeping  three  jumps 
ahead  of  the  hounds,  is  the  ultimate  con- 
sumer. And  now  the  peanut  growers  have 
formed  a  combine.  Peanuts,  once  the  in- 
alienable right  of  every  spendthrift  with  a 
nickel,  are  to  become  the  refreshment  only 
of  persons  of  means. 

Old  Black  Joe's  lamentable  refrain,  "Gone 
are  the  days,"  borrowed  even  as  the  peanut 
from  the  sunny  South,  may  well  become  the 
shibboleth  of  genuine  national  despair.  Even 
without  the  combine  the  peanut  epicure  saw 
the  sack  dwindle  as  the  coin  changed  hands, 
but  could  not  stay  his  mania  for  the  harm- 
less, nutty  and  nutritious  refection.  There 
came  a  day  when  he  could  spread  the  entjire 


EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 


305 


nickel's  worth  in  the  palm  of  one  hand  and 
count  them  o'er,  a  rosary — a  rosary,  and  now 
the  Southern  planters  have  formed  a  com- 
bine. Too  well  the  ultimate  consumer 
guesses  the  portent.  In  fact,  he  doesn't 
guess.  He  knows.  The  once  lowly  peanut, 
pal  of  the  park  bench  and  friend  and  com- 
fort of  the  friendless,  is  about  to  enter  the 
peerage  of  prices.  On  the  menus  of  to- 
morrow, doubtless,  it  will  vie  with  asparagus 
tips  in  March  and  the  first  delectable  fruitage 
of  the  depths  of  Chesapeake  Bay. 

BREAKING  UP  THE  ATOM 

Omaha  Bee 

Another  scientific  sharp,  inspired  by 
Einstein,  has  projected  himself  into  the 
limelight  by  a  startling  announcement.  He 
has  "broken  up  the  atom,"  and  finds  it  to 
be  composed  of  two  elements,  the  positive 
and  negative,  always  in  motion  and  never 
at  rest.  Several  other  disclosures,  especially 
that  as  to  time  and  space,  made  by  this 
savant  are  equally  of  concern  to  the  public. 
His  assertion  that  time  and  space  are  pon- 
derable in  a  sense  analogous  to  matter,  and 
that  light  emanates  from  atoms  and  does 
not  radiate,  "went  over  the  heads"  of  his 
associated  scientists,  and  undoubtedly  will 
over  that  of  the  public. 

Einstein  may  have  located  the  fourth  di- 
mension, and  Langmuir  have  discovered  the 
source  of  light,  if  not  the  exact  beginning  of 
matter,  but  the  great  American  public  will 
continue  to  divide  its  attention  between 
reading  returns  from  the  primary  elections 
and  the  box  scores  of  the  ball  games.  The 
people  are  well  assured  of  one  of  the  prop- 
erties of  matter  exhibited  in  connection  with 
a  law  of  physics.  If  "Babe"  Ruth,  for  ex- 
ample, hits  the  ball  squarely  on  the  trade- 
mark, it  will  almost  inevitably  result  in  a 
home  run.  Likewise,  although  light  may 
not  be  radiated  in  the  sense  we  understand 
it,  and  the  atom  be  ever-present  and  capable 
of  passing  through  matter,  the  knowledge 
that  Palermo  struck  out  fourteen  Wichita 
batters  and  won  a  fine  victory  for  the 
Rourke  family  is  infinitely  of  more  local 
importance.  Bre'r  Langmuir  may  have  the 
pig  by  the  tail  in  the  scientific  world,  but 
his  concept  of  news  values  requires  adjust- 
ment. 

THE  COST  OF  DAINTINESS 

Chicago    Evening    Post 

It  well  may  be  that  daintiness,  especially 
in  regard  -o  food,  is  well  worth  all  it  costs. 
But  let  us  admit  that  it  does  cost  and  that 
it  has  something  to  do  with  the  present  high 
prices. 

Take  the  case  of  the  original  package. 
Our  grandparents,  yea,  our  parents,  bought 


butter  from  a  tub,  "crackers"  from  a  barrel 
and  chipped  beef  from  the  end  of  a  flitch. 

But  how  different  today,  since  the  advent 
of  the  germ  in  educational  circles!  We  will 
pay  as  much  for  seven  or  eight  ounces  of 
biscuits,  done  up  in  a  pasteboard  carton,  and 
prettily  labeled,  as  would  buy  a  pound  of 
them,  even  today,  out  of  a  barrel..  Add  a 
wrapping  of  oiled  paper,  "hermetically 
sealed,"  to  the  carton  and  we  will  be  content 
with  six  ounces  for  the  same  money. 

Chipped  beef  presents  the  same  case. 
Done  up  in  glass  or  tin,  we  will  pay  twice 
the  price  per  pound  for  it  that  we  would  pay 
for  the  bulk.  Attach  a  little  key  for  ready 
opening — a  tin  is  such  a  mussy  thing  other- 
wise!— and  we  will  stand  for  another  cent. 

So  it  is  with  butter,  prunes,  raisins,  figs, 
fancy  flours  and  scores  of  other  foods.  It  is 
all  right,  too — if  we  don't  forget  that  these 
refinements  have  added  to  the  cost  of  living. 

There  is,  also,  a  daintiness  that  is  not  all 
right — the  daintiness  that  will  pay  more  for 
white-shelled  eggs  than  for  brown-shelled 
eggs;  that  will  pay  more  for  a  dozen  eggs 
in  a  carton  than  outside  of  one,  and  that 
will  pay  still  more  if  the  eggs  are  sorted  to 
the  same  size. 

Salesmen  are  schooled  to  play  upon  this 
finickiness  of  the  city  housewife.  Farmers 
are  taught  the  same  thing  by  their  rural 
papers  and  Government  bulletins.  As  a 
result,  the  city  housewife  goes  to  market 
with  a  heavier  purse  and  comes  home  with 
a  lighter  basket. 

Let  us  be  dainty,  but  not  too  dainty. 

DESPERATE  DAYS 

New    York    Evening    Sun 

It  is  all  very  well  for  the  butcher  and  the 
baker  to  raise  prices;  for  the  laundryman 
and  the  printer  to  quit  work.  To  edit  the 
old  proverb  a  bit,  one  man's  meat — the 
butcher's — is  another  man's  poison — the 
consumer's,  when  he  pays  for  it.  Eat  grass 
and  grow  wise,  like  Nebuchadnezzar.  As 
for  clean  clothes,  the  two  million  doughboys 
can  instruct  the  rest  of  us  in  the  art  of 
doing  without  indefinitely.  Readers  of 
books  and  magazines  may  reread  and  med- 
itate upon  the  old  ones  too  long  forgot,  while 
they  wait  for  the  typesetters  to  resume  work 
on  the  inspiration  of  today. 

These  interruptions  of  habit  may  be 
turned  to  good  account  in  the  way  of  dis- 
cipline. But  here  comes  a  calamity  without 
comfort,  unforeseen  and  hardly  to  be  cred- 
ited now  that  it  is  upon  us — the  strike  of 
drug  clerks.  This  is  not,  as  some  will  at 
once  lightly  suggest,  a  mere  matter  of  dis- 
turbing the  equanimity  of  the  querulous 
invalid.  It  will  not  do  to  quote  Shakespeare 
on  the  advisability  of  throwing  physic  to 


306 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


the  dogs.  For  this  is  not  primarily  a  matter 
of  physic.  It  is  far  more  serious  than  that. 
The  drug  clerks'  union  is  aiming  at  the 
vitals  of  the  modern  drug  store,  its  heart 
and  lungs — ^the  candy  counter  and  the  soda 
fountain!  With  what  diabolical  cleverness 
they  have  waited  till  the  nation  leaned  most 
heavily  on  their  sustaining  counters  in  the 
dry  days  of  prohibition.  Well  they  know 
that  the  public  is  dependent  upon  them  for 
the  very  elements  of  life,  for  nourishment, 
for  stimulation.  The  soda  fountain  and  its 
adjacent  candy  counter  are  the  town  pump, 
the  tavern,  the  corner  grocery,  the  sewing 
circle  of  days  gone  by.  The  very  fabric  of 
our  social  and  political  life  is  woven  here. 
Can  the  nation  support  this  final  blow? 

FOOD  FOR  THE  GETTING 

Indianapolis  News 

It  is  desirable  to  know  the  wild  flowers 
and  appreciate  their  beauty,  but  it  is  equally 
important  to  know  weeds  and  know  what 
varieties  may  be  put  into  a  pot  and  trans- 
formed into  greens  for  dinner.  Greens  have 
been  selling  at  the  Indianapolis  market  for 
25  cents  and  30  cents  a  pound — even  the 
noxious  dandelion  commanded  a  price  of 
10  cents  a  pound.  Any  man  who  failed  to 
take  good  care  of  his  lawn  had  enough 
dandelions  to  mix  with  more  expensive 
greens,  so  there  was  no  necessity  for  buying 
dandelions.  Other  varieties  of  greens  were 
not  so  easily  obtained  unless  they  and  their 
habitat  were  known. 

In  these  days  of  maximum  prices  for 
necessaries  the  householder  should  cultivate 
a  knowledge  of  wild  greens.  James  B. 
Elmore,  of  Montgomery  county,  ran  for  the 
Democratic  nomination  for  representative 
and  was  defeated  by  a  close  margin.  His 
disposition  to  be  of  service  to  his  fellow- 
men  in  the  general  assembly  has  been 
thwarted,  temporarily,  but  he  Tias  served 
the  public  with  his  pen  thus: 

Much  indoor  life  stagnates  the  blood. 
And  makes  a  torpid  liver; 

But  soon  the  sun  sends  piercing  rays. 
And  makes  the  leaflets  quiver. 

I  long  for  viands  tart  and  good 
To  start  arterial  streams; 

My  heart  leaps  up  with  joy  and  hope 
When  Katie  gathers  greens. 

Katie  should  have  no  monopoly  in  the 
greens-gathering  industry.  The  greens  are 
here,  and  there,  and  everywhere,  ready  for 
the  harvest.  Their  food  value  is  admitted  by 
dietitians.  Their  flavor  adds  zest  to  any 
meal,  however  good,  and  the  exercise  of 
gathering  them  will  tend  to  reduce  the  waist 
line,  induce  deep  breathing,  and  develop 
little  used  muscles.     Later  on  the  garden 


will  furnish  green  things  for  the  table,  but 
pending  their  harvest,  the  wild  greens 
beckon. 

BLUE  SHIRTS  FOR  SALARIED  ONES 

Louisville    Courier-Journal 

The  blue  shirt  was  once  upon  a  time  the 
familiar  garb  of  the  wage-earner,  the  white 
shirt  the  conventional  garment  of  the  office-, 
holder  and  the  salaried  man  in  industrial 
life.  The  time  is  coming,  and  presently  will 
have  arrived,  when  the  salaried  classes,  in- 
cluding governors,  will  have  to  wear  blue 
shirts,  or  none.  Any  white  shirt  sold  with 
the  equivalent  of  the  shoe  guarantee,  "war- 
ranted not  to  rip,  tear  or  run  down  at  the 
heel,"  is,  nowadays,  a  luxury  about  which 
a  governor,  a  college  professor,  a  profes- 
sional man,  a  clerk,  must  think  twice  before 
buying.  Both  times  he  thinks  that  when 
the  present  supply  comes  to  an  end  he  will 
be  embarrassed,  financially  and  otherwise. 

Inasmuch  as  the  "biled"  shirt  is  getting 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  classes  which  once 
affected  its  distinctive  elegance,  it  may  be 
well  for  those  classes  to  consider  the  possi- 
bility that  by  adopting  a  style  of  dress 
which  has,  historically,  won  sympathy,  they 
may  rehabilitate  themselves.  When  the 
S5-cent  collars  and  the  white  shirts  are  worn 
by  none  but  wage-earners  and  profiteering 
proprietors;  when  the  bank  clerks,  the  edu- 
cators, the  salesmen  in  shops,  the  office- 
holding  class,  salaried  folk  generally,  shall 
have  been  forced  into  the  blue  shirt  because 
it  is  more  economical,  not  only  in  cost  price, 
but  also  in  maintenance,  perhaps  a  wave  of 
sympathy  for  the  wearers  of  the  blue  shirt 
will  sweep  through  the  land.  Possibly  it 
will  be  said,  upon  the  political  stump  and 
elsewhere,  that  the  honest  college  professor 
in  his  blue  shirt  and  overalls,  with  his  din- 
ner pail  upon  his  arm;  the  honest  physician 
in  wholesome  blue;  the  surgeon  with  his 
blue  shirt  sleeves  rolled  up;  the  governor 
with  the  bright  blue  patches  upon  the  faded 
blue  elbows  of  his  proclaiming  garment, 
ought  to  have  "living  salaries"  and  ought 
to  be  encouraged  to  aspire  to  the  possession 
of  at  least  enough  biled  shirts  for  Sunday 
wear. 

MENACE  OF  THE 

NOMINATING    SPEECH 

New  York   Evening  Post 

There  is  one  thing  of  which  the  candidates 
at  Chicago  and  San  Francisco  should  be 
more  afraid  than  of  one  another;  and  that 
is  the  men  who  put  them  in  nomination. 
Imagine  the  scene.  "Alabama,"  calls  the 
secretary.  "Alabama  yields  to  Michigan," 
announces  the  chairman  of  the  Alabama  del- 
egation.   Thereupon  an  alert  or  impressive, 


EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 


307 


as  the  case  may  be,  figure  rises  in  the  Mich- 
igan delegation  and  slowly  makes  its  way 
towards  the  platform.  The  easy  grace  of 
the  man's  bearing  attracts  all  eyes;  the  cut 
of  his  Palm  Beach  suit  wins  all  hearts.  Be- 
fore he  has  reached  the  steps  leading  up  to 
the  crowded  stage  he  has  every  delegate's 
undivided  attention.  He  begins  to  speak, 
and  his  first  sentences  kindle  emotions  that 
have  lain  undisturbed  for  four  long  years. 
The  end  of  his  opening  period  is  marked  by 
waves  of  applause  upon  which  the  presiding 
officer's  gavel  has  no  more  effect  than  Mrs. 
Partington's  broom  had  on  the  ocean.  When 
he  has  been  speaking  for  five  minutes  he  re- 
ceives an  ovation.  The  riot  that  follows  his 
revelation  of  the  name  of  his  candidate  is 
perfunctorily  for  the  candidate,  sponta- 
neously for  himself.  When,  after  half  a 
dozen  ballots,  it  dawns  upon  the  convention 
that  it  is  hopelessly  deadlocked,  three  dele- 
gates from  Oklahoma  change  their  votes  to 
the  man  who  made  the  nominating  speech, 
and  it  is  all  over. 

We  do  not  say  that  this  is  going  to  happen 
at  Chicago  or  San  Francisco,  although  some- 
thing very  much  like  it  did  happen  at 
Chicago  in  1880,  when  Garfield's  nominating 
speech  for  Sherman,  coupled  with  his  tactful 
work  in  behalf  of  his  candidate  on  the  floor, 
made  so  excellent  an  impression  upon  the 
convention  that  he  became  the  first  Repub- 
lican "dark  horse."  We  do  say  that,  with 
nobody  wildly  enthusiastic  over  the  three  or 
four  candidates  who  have  the  most  votes 
pledged,  it  behooves  these  candidates  not  to 
take  any  unnecessary  risks.  It  is  reported, 
for  instance,  that  Gov.  Allen  is  to  place  Gen. 
Wood  in  nomination.  Is  it  wise  to  give 
some  volatile  Kansan  the  opportunity  of 
yelling,  "Oh,  you  Henry!"  at  the  unpsycho- 
logical  moment?  How  embarrassing  it 
would  be  for  a  candidate  who  wds  following 
his  nominator  over  the  telegraph  to  read: 
"Interruption.  Cries,  'Why  don't  you  speak 
for  yourself?'     Tremendous  cheering." 

The  only  guarantee  against  this  unwel- 
come outburst  is  for  candidates  to  choose 
the  dullest  speakers  of  their  acquaintance. 
But  this  course  has  obvious  disadvantages. 
The  one  safe  procedure  would  seem  to  be 
for  the  candidate  to  arrange  to  be  placed  in 
nomination  by  a  spell-binder  constitutionally 
disqualified  for  the  Presidency. 

'      THE  NECTAR  WE  CALL  HONEY 

Omaha  Bee 

American  honey  is  much  sought  after  in 
England,  so  much  so  that  8,000  tons  of  it, 
worth  five  and  a  half  million  dollars,  have 
been  shipped  there  in  a  single  year.  Durmg 
the  war  the  demand  was  lively  owing  to 


the  shortage  in  sugar,  and  Englishmen  en- 
joyed something  very  good  they  had  never 
tasted  before. 

The  flavor  and  quality  of  honey  depend 
largely  on  what  the  bees  feed  upon.  At  its 
best  it  is  principally  the  nectar  of  clover 
and  flowers;  at  its  poorest  it  comes  from 
sugars  fed  the  bees  by  men  who  make  a 
business  of  selling  it  and  not  eating  it. 
But  all  honey  has  one  excellent  quality 
sugars  have  not.  It  is  what  the  doctors  call 
an  "inverted  sweet;"  that  is,  one  which  is 
ready  for  immediate  digestion  when  it  en- 
ters the  stomach.  Sugar  is  not,  nor  are  any 
of  the  candies  made  from  sugar.  They  must 
all  undergo  a  chemical  process  in  the 
stomach  before  the  juices  of  that  active  or- 
gan will  take  them  up.  Wherefore  honey 
is  the  most  healthful  of  all  sweets,  and  a 
true  natural  food. 

Literature  fairly  drips  honey.  Perhaps 
the  best  known  and  most  widely  quoted  of 
all  references  to  it,  is  the  famous  verse 
written  on  the  fly  leaf  of  a  Bible  belonging 
to  a  pitman  in  an  English  county: 
God  made  bees. 

And  bees  made  honey; 
God  made  man. 

And  man  made  money; 
Pride  made  the  devil. 

And  the  devil  made  sin; 
So  God  made  a  coal  pit 
To  put  the  devil  in. 

The  Bible  is  full  of  references  to  honey. 
Jacob  sent  down  to  Egypt  to  the  man  who 
was  his  long  mourned  son  Joseph,  "a  little 
honey;"  the  manna  sent  down  from  heaven 
during  the  exodus  tasted  "like  wafers  made 
with  honey;"  there  was  a  swarm  of  bees  and 
honey  in  the  carcass  of  the  lion  Samson  had 
killed  with  his  bare  hands,  from  which  came 
the  riddle  in  Judges:  "Out  of  the  eater  came 
forth  meat,  and  out  of  the  strong  came 
forth  sweetness;"  and  John  the  Baptist's 
meat  was  "locusts  and  wild  honey." 

Honey  is  a  food  to  be  eaten  with  care.  It 
is  not  wholesome  with  roast  meat,  and  made 
the  bread  of  the  Hebrews  sour,  but  with 
milk  or  cream  or  hot  buttered  cakes  made 
with  sour  milk,  it  is  most  palatable. 

LEADERSHIP  AND  CHARACTER 

Youth's  Companion 

It  is  a  common  fault  with  most  of  us  that 
as  we  advance  in  opportunities  for  cultiva- 
tion and  a  widened  outlook,  we  grow  im- 
patient of  whatever  is  trite.  We  smile  when 
we  hear  a  man  say,  "I  don't  know  much 
about  art,  but  I  know  what  I  like";  and 
when  we  meet  a  stranger  who  knows  some 
of  our  intimate  friends  in  Moose  Jaw  or 
Medicine  Hat,  and  he   exclaims,  "What  a 


308 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


small  world  it  is!"  we  leave  him  with  the 
fervent  wish  that  it  were  larger. 

But  is  not  our  dislike  of  the  trite  and  the 
commonplace  robbing  us  of  certain  moral 
values  that,  as  a  people,  we  once  greatly 
prized?  Are  we  not  forgetting  that  trite 
means  merely  "worn  by  use":  a  condition 
that  is  in  itself  a  certificate  of  usefulness? 
Nothing  gets  worn  that  a  large  number  of 
people  do  not  find  of  service. 

Our  superior  and  sophisticated  attitude 
toward  life  has  impelled  us  to  send  to  the 
intellectual  attic  many  of  the  good  old 
pieces  of  moral  furniture  that  our  fathers 
valued — ^the  excellent  aphorisms  about  thrift 
and  industry;  the  relation  between  economy 
and  wealth;  above  all,  the  insistence  that 
success  and  leadership  in  life  depend  on 
character. 

If  a  wise  man  should  be  asked  to  name  the 
books  that,  next  to  the  Bible,  have  exerted 
the  widest  influence  for  good  on  people  of 
the  English-speaking  race,  he  would  be 
pretty  sure  to  put  Smiles's  Self-Help  some- 
where in  the  list.  It  is  marked  neither  by 
originality  of  matter  nor  by  special  grace 
of  style,  but  is  merely  a  collection  of  com- 
monplaces meant  for  the  guidance  and  en- 
couragement of  young  men,  especially  such 
as  have  their  own  way  to  make;  neverthe- 
less, it  burns  with  a  moral  fervor  that  not 
only  warms  the  heart  of  him  who  reads  it, 
but  makes  steam  in  his  intellectual  boiler,  if 
the  boiler  is  good  for  anything.  From  cover 
to  cover  it  is  one  continuous  reiteration  of 
the  old  truth  that  character,  and  character 
only,  is  the  basis  of  leadership.  Do  young 
men  of  today  read  Self-Help? 

It  is  a  mistake  to  drop  the  old  truisms  and 
smile  at  the  trite  moralizations.  Three 
times  in  every  hundred  years  the  world 
brings  forth  a  new  generation,  born  as 
helpless  and  as  dependent  in  mind  and  in 
morals  as  in  physical  strength.  It  must 
grow,  as  its  predecessors  grew,  on  precept 
and  wise  teaching  no  less  than  on  experience. 
What  is  trite  to  us  may  be  fresh  to  our 
children — ^nay,  is  fresh  to  them,  if  we  pre- 
sent it  in  the  right  way.  From  the  days  of 
Solomon — yes,  from  the  days  of  Adam — 
down  to  the  present  the  plain,  old-fashioned, 
patiently  wrought  moral  truths  have  held 
the  world  together.  Instead  of  dropping 
them  because  they  are  worn  with  use,  let 
us  drive  them  home  at  every  opportunity. 

WHEN  BOOTS  WERE  TRUMPS 

Omaha  Bee 

In  the  big  shoe  factories  of  New  England 
fifty  machines  and  one  hundred  people  take 
part  in  the  manufacture  of  each  pair  of 
shoes,  which  go  through  two  hundred  proc- 
esses before  they  are  ready  for  the  retailer. 


One  Massachusetts  factory  has  a  daily  pro- 
duction of  14,000  pairs  of  shoes,  each  pair 
being  in  process  of  manufacture  fourteen 
days. 

It  is  a  far  cry  back  to  the  days  when  a 
single  man  made  a  pair  of  boots  from  start 
to  finish  in  two  or  three  days  actual  work- 
ing time,  but  men  now  in  the  "youth  of 
their  old  age"  can  remember  when  every 
little  village  had  a  half  dozen  or  more 
bootmakers,  who  found  steady  and  re- 
munerative employment  all  the  year  around 
on  the  bench  making  or  mending  footwear. 
Incidentally,  the  old-time  shoe-shops  were 
forums  in  which  about  every  mooted  ques- 
tion in  religion,  science  and  politics  was  dis- 
cussed, rivaling  the  blacksmith  shops  for 
open  debates. 

These  towns  and  village  followers  of  St. 
Crispin  began  to  feel  the  need  of  tutelar 
support  back  in  the  80's,  when  factory  pro- 
duction was  improved  in  quality  and  fit  and 
greatly  increased  in  quantity.  Deserted  by 
his  patron  saint,  the  bootmaker  began  to 
fade  away.  When  he  died,  nobody  took  his 
place.  And  boots  disappeared  with  him. 
The  factory  men  could  make  two  pairs  of 
shoes,  nearly,  out  of  the  leather  required 
for  one  pair  of  boots,  and  found  it  profitable 
to  push  shoes,  for  summer  wear,  at  least. 
Young  men  entirely  discarded  boots,  except 
in  the  country,  and  in  a  few  years  they 
passed  out  for  the  general  public,  although 
old  men  continued  to  wear  them  winter  and 
summer.  We  have  heard  old  men  say  their 
legs  were  chilly  in  July  weather  without 
boot  tops  around  them. 

The  boot  period  was  a  great  one  to  live  in. 
From  the  red-topped,  copper-toed  boots  of 
boyhood  to  the  de  luxe  boots  of  elegant 
young  manhood,  they  were  a  joy.  About 
1885  a  custom-made  pair  of  box-toed  French 
calf  boots,  with  beautiful  glossy  Morocco- 
leather  legs,  cost  around  $14  and  were  the 
aristocrats  of  footwear,  good  for  two  or 
three  years'  service,  winter  and  summer. 
They  conferred  upon  their  owner  the  same 
social  distinction  now  enjoyed  by  those  who 
own  and  use  evening  clothes  and  a  silk  hat. 

By  the  early  90's,  machinery  and  shoe  cor- 
porations had  driven  out  individual  shoe- 
making,  just  as  industrial  competition  has 
done  away  with  the  old  village  tanneries 
and  woolen  mills,  and  the  automobile  in- 
dustry has  destroyed  the  small  town  car- 
riage factories.  So  runs  the  world  away 
from  many  things. 

WEATHER 

Youth's   Companion 

The  first  interest  that  invades  our  sleepy 
heads  when  we  wake  in  the  morning,  the 
first  topic  of  conversation  at  any  hour  in 


EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 


309 


the  day  when  we  meet  a  friend  and  the  last 
subject  to  receive  our  speculative  considera- 
tion when  we  open  the  window  before  pop- 
ping into  bed  for  the  night  is  usually  the 
weather.  This  year,  in  most  parts  of  the 
country,  the  weather  has  been  exceptionally 
interesting  and  disagreeable.  It  has  inter- 
fered seriously  with  our  comfort,  our  enjoy- 
ment and  our  business.  In  a  period  when 
people's  dispositions  were  already  tried  by 
the  high  cost  of  living  and  by  after-the-war 
animosities,  disturbance  and  unrest  along 
comes  weather  of  a  most  violent  and  per- 
sistent sort  and  intensifies  the  general  glum- 
ness. 

Rightly  regarded,  weather,  even  bad 
weather,  is  a  tonic  and  a  disciplinarian.  Of 
course  there  are  some  extremes  of  me- 
teorological activity  for  which  no  good  word 
can  be  said — tornadoes,  hurricanes  and  bliz- 
zards; but  the  ordinary  or  even  the  out-of- 
the-ordinary  run  of  bad  weather  is  a  bless- 
ing in  disguise,  as  the  superior  prosperity 
and  progressiveness  of  the  inhabitants  of 
countries  exposed  to  such  vicissitudes  dem- 
onstrates. Variety  in  weather  seems  always 
to  mean  versatility  in  man. 

The  reason  is,  of  course,  that  people  are 
not  going  to  be  dominated  by  unfavorable 
weather  if  they  can  help  it.  Where  the 
conditions  of  climate  are  nearly  always  fa- 
vorable and  a  living  is  to  be  had  with  the 
smallest  possible  effort  it  is  different;  people 
are  readily  submissive  to  benign  circum- 
stance. But  the  fight  to  overcome  condi- 
tions unfavorable  to  easy  living  has  de- 
veloped the  most  valuable  qualities  of 
character.  The  complaints  against  the 
weather  that  have  been  so  general  and  so 
just  this  year,  though  they  have  indicated 
disgust,  have  seldom  been  without  the  note 
of  dogged  defiance. 

To  defy  bad  weather  in  act  as  well  as  in 
thought  is  for  the  healthy  person  the  best 
way  0  fdealing  with  it.  There  is  certainly 
no  better  way  of  working  off  the  sullen 
spirit  that  it  sometimes  engenders.  Few 
storms  are  so  severe  that  one  who  is  in 
good  physical  condition  and  who  is  appro- 
priately clad  will  not  be  the  better  for  get- 
ting out  and  battling  with  them.  Bad 
weather  cuts  us  off  sometimes  from  pleas- 
ures to  which  we  had  looked  forward,  but. 
if  we  take  it  in  its  own  challenging  spirit 
we  shall  find  in  it  pleasure  of  another  and, 
it  may  be,  a  more  substantial  kind. 

THOSE  WHO  TENDED  BAR 

New  York  Sun 

We  are  informed  that  all  of  England  is 
amused  over  the  assertion  of  a  London 
newspaper  that  Sir  Eric  Geddes,  the  British 
Minister  of  Transport,  was  once  a  bartender 


in  the  United  States.  Sir  Eric  himself  is 
reported  to  have  "smiled  enigmatically" 
when  asked  for  details.  The  fact  that  he 
mixes  good  cocktails  is  offered  as  circum- 
stantial evidence  of  his  past!  But  that  is 
in  England.  On  this  side  of  the  water  there 
have  been  times  and  regions  when  every 
social  male  could  make  a  potable  cocktail. 
Americans  did  not  leave  the  delicate  task 
to  a  butler. 

To  our  way  of  thinking  it  would  be  more 
depressing  if  it  were  discovered  that  Sir 
Eric,  after  being  First  Lord  of  the  British 
Admiralty  and  a  Major-General  in  her  army, 
had  gone  and  become  a  bartender.  Over 
here  there  have  been  many  examples  of  bar- 
tenders who  have  risen  to  wealth  and  to  a 
power  that  extended  beyond  the  precinct  of 
the  bar.  One  became  a  master  in  finance 
and  left  not  only  a  fortune  of  a  hundred 
millions,  but  a  memory  among  his  associates 
that  his  word  was  unbreakable.  Another 
former  bartender  became  one  of  the  highest 
officers  of  this  city's  government  and  a  man 
of  the  greatest  zeal  in  educational  affairs. 

It  has  been  stated  repeatedly,  and  with- 
out contradiction  from  the  hero  of  the  tale, 
that  John  Masefield  tended  bar  in  Sixth 
avenue;  and  when  that  first  class  poet  paid 
a  visit  to  New  York  a  few  years  ago  he 
went  to  call  on  his  former  employer  to 
see  how  the  old  place  was  getting  on.  We 
do  not  believe  that  Robert  Bridges  ever 
served  drinks  professionally;  and  sometimes, 
upon  comparing  his  products  with  Mase- 
field's,  we  have  wished  he  was  as  broad  in 
song,  if  not  in  experience,  as  John  is. 

When  we  hear  that  the  eminent  So-and-so 
was  a  bartender  or  a  hod  carrier  or  an 
efficiency  expert  in  his  unformed  youth  we 
do  not  lift  our  eyebrows.  We  do  not  even 
ask  whether  he  was  good  at  his  early  trade. 
If  Sir  Eric  was  ever  a  bartender  we  must 
assume,  from  the  character  of  his  wider 
public  employment  during  the  war,  that  he 
was  a  good  bartender. 

THE  SNUG  BUTTERY 

Chicago    Tribune 

In  this  season  of  falling  leaves  and  rising 
prices  we  are  moved  to  speak  of  the  sense 
of  protection  against  the  inclemency  of  the 
first  and  the  relentlessness  of  the  second — 
the  sense  of  protection  there  is  to  be  ex- 
tracted out  of  contemplating  the  buttery  all 
snugged  down  for  the  winter;  all  snug  and 
smug,  with  fat  smiling  quart  jars  and  jam 
pots  and  jelly  glasses. 

There  is  also  the  sense  of  protection  that 
comes  of  the  ruddy  glow  of  the  fireplace 
and  the  snowfiakes  whirling  against  the 
window-pane.  A  fine  sense  of  luxury  this, 
even  if  the  ruddy  glow  is  only  a  mental  ex- 


310 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


ercise  produced  by  the  clanking  of  the 
steampipes  or  the  rattle  of  the  poker  in  the 
old  base-burner. 

Again  we  say  it  is  a  fine  sense  of  luxury; 
warmth  and  the  boisterous  snow;  but  how 
infinitely  reassuring  to  be  thus  genially  con- 
scious of  protection  while  at  the  same  time 
conscious  of  that  abundant  fortification  in 
the  pantry — a  fortification  built  by  your 
own  homely  initiative  and  prudent  fore- 
thought. 

What  will  tomatoes  fetch  this  winter? 
You  should  worry  with  your  dozen  of  quart 
jars  portly  and  sagely  nodding  approval  of 
your  wisdom.  How  much  will  jelly  be; 
clear  as  ruby — ^breakfast  cheerless  without 
it?  No  matter,  the  top  shelf  will  tell  you 
it  doesn't  matter. 

Does  the  price  of  the  zestful  chili  sauce 
appall  you  ?  Certainly  not,  for  a  dozen,  two 
dozen  quarts  of  it  grin  in  the  buttery.  Dill 
pickles?  A  huge  crock  is  in  the  corner, 
with  a  stone  holding  the  contents  under  the 
brine.  Stuffed  peppers,  fine  for  blustering 
December  ?    They,  too,  hide  in  the  brine. 

We  can't  all  have  Ichabod  Crane's  dreams 
come  true — "every  roasting  pig  with  a  pud- 
ding in  his  belly  and  an  apple  in  his  mouth; 
the  pigeons  snugly  put  to  bed  in  a  comforta- 
ble pie  and  tucked  in  with  a  coverlet  of 
crust;  the  geese  swimming  in  their  own 
gravy;  and  the  ducks  pairing  cozily  in 
dishes,  like  snug  married  folks,  with  a  de- 
cent competency  of  onion  sauce — "  but  we 
can  have  the  sense  of  honest  and  prudent 
comfort  and  protection  which  come  of  wise 
and  economical  provision. 

High  prices  always  will  be  high  if  our 
native  wit  and  forethought  fall  into  disuse. 
Housewives  no  doubt  will  resent  the  imputa- 
tion that  they  lack  the"  creative  impulse,  yet 
the  first  blast  of  winter  will  be  proof  to 
many  that  a  dozen  jars  of  tomatoes  pre- 
served at  home  is  worth  more  than  whole 
years  devoted  to  developing  temperament. 

Let's  think  of  higher  things,  but  also  of 
potatoes  in  the  bin  and  squashes  that  make 
pretty  fair  "pumpkin  pie."  Let's  have  art 
and  also  artichokes,  music  and  muffins; 
esthetics  in  moderation  and  asparagus  in 
cans;  culture  and  cabbage  and  philosophy 
and  flapjacks.  The  caveman  would  have 
taken  a  house  in  town  much  sooner  had  the 
cavewoman  known  how  to  put  up  stuff  for 
the  winter. 

THE  KINGS  WHO  FLED 

New  York  Sun 

Royalty  of  the  twentieth  century  breed  in 
exile  is  not  an  awe  or  pity  inspiring  lot. 
The  fall  of  princely  houses  has  not  been 
dignified  by  the  masterful  bearing  in  the 


ordeal  of  renunciation  which  true  believers 
in  the  divine  right  of  one  man  to  rule  an- 
other might  have  been  expected  to  display. 
There  were  noble  opportunities  to  write 
splendid  tragedies  in  the  dethronement  pro- 
ceedings which  followed  close  on  the  armis- 
tice, but  actors  competent  to  take  advan- 
tage of  them  were  not  in  the  cast.  They  did 
not  fight,  but ,  fled,  forsaking  their  regal 
crowns,  but  not  forgetting  the  golden  crowns 
they  could  lay  their  hands  on. 

A  prince  properly  convinced  of  his  divine 
privilege  and  obligation,  with  the  spirit  to 
defend  it,  had  a  splendid  stage  on  which  to 
fight  for  that  for  which  he  had  strutted. 
Defiance  to  a  "misled"  people,  fidelity  to  the 
station  and  the  office  to  which  God  had 
called  him,  refusal  to  compromise  for  per- 
sonal comfort,  even  for  life  itself,  the  un- 
flinching pose  of  a  man  exalted  by  blood 
and  training  and  something  beyond  human 
will;  how  magnificently  one  man  might  have 
died  for  his  caste,  died  for  the  system  he 
exemplified,  died  for  the  honor  of  the  pre- 
rogatives his  rebellious  subjects  threatened 
to  take  from  him!  Not  one  of  the  princes 
was  dramatic,  to  say  nothing  of  heroic. 
Each  and  every  man  and  woman  of  them, 
following  the  example  of  the  self -proclaimed 
bell  wether  of  the  flock,  surrendered  with 
more  discretion  than  valor  or  ran  as  fast 
as  his  legs  or  an  automobile  could  carry 
him. 

The  Czar  provides  a  better  figure  for 
those  who  would  make  monarchs  attractive 
than  any  of  the  others.  He  at  least  went 
into  a  mystery,  and  as  he  departed  bore 
himself  well.  But  all  the  others  offer  poor 
material  for  hero  building.  They  quit  cold, 
earning  honorary  membership  in  the  safety 
first  society  as  soon  as  trouble  obscured  the 
sun  of  divine  right  under  whose  rays  they 
had  profitably  basked  so  long.  A  horde  of 
the  fat  and  the  skinny,  the  mad  and  the  sane, 
young  and  old,  laid  hands  on  their  posses- 
sions and  took  it  on  the  run  for  cover.  If 
they  believed  what  they  taught,  they 
painted  themselves  cravens;  if  they  ran  be- 
cause they  did  not  believe,  they  confessed 
themselves  frauds.  They  dealt  a  blow  to  the 
king  or  to  the  kingship,  whichever  way  the 
mind  turns;  they  abandoned  an  ancient  in- 
stitution in  its  hour  of  peril  to  make  sure 
they  might  continue  for  a  little  time  to 
wear  whole  skins. 

There  have  been  kings  who  lived  for  their 
countries  and  their  peoples.  There  have 
been  kings  who  died  for  their  countries  and 
their  peoples.  None  of  them  is  numbered 
among  those  who  had  engagements  else- 
where when  the  signal  came  for  the  brave 
to  risk  something  or  to  lose  all. 


EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 


311 


PERSONALITY   PERVADES  MODERN 
ADVERTISING 

New  York  Evening  Post 

Shakespeare  once  said,  "The  play's  the 
thing,"  or  he  made  Hamlet  say  it,  and  every- 
body ever  since  has  seemed  to  take  that 
for  a  profound  psychological  revelation.  But 
they  ought  to  know  that  Shakespeare  had 
never  read  Freud,  and  couldn't  qualify  as 
even  a  tyro  in  psycho-analysis.  And  maybe 
Bacon  wrote  him,  after  all,  and  that  would 
entirely  change  the  complexes.  Personality 
is  the  thing.  Why,  the  play  couldn't  get 
anywhere  if  there  were  not  good  chunks  of 
personality  inserted  in  the  press-agenting 
of  the  heroine  or  the  playwright.  And  ad- 
vertisements! You  remember  how  they  used 
to  be  clever,  scintillating  things  crammed 
with  information  about  some  brand  of  ar- 
ticle, but  reading  a  great  deal  more  like  an 
encyclopaedia  excerpt  than  an  advertise- 
ment. 

When  father  got  a  far-away  look  one 
evening  and  mused  orally  what  a  wonderful 
thing  a  college  education  was,  we  all  knew 
he  had  been  taking  liberal  draughts  of  that 
description  of  how  Cheops  (was  it  Cheops  ? ) 
built  the  pyramids,  that  formed  three  pages 
of  the  brochure  of  the  Aphrodite  Dental 
Company.  Or  if  mother,  quite  apropos  of 
nothing,  told  us  at  dinner  that  the  ancients 
had  no  forks,  we  felt  that  she  had  been 
studying  the  literature  of  the  Siamese  Spice 
Company,  which  includes  wonderful  histori- 
cal accounts  of  customs  and  manners. 

But  now  it  all  reeks  of  personality.  There 
is  a  spectral  hand  clapping  you  on  the  back 
every  time  you  take  off  a  label  or  open  a 
package.  Last  night,  for  instance,  just  to 
introduce  that  personal  element  right  here, 
Charles  sent  a  box  of  candy— nothing  ex- 
travagant; that  wouldn't  be  Charles — just 
a  nice,  homey  one-pound  box,  but  fresh  and 
good,  as  far  as  it  went,  of  course,  and  the 
nicest  little  note  in  it  tiv^m  the  manufac- 
turer, telling  me  how  much  trouble  he  had 
taken  to  have  it  nice  and  wholesome  for  me, 
and  if  I  didn't  think  it  fresh  I  was  to  take 
it  right  back.  Not  to  wait  a  minute  or  count 
the  trouble  of  rushing  out  to  the  nearest 
drug  store  in  the  rain,  or  telephoning 
Charles  about  it  at  all.  Well,  it  was  nice  of 
him,  and  it  made  me  feel  that  perhaps  I 
was  prejudiced  about  not  liking  nougatines 
and  so  much  cocoanut  in  the  fillings.  It's 
personality  that  counts.  I  have  had  many 
a  five-pound  box  that  didn't  measure  up  to 
this  one  at  all. 

And  just  the  other  day  I  had  a  letter 
from  Wimbel  Brothers  telling  me  about  their 
reductions  in  fall  garments,  and  not  urging 
me  to  buy  a  thing:,  you  know,  but  so  chatty 


and  assuring,  and  ending  up  with  the  re- 
mark, "Madame,  you  don't  know  what  five 
dollars  would  do  for  your  wardrobe!"  Well, 
of  course,  I  do  know,  for  even  five  cents 
spent  on  hooks  and  eyes  would  make  a  lot 
of  difference  at  times,  but  it  was  nice  to 
feel  that  someone  else  realized  that  I  had 
my  problems  and  wanted  to  help  me  out! 
And  I  went  right  down  and  bought  a  nice 
little  fur  piece  for  $190  that  I  wouldn't  have 
known  I  needed  if  it  hadn't  been  for  that 
personal  touch.  It  is  personality  that 
counts. 

THE  PORTER'S  TIP 

Chicago     Tribune 

Probably  the  two  bits  which  the  spend- 
thrift American  traveler,  having  luxuriated 
under  blankets  of  a  peculiar  rigidity,  the 
composition  of  which  is  known  only  to  the 
Pullman  company,  and  having  dressed  with- 
out fracturing  his  skull,  bestows  upon  the 
porter  who  tendered  such  creature  com- 
forts as  may  exist  in  a  sleeping-car,  hits  at 
some  important  props  in  our  economic  wel- 
fare. 

Chairman  Walsh  and  the  committee  on 
industrial  relations  evidently  suspect  that 
an  evil  hides  behind  this  quarter  which  the 
average  traveler  deposits  with  the  person 
who  dusted  him  thus  effectively.  It  may  be 
making  the  Pullman  company  rich  by  mak- 
ing possible  an  avoidance  of  paying  proper 
wages.  It  may  be  destroying  the  self- 
respect  of  the  porter,  but  we  doubt  it,  ex- 
perience never  having  discovered  one  who 
did  not  look  as  if  he  had  all  the  self-respect 
of  a  person  with  a  bank  account. 

We  suspect  that  the  first  sleeping-car  por- 
ter who  got  the  first  two  bits  from  a  traveler 
nearly  fell  over  in  astonishment  and  was 
unable  to  express  himself  adequately.  We 
suspect  that  the  whole  system  was  orig- 
inated by  the  travelers  themselves  and  that 
they  will  continue  to  hand  out  two  bits  in 
the  morning  regardless  of  what  changes  are 
made  in  the  wage  scale. 

Naturally  we  want  the  money  to  go  to  the 
porters  and  not  to  the  Pullman  company, 
and  for  that  reason  we  might  insist  that  the 
company  pay  wages  that  would  be  adequate 
if  there  were  no  gratuities  or  would  refund 
the  latter  to  the  passenger  in  the  form  of 
lower  rates. 

But  we  also  suspect  that  the  habit  of  tip- 
ping the  porter  is  something  not  to  be  ex- 
plained by  any  orthodox  economic  theory; 
that  it  inheres  in  the  grandiloquence  of  the 
average  traveler  who  wishes  to  consider 
himself  a  person  important  enough,  in  the 
peculiarly  important  circumstances  of  his 
travel,  to  hand  out  two  bits  to  an  obliging 
gentleman  of  color  and  that  he  would  resent 


312 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


any  legislative  fussiness  which  deprived  him 
of  this  expression  of  his  own  generosity  and 
solvency.  As  to  the  colored  person  who 
takes  the  tip,  we  suspect  that  his  self- 
respect  is  proof  against  this  subtle  sugges- 
tion. Anyway  he  earns  the  fee  and  it  makes 
gracious  the  person  who  gives  it. 

There  are  very  few  remnants  of  the  feudal 
system.  Why  destroy  the  one  convenient 
method  by  which  a  person  of  modest  income 
and  small  authority  can,  for  a  moment,  at- 
tain and  realize  the  subtleties  of  the  grand 
estate  ?  Purchasable  at  two  bits,  the  sensa- 
tion is  cheap.  Many  a  man  has  spent  a  $20 
bill  and  had  his  egotism  flattered  less. 

CLOTHES  AND  THE  MAN 

Saturday   Evening   Post 

Every  year,  on.  the  twelfth  of  February, 
in  scores  of  our  home  towns,  draped  flags, 
bright  bunting  and  wreaths  of  laurel  draw 
the  eyes  of  passers-by  to  the  statue  of  a 
certain  man  a  smug  English  critic  said  was 
crude. 

This  man  of  bronze  is  stooped  and  grave. 
His  face  is  lined  with  care  and  strain.  To 
cool,  appraising  eyes  he  may  seem  a  sorry 
figure.  His  unbarbered  hair  is  not  brushed 
sleekly  back.  His  old-fashioned  collar  lies 
in  loose  and  homely  rolls.  There  is  too 
much  bronze  broadcloth  in  that  long  and 
skirted  coat.  It  must  have  flapped  in  every 
wind  as  he  shambled  awkwardly  along.  His 
shapeless  trousers,  ridged  by  wrinkles  with- 
in wrinkles,  bag  sadly  at  the  knees,  as  if 
from  too  long  careless  use,  or  perhaps  from 
frequent  kneeling.  The  lines  of  his  stout 
and  clumsy  boots  melt  into  no  suave  neat 
curves. 

Survey  this  man  of  bronze  from  chin  to 
toe.  No  trace  of  style  or  smartness  meets 
the  eye.  Libraries  have  been  written  to  do 
him  honor,  but  none  who  praised  him  ever 
said:  "He  dressed  richly  and  in  the  height 
of  fashion."  If  this  was  the  epitaph  he 
strove  to  win,  he  lived  in  vain. 

Yet  this  plain  ungainly  man  won  a  na- 
tion's love  and  the  world's  esteem.  There 
are  still  those  who  think  his  life  was  not  a 
failure.  In  his  own  day  some  hated  him,  but 
far  more  worshiped  him.  Men  liked  to 
speak  of  him  as  Old  Abe;  and  when  he 
called  them  from  their  homes  and  farms 
and  countingrooms  to  take  up  arms  they 
came  by  regiments  and  brigades,  chanting 
as  they  tramped  down  country  lanes  and 
city  streets:  "We're  coming,  Father  Abra- 
ham, three  hundred  thousand  strong."  Other 
hundred  thousands  followed;  and  this  plain 
and  care-bent  man  in  baggy  trousers,  who 
loved  them  every  one,  was  master  of  their 
fate.  His  was  the  great  heart  that  saved 
the  nation. 


Matthew  Arnold,  after  visiting  the  White 
House,  said  Mr.  Lincoln  was  crude.  He 
might  have  said  the  same  of  mountain 
chains,  of  stars,  of  the  sea,  and  of  all  ma- 
terial things  in  which  men  find  grandeur  and 
sublimity.  Posterity  has  more  important 
things  to  say  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  is  not  in- 
terested in  how  he  dressed.  It  does  not  hold 
his  lank  awkwardness  against  him.  It  re- 
members what  he  was,  what  he  suffered  and 
what  he  did. 

Mr.  Arnold  would  not  have  put  his  blunt 
epithet  upon  the  prince  of  dandies  or  upon 
the  master  of  the  art  of  pleasing,  yet  Beau 
Brummell,  dying  in  exile,  insane  and  penni- 
less, left  little  behind  but  a  tradition  of 
dandyism  and  impudence;  and  Lord  Chester- 
field is  better  membered  for  the  scorching 
letter  the  shabby  dictionary  maker  ad- 
dressed to  him  than  for  any  page  he  ever 
wrote  himself. 

If  biographies  were  as  commonly  read  as 
novels  there  would  perhaps  be  a  lessened 
demand  for  style  at  any  price;  and  the  cot- 
ton plant  would  again  provide  us  with  shirts 
and  hose  while  the  silkworms  took  a  well- 
earned  rest. 

ON  KEEPING  A  BAROMETER 

The  Independent 

The  Irishman  "keeps  a  pig."  The  old 
maid  "keeps  a  cat."  It  is  much  more  fun 
to  keep  a  barometer.  That  is  to  say,  it  is 
more  fun  if  you  are  interested  in  the 
weather.  And  you  are.  If  you  will  not 
admit  it,  you  are  either  an  untrustworthy 
witness  or  a  lusus  naturse,  a  jest  of  nature. 

Weather  is  one  of  the  three  great  univer- 
sal experiences  of  mankind.  All  men  are 
born,  all  men  die,  all  men  are  "weathered." 
The  rain  falls  alike  upon  the  just  and  unjust, 
or  would  if  it  were  not  that  the  unjust  have 
the  umbrellas  of  the  just.  In  winter  we  all 
shiver,  in  summer  we  all  sweat.  And  all 
the  time  we  all  talk  about  the  weather. 
There  is  no  other  perfectly  common  topic  of 
conversation;  because  there  is  no  other  per- 
fectly common  experience.  Men  talk  to  their 
fellows  about  the  weather,  not  because  they 
cannot  think  of  anything  else  to  talk  about, 
but  because  it  is  the  one  thing  about  which 
they  know  that  their  fellows  have  thoughts 
ready  for  exchange. 

Since  you  will  talk  about  the  weather,  you 
should  keep  a  barometer.  It  is  better  than 
a  pig,  in  that  it  produces  nothing  that  you 
can  sell,  and  you  may  therefore  know  that 
your  motives  in  keeping  it  are  unsullied  by 
greed.  It  is  better  than  a  cat  in  that  it 
drinks  no  milk,  yowls  no  yowls,  sheds  no 
hair.  It  is  better  than  a  dog  in  that — but 
no,  we  cannot  admit  it.  Nothing  is  better 
than  a  dog. 


EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 


313 


Keeping  a  barometer  is  a  peaceful  occu- 
pation. It  hangs  silent  on  the  wall,  de- 
manding nothing,  asserting  nothing,  merely- 
recording  an  impalpable  fact — the  pressure 
of  the  air. 

But  keeping  a  barometer  is  an  exciting 
occupation.  When  you  come  down  to  break- 
fast to  find  its  needle  hovering  througii  a 
narrow  arc  away  up  in  the  fair  region  above 
the  thirty  mark,  a  gentle  thrill  runs  through 
you  at  the  thought  that  the  wonderful 
weather  we  have  been  having  is  to  continue. 
When  the  needle  executes  a  two-inch  swoop 
in  a  few  hours,  as  it  did  one  day  last  winter, 
you  tingle  with  the  expectation  of  the  "big 
wind"  that  is  surely  coming,  and  hurry- 
down  to  stoke  up  the  furnace.  And  when 
the  storm  is  still  roaring  and  the  cheerful 
little  needle  begins  to  climb,  you  know  with 
a  rebound  of  spirit  that  the  worst  is  over. 
An  exciting  occupation  in  its  own  quiet  way. 

An  absorbing  occupation  no  less.  The  last 
thing  at  night  when  you  have  locked  up, 
put  out  the  cat,  set  the  screen  before  the 
embers  in  the  fireplace,  and  are  all  ready 
for  the  ascent  to  bed  you  turn  to  the  faithful 
disc  on  the  wall  and  set  the  index  finger 
fair  over  the  needle.  So  when  morning 
comes  and  you  stop  on  the  way  to  the  front 
porch  for  the  morning  paper  to  see  what 
the  elements  have  prepared  over  night  for 
you,  the  discrepancy  between  the  finger  and 
needle  tells  the  tale.  An  absorbing  occupa- 
tion indeed. 
HOW  WE  ARE  SUPPOSED  TO  SPEAK 

Chattanooga  News 

It  is  not  necessary  now  to  be  reared  in 
the  south  in  order  to  write  so-called  southern 
dialect.  There  are  publications  which  tell 
the  amateur  how  to  construct  it.  One  of 
these  is  known  as  the  Editor,  and  it  has  a 
large  circulation  among  scribblers.  Here  is 
advice  given  for  correct  use  of  "words"  and 
phrases  of  the  rural  central  south. 

"The  people  who  most  use  these  expres- 
sions are  older  persons,  who  'growed  up 
endurin'  or  jist  ater  the  war,  and  so  didn't 
have  no  chanst  toe  (to)  git  no  edication  or 
larnin*.'  1 

"Air  for  are.  Ast  for  asked.  Hep  for 
help.  Hope  for  helped.  Drean  for  drain. 
He  dim  (climbed)  a  tree.  Shet  and  shot,  for 
shut— 'Did  you  shet  the  gate?'  'Yes,  I  shot 
hit  (it).'  Hearn  tell  for  heard.  Mighty  for 
very;  mought  for  might — 'He  mought  hev 
bin  mighty  sick!  I  dunno  (don't  know).' 
He  wuz  (was)  thar  (there)  all  day.  I  was 
not  afeared  of  him.  He  was  scared  of  me. 
Nigh  about  guv  out,  for  wearied.  Fur  for 
far— 'How  fur  is  it  to  the  village?'  'Not 
much  furder.'  Like  for  lack— 'It  likes  two 
hours  to  dinner  yit.'    Ketch  and  kotch  for 


catch  and  caught — 'Did  you  ketch  that  air 
(that)  boss?'  'Yes,  I  kotch  him.'  Tuck  for 
took.  Chuesday  for  Tuesday.  Kyards  for 
cards.  Gyarden  for  garden.  Mr.  Kyarter 
for  Mr.  Carter.  Banch  for  bench.  Shore  for 
sure,  for  surely — 'She  shore  is  purty 
(pretty).' 

"A  plug  is  a  shabby  horse.  A  fiste  is  a 
small  dawg  (dog).  A  stob  is  a  stake  or 
small  post.  A  clod-hopper  is  a  small  bare- 
footed boy.  Slickers  are  dumplings.  Chin 
music  is  abusive  language. 

"These  old  people  eat  sallet  (greens), 
ingerns  (onions),  'lasses,  'possum  and  taters 
and  cow-cumbers  (cucumbers). 

"Among  petty  offenders  of  the  law  and 
their  associates,  court  costs  and  fines  in 
trivial  suits  are  referred  to  as  coffee  money 
— 'They  (the  magistrate  and  the  constable) 
tuck  him  up  (arraigned  him)  jist  because 
they  wanted  a  little  money  to  buy  sugar  and 
coffee.' 

"  'All  rigged  out'  or  'all  duked  up'  means 
to  be  dressed  in  one's  best  clothes.  To 
'spruce  up'  means  to  take  extra  care  with 
one's  person  and  clothes  when  he  begins  to 
think  about  choosing  a  wife  (applied  espe- 
cially to  a  widower).  To  'kick  the  bucket' 
or  to  'jump  the  poplar  log'  means  to  die — 
'He  liked  (came  very  near)  to  kicked  the 
bucket.' " 

If  any  of  our  country  people  don't  talk 
like  the  above,  they  might  study  the  model 
and  make  their  speech  accord  with  their 
reputation. 

THE  QUADWRANGLER 

Boston    Transcript 

From  a  careful  reading  of  this  week's 
Nomad — and  the  Quadwrangler  invariably 
reads  the  Nomad  carefully— it  is  apparent 
that  that  worthy  person,  while  quite  willing 
to  be  among  the  first  to  discuss  the  wearing 
of  overalls  will  probably  be  the  last  man 
in  the  United  States  to  wear  them  himself. 
Which  is  all  fair  enough.  For  his  part  the 
Quadwrangler  can  make  no  promises.  He 
comes  in  frequent  contact  with  college  men, 
visits  colleges  occasionally  and  the  situation 
may  some  day  arise  when  he  will  simply 
have  to  don  denim  if  he  wants  to  meet  his 
campus  friends  on  equal  terms.  But  one 
thing  he  must  say  for  himself.  If  he  ever 
does  wear  them  it  will  be,  not  in  place  of  a 
regulation  suit  of  clothes,  but  in  addition 
or  supplementary  thereto.  This,  of  course, 
will  not  be  economy.  In  fact,  it  will  be  about 
as  sound  policy  as  attempting  to  reduce  the 
high  cost  of  eating  by  buttering  both  sides 
instead  of  one  side  of  a  piece  of  bread. 
Economy  or  no  economy,  however,  the  Quad- 
wrangler has  all  the  troubles  he  needs  al- 


314 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


ready.  He  is  not  going  to  flirt  with  pneu- 
monia by  shedding  two  or  three  thicknesses 
of  clothing. 


In  discussing  overalls  the  Quadwrangler 
has  at  last  found  a  subject  he  knows  some- 
thing about.  He  has  worn  overalls,  worn 
them  day  in  and  day  out  from  5.30  in  the 
morning  until  7.30  at  night.  He  has  worn 
them  on  the  farm  and  in  the  factory.  As 
far  as  he  is  concerned  they  do  not  represent 
clothes.  All  they  represent  is  hard  work, 
which  is  probably  one  reason  why  he  is  not 
falling  all  over  himself  in  his  efforts  to  join 
the  blue  denim  army  that  is  now  being 
mobilized.  In  addition  overalls  are  not 
warm  except  in  mid-summer,  when  they  are 
hot.  Taken  by  themselves  they  are  most 
emphatically  not  a  garment  to  be  worn  dur- 
ing such  springs  as  we  are  accustomed  to 
have  here  in  New  England. 

That  college  men  everywhere  have  taken 
to  overalls  is  not  surprising.  Neither  is  it 
of  any  especial  significance.  But  if  they 
hadn't— then  we  would  have  had  a  state  of 
affairs.  One  of  the  easiest  things  in  this 
world  is  to  get  students  to  do  something  out 
of  the  ordinary.  It's  a  great  deal  easier 
than  getting  them  to  study  or  to  attend  to 
any  other  of  their  routine  duties.  This  over- 
alls business  was  just  what  they  were  look- 
ing for.  It  was  made  for  them,  in  fact. 
Some  of  them,  too,  are  taking  it  seriously. 
Here  is  the  Williams  Record,  for  instance, 
first  appealing  to  that  mythical  thing  called 
college  spirit  and  then  asking  the  students 
of  the  college  to  wear  their  oldest  clothes, 
if  patched  so  much  the  better,  in  order  to 
refute  once  and  for  all  the  imputation  that 
Williams  is  a  rich  man's  institution. 


The  Quadwrangler  is  not  so  long  out  of 
college  that  he  can't  remember  most  of  the 
details  of  a  somewhat  similar  movement 
that  had  its  vogue  when  he  was  an  under- 
graduate. It  is  not  recorded  that  the  cost 
of  living  was  high  in  those  times,  but  for 
some  reason  or  other  word  went  round  that 
the  proper  garb  was  a  blue  flannel  shirt 
and  corduroy  trousers,  plus,  of  course,  such 
luxuries  as  socks  and  shoes.  One  word  was 
enough.  In  the  beginning  and  after  virtu- 
ally all  the  money  in  sight  had  been  spent 
we  had  a  situation  which  required  consid- 
erable ironing  out.  Some  men  had  two 
shirts  and  one  pair  of  trousers,  some  had 
two  pairs  of  trousers  and  one  shirt,  some 
had  just  a"  shirt  or  just  a  pair  of  trousers 
and  some,  of  course,  had  nothing  at  all. 
But  when  it  was  all  over— so  fraternal  and 
generous  are  the  ways  of  the  college  under- 
graduate—everybody had  at  least  one  shirt 


and  one  pair  of  trousers.     It  was  a  mar- 
velous feat  of  co-operative  clothing. 

KING  ALBERT  IN  THE  HEART  OF 
AMERICA 

New  York  Sun 

I'he  special  train  bearing  the  Belgian 
royal  party  eastward  from  the  Pacific  coast 
stopped  for  fifteen  minutes  at  Hutchinson, 
Kansas,  and  the  News  of  that  town  remarks 
that  thousands  of  Hutchinson  people  saw 
their  first  real  king  and  queen  and  King 
Albert  and  Queen  Elizabeth  saw  some  real 
folks  "as  they  looked  over  the  mass  of  hu- 
manity that  swarmed  around  the  station 
grounds  to  give  them  a  hearty  welcome." 

Hutchinson  is  not  far  from  the  geograph- 
ical center  of  the  United  States.  It  knew 
all  about  Belgium  because  it  had  sent  of 
its  own  accord  several  carloads  of  its  chief 
products,  flour  and  salt,  to  the  Belgian 
people  during  the  war.  It  was  the  only  real 
stop  of  the  train  in  Kansas;  "the  other 
stops,"  it  was  explained  by  the  News,  "at 
Emporia  and  Newton,  were  merely  for  a 
change  of  engines."  Even  if  it  had  only  a 
few  hours  for  preparation,  Hutchinson  was 
determined  that  the  fifteen  minutes  should 
show  that  it  appreciated  the  honor  that  had 
come  to  it. 

The  municipal  band  did  not  know  the 
Belgian  national  hymn,  but  "fortunately 
Director  Famey  was  able  to  get  the  music, 
and  after  the  band  had  worked  all  afternoon 
it  could  give  a  pretty  good  rendition  of 
"La  Brabanconne."  The  schools  were  dis- 
missed and  the  number  of  children  was  in- 
creased by  the  entire  enrolment  of  the 
schools  of  the  neighboring  Pretty  Prairie. 
A  reception  committee  was  hurriedly 
formed;  the  women  were  to  present  to  the 
Queen  a  bouquet  of  American  Beauty  roses 
tied  with  black  and  yellow  ribbons;  the  men 
to  give  the  King  souvenirs  of  salt  and  flour 
"as  symbols  of  the  food  sent  to  Belgium 
by  Kansas." 

In  arrangements  so  hastily  made  there 
were  likely  to  be  some  hitches.  The  train 
was  to  stop  in  front  of  the  telegraph  sta- 
tion; "the  committee  waited,  but  the  train 
pulled  a  hundred  yards  ahead  through  some- 
body's bonehead."  Mayor  Humphrey  and 
one  or  two  members  of  his  committee  pushed 
their  way  through  the  crowd  on  the  station 
platform  and  aboard  the  train  just  as  it 
was  about  time  for  it  to  leave.  Says  the 
News: 

"The    King    shook    hands    with    the 

Mayor  like  an  American  candidate  for 

alderman. 

"  'We're  sure  glad  to   see  you,*  the 

Mayor  told  the  King.    He  tried  to  work 


EDITORIALS  AKIN  TO  THE  CASUAL  ESSAY 


315 


in  some  *your  royal  highness'  stuff,  but 

it  didn't  slip  easily  off  the  tongue  of  the 

Mayor.     He's   not  used  to  talking   to 

kings." 

King  Albert  said  that  he  understood 
Hutchinson  had  30,000  people  and  that  they 
all  seemed  to  be  at  the  station.  "They  are, 
every  one,"  replied  Mayor  Humphrey. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  invited  "to  make  a 
few  remarks,"  but  she  smiled  and  shook  her 
head.  "When  he  speaks,"  nodding  toward 
the  King,  "I  have  nothing  to  say."  One  of 
the  men  present  assured  her  she  was  in 
Kansas,  "where  women  generally  speak  first 
and  always  have  as  much  to  say  as  the 
men."  "The  Queen,"  says  the  News  re- 
porter, "appeared  interested,  but  declined  to 
make  any  public  remarks."  There  could  be 
no  doubt  of  the  heartiness  of  the  reception 
when  the  royal  couple  appeared  on  the  plat- 
form of  the  rear  car.  The  King  began,  "I 
wish  to  thank  you  for  this  greeting" — but 
he  did  not  finish  his  speech.  The  train 
started.  Again  "somebody's  bonehead." 
The  King  and  Queen  waved  adieu,  and  all 
Hutchinson  sang  as  it  never  sang  before 
'Till  We  Meet  Again." 

It  was  a  glorious  fifteen  minutes.  A 
dozen  or  more  little  girls  whose  cheeks 
were  kissed  by  the  Queen  and  little  Charles 
Pratz  of  Pretty  Prairie,  who  shook  hands 
with  the  King,  will  talk  about  it  in  years 
to  come.  "We  like  that  King,  he  is  demo- 
cratic," said  Hutchinson.  "We  shall  never 
forget  Hutchinson,"  said  King  Albert.  And 
both  spoke  with  sincerity. 

THE  AGE  OF  GLASS 

Scientific    American 

Surely  the  Cinderella  among  materials  of 
construction  is  glass.  By  day  through  count- 
less windows  that  keep  out  wind  and 
weather,  the  sun  pours  his  rays  into  our 
dwellings,  offices  and  factories.  By  night 
every  lamp  aglow  spreads  its  light  through 
a  glass  chim.ney,  shade  or  bulb.  It  is  through 
glass  lenses  that  the  lighthouse  sends  its 
warning  beam,  that  ships  may  sail  past 
shoal  and  reef  in  safety  to  port. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  it  all  that  we 
never  realize  how  helpless  we  should  be 
without  this  substance  for  which  we  know 
no  general  substitute.  With  its  transpar- 
ency for  light  it  combines  almost  perfect 
impermeability  for  gases  and  very  consid- 
erable strength,  qualities  indispensable  in 
the  construction  of  electric  light  bulbs  and 


X-ray  tubes.  How  many  men  owe  their 
lives  to  the  good  offices  of  glass  in  accurate 
diagnosis  with  X-rays  we  must  leave  it  to 
the  surgeon  to  estimate. 

Pliable,  heat-resisting  mica  has  advan- 
tages for  certain  uses;  so  has  flexible  cel- 
luloid. But  these  can  never  supplant  glass 
for  ordinary  use.  Even  the  one  vice  of  glass 
— its  extremely  dangerous  character  when 
wrecked  by  accident — has,  by  modern  art, 
been  cut  to  a  minimum,  where  special  pre- 
cautions are  called  for,  by  the  familiar  wire- 
net  reinforcement,  or  the  less  familiar  cel- 
luloid core. 

Glass  has  given  into  man's  hand  the  in- 
strument to  wage  effective  battle  against 
that  insidious  enemy  of  his  race — the  elusive 
microbe,  visible  only  under  the  high  power 
of  the  microscope.  Through  glass  lenses  the 
astronomer  peers  into  space  that  has  no 
bottom,  making  observations  from  which  he 
can  predict  the  future  with  mathematical 
precision,  and  unraveling  the  mysteries  of 
world  creation  and  decay. 

How  many  of  us  go  through  life  bespec- 
tacled, and  never  give  a  thought  in  thank- 
fulness to  the  good  offices  of  Cinderella! 
Even  the  blind,  in  case  of  cataract,  can  be 
made  to  see  by  skillful  removal  of  the  eye's 
natural  lense  and  substitution  of  one  of  this 
wonder  substances. 

Glass  has  made  possible  photography  with 
its  record  of  family  histories,  of  the  faces 
of  our  friends,  of  places  visited  and  of  the 
scenes  of  our  holiday  frolics. 

The  artistic  possibilities  of  glass  in  other 
directions  are  probably  not  yet  fully  ex- 
ploited. Church  windows  are  one  of  the 
better  known  applications  in  this  field; 
many  other  examples  which  might  be  men- 
tioned will  doubtless  occur  to  the  reader. 
Whatever  we  have  achieved  in  these  direc- 
tions, that  much  more  might  still  be  done 
must  have  been  vividly  impressed  on  all  who 
gazed  in  admiration  at  the  Jewel  Arch 
lately  erected  in  New  York  to  celebrate  the 
homecoming  of  our  men  from  France. 

If  there  is  still  a  shadow  of  doubt  as  to 
the  significance  of  glass  in  modem  civiliza- 
tion, let  us  but  estimate  the  daily  attend- 
ance at  the  moving  picture  theaters,  re- 
membering that  without  the  camera's  glass 
eye  the  whole  performance  would  be  im- 
possible. No  glass,  no  movies.  Glass  has 
been  known  from  antiquity,  but  its  common 
use  is  comparatively  recent.  Ours  has  been 
spoken  of  as  the  age  of  steel.  It  might 
equally  be  pronounced  the  age  of  glass. 


CHAPTER    X 
EDITORIALS  HAVING  HUMAN  INTEREST 


In  Part  I,  Chapter  X,  the  nature 
of  the  "human-interest  appeal"  is 
explained.  The  editorials  here  re- 
printed illustrate  various  aspects  of 


human-interest.  They  appeal  to  some- 
thing in  our  general  interest  in  our 
fellows,  or  to  instinctive  feelings,  not 
to  less  fundamental  things. 


FOOD  FOR  HENS 

Boston    Globe 

It  is  a  gentleman  farmer  in  New  York 
State  who  says:  "I  am  dividing  my  flock  of 
Rhode  Island  Reds  into  units.  One  portion 
I  am  feeding  sweet  corn  to  produce  eggs  of 
a  sweet  flavor,  so  in  cakemaking  it  will  not 
require  as  much  sugar  as  ordinarily.  Then, 
in  order  to  produce  eggs  for  milk  punch,  I 
am  feeding  another  lot  of  hens  two  spoon- 
fuls of  Medford  rum  in  their  mash;  I  am 
also  feeding  to  some  hens  red  carrots  to  pro- 
duce dark  eggs,  those  being  especially  fitted 
for  vegetarians."  Has  he  lost  his  interest  in 
sherry  chickens? 

MAKE  IT  THE  STYLE 

Western     Advertising 

Most  baby-carriages  are  not  oiled  and 
they  squeak  or  shriek  their  protest  to  the 
unheeding  ears  of  their  feminine  proponents. 

Women  do  not  understand  mechanics  or 
explanations  mechanical,  nor  do  they  pay 
attention  to  so  masculine  a  line  of  reasoning. 

How  then  can  you  induce  women  to  oil 
the  axles  of  a  baby-carriage? 

Follow  the  line  of  least  resistance.  Don't 
argue;  be  convincing. 

Tell  women  that  "they"  have  silent-run- 
ning baby-carriages  this  season;  that  a  pro- 
testing squeak  indicates  a  lack  of  good 
form;  that  to  be  in  style,  vehicular  silence 
is  golden.  Discover  the  "Open  Sesame" 
into  the  mind  of  woman  and  your  appropria- 
tion for  advertising  is  multiplied. 

SKOOKUM  JIM 

Cleveland  Plain   Dealer 

At  Carcross,  Yukon  territory,  Skookum 
Jim  is  dead.  Measured  by  the  result  of  his 
life  and  work,  Skookum  Jim  must  be  ac- 
counted a  great  man.  Yet  he  was  only  a 
poor  Indian,  of  meager  intelligence,  and  of 
no  outstanding  merit. 

It  was  Skookum  Jim  who,  twenty  years 
ago,  discovered  gold  in  the  Klondike.  Doubt- 
less he  had  only  the  vaguest  understanding 
of  the  significance  of  his  find.  He  told 
about  it,  though,  and  the  news  circled  the 


world  with  the  speed  of  fire.  And  in  a 
short  time  Skookum  Jim  was  forgotten,  and 
innumerable  camps  of  gold-crazed  adven- 
turers dotted  the  wild  northland. 

As  for  Skookum  himself,  it  is  stated  that 
he  once  possessed  as  much  as  $100,000  in 
gold.  It  did  not  do  him  much  good.  No 
poor  Indian  of  Skookum's  antecedents  and 
upbringing  could  find  any  possible  use  for 
$100,000. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  utility  of  Skookum 
Jim's  discovery  was  not  the  location  of  gold- 
deposits.  The  Klondike  rush  called  the 
world's  attention  to  Alaska,  and  this  was 
distinctly  useful.  Those  who  had  thought 
of  the  northern  realm  as  a  dark  and  frozen 
wilderness,  learned  of  their  error.  Other 
riches,  more  substantial  than  gold,  were 
disclosed  by  prospectors.  Farms  were  laid 
out  in  the  vast  interior;  cities  and  towns 
came  into  being.  And  now  railways  are 
being  built  by  the  American  nation  to  make , 
certain  the  wise  and  economical  develop- 
ment of  the  land. 

All  this  has  been  subsequent  to  Skookum 
Jim's  discovery,  and  indirectly  its  conse- 
quence. The  illiterate  Indian  became  an 
unconscious  benefactor.  Perhaps  some 
time  in  the  future  an  historical  society  from 
some  great  Alaskan  metropolis  will  hunt  up 
Jim's  grave  at  Carcross,  Yukon  territory, 
and  erect  a  monument  to  him. 

WHEN  SCHOOL'S  OUT 

Haverhill  Gazette 

All  indications,  pointing  to  the  near  fu- 
ture, strongly  hint  of  much  livelier  and 
happier  times  in  the  great  American  homes 
wherein  little  children  reside. 

The  answer  is  vacation  time! 

For,  lo,  these  many  days  mother  has  been 
rustling  and  hustling  about  in  the  early 
morning,  getting  sonny  or  daughter  off  to 
school.  And  all  through  the  morning  and 
the  afternoon  there  has  been  a  lack  of 
youthful  cheerfulness. 

Now  there  will  be  the  merry  laugh'  and 
the  smiling  face  of  "our  little  kiddies,"  to, 


i 


EDITORIALS  HAVING  HUMAN  INTEREST 


317 


keep  the  cheerful  spirit  uppermost  round 
the  household. 

The  real  love  that  goes  out  to  the  little 
ones,  and  the  pleasure  in  having  them 
around,  is  stronger  than  the  bit  of  bother 
they  bring  through  littering  up  the  house 
and  constantly  shouting,  "Can  I  have  a  piece 
of  bread  and  jelly?" 

Somehow  the  world  has  just  got  to  envy 
the  mother  and  dad  who  have  tiny  tots  and 
feel  sort  of  sorry  for  the  folk  who  keep  only 
a  pet  poodle. 

Incidentally,  the  Ohio  State  Medical  Asso- 
ciation blames  the  so-called  "Society  Bug" 
for  the  low  birth-rate. 

"PRAY  BEFORE  BEING  MARRIED" 

Ohio  State  Journal 

Here  is  a  Russian  proverb  that  might  be 
made  good  use  of.  It  certainly  would  dispel 
a  multitude  of  sorrows,  especially  the  last 
one,  which  would  prevent  many  hasty  mar- 
riages and  relieve  the  courts  of  many  di- 
vorce cases.  It  takes  matrimony  out  of  the 
pale  of  whims  and  makes  a  divine  consid- 
eration of  it.    The  proverb  runs  this  way: 

"If  you  go  to  war,  pray;  if  you  go  on  a  sea 
journey,  pray  twice;  but  pray  three  times  if 
you  are  going  to  be  married." 

Good  advice,  all  of  it.  There  is  too  much 
that  is  hysterical  in  the  matrimonial  ven- 
ture, and  a  little  praying  will  tend  to  re- 
lieve the  mind. 

SLICK  SHIRTS 

Dallas    News 

A  Dublin  reader  who  signs  herself  Lizzie 
writes  in  to  inform  State  Press  that  he  is 
an  old  grouch  because  he  criticises  silk 
shirts.  Bless  your  heart,  Liz,  State  Press 
is  not  old.  He  is  young  and  superlatively 
beautiful.  Moreover,  Elizabeth,  he  abso- 
lutely did  not  criticise  silk  shirts.  If  he  had 
one,  he  would  wear  it,  and  probably  would 
leave  his  coat  off  all  the  time  at  that.  It 
was  the  price  he  criticised,  not  the  shirts. 
If  State  Press  ever  had  enough  money  to 
buy  a  silk  shirt,  he  wouldn't  be  in  this  stuffy 
office  now  writing  literature.  Instead  he 
would  be  out  in  California  riding  a  surf- 
board or  picking  pineapples  off  the  bread- 
fruit trees,  or  eating  ice-cream  cones  under 
an  umbrelly  on  somebody's  prune  plantation. 
State  Press  has  never  owned  a  silk  shirt, 
Betty,  never.  One  time,  he  will  admit,  he 
had  one  on  for  a  few  days.  It  happened 
when  the  cook  got  her  washing  mixed  up 
with  State  Press's,  and  one  of  the  cook's 
husband's  shirts  landed  in  State  Press's 
drawer.  State  Press  wore  it  surreptitiously 
and  with  great  enjoyment  until  the  next 
wash  day.  It  was  yellow  with  red  stripes 
and  didn't  have  a  hole  in  it. 


THE  PULLMAN  BEDROOM 


Columbia    Record 

We  have  with  us  today  the  Pullman  bed- 
room. It  exists  not  as  a  vague  and  horrible 
premonition  of  something  evil  that  is  liable 
to  happen  in  the  future  of  days  of  conges- 
tion, worse  congested,  but  it  actually  is,  it 
has  its  being,  it  is  a  fact.  And  a  very 
stuffy  fact  it  is  withal. 

A  hotel-keeper  in  Hartford  in  Connecti- 
cut was  first  obsessed  with  the  inspiration 
to  construct  this  ingenious  torment  for  his 
guests,  and  now  a  widely  known  hotel  in 
Detroit  has  converted  twelve  of  its  large 
sample  rooms  into  Pullman  bedrooms,  pro- 
viding seventy-two  "berths,"  for  each  of 
which  it  gets  two  dollars  a  night.  The 
theory,  as  explained  by  mine  host,  is  that 
the  potential  guest  will  find  the  Pullman 
bedroom  more  inviting  than  the  prospect  of 
spending  hours  in  a  vain  search  for  rooms 
elsewhere  in  the  city.  Doubtless  the  theory 
is  sound.  Men  sometimes  will  do  anything 
when  driven  to  it. 

Community  baths  to  every  six  patrons, 
pasteboard  doors  and  old-fashioned  visits  by 
the  bell  boy  to  arouse  the  sleeping  guest  in 
the  morning,  are  features  of  this  new  and 
modern  service. 

One  cannot  help  thinking  how  this  ar- 
rangement could  be  greatly  improved  to 
make  it  seem  a  bit  more  real  by  putting  a 
flat  wheel  under  one  corner  of  the  cot  in 
the  Pullman  bedroom;  and  if  live  steam 
could  be  piped  beneath  the  cots  to  alternate 
with  a  refrigerator  plant  and  the  whole  en- 
shrouded with  the  panoply  of  real  Pullman 
plush  curtains,  how  nice  and  homelike  it 
would  all  seem. 

DESIRE 

The  Delineator 

It  was  a  day  or  so  before  Christmas.  We 
were  in  the  subway  crush  in  New  York  City, 
fighting  to  get  home  to  supper  with  the  rest 
of  the  four  million.  A  well-groomed,  tired- 
looking  man  who  got  on  with  a  friend  at 
Wall  Street  clung  to  the  strap  next  to  ours. 

"Once,"  he  said  across  us  to  the  friend, 
jammed  on  the  other  side,  "I  spent  a  Christ- 
mas at  the  Grand  Canon.  For  days  the 
memory  of  it's  been  haunting  me.  With 
all  the  unrest  and  worry  of  these  after-war 
days,  I  tell  myself  nothing  would  seem  so 
near  heaven  as  to  lock  my  office  door  and 
go  out  there  for  Christmas.  I  know  exactly 
how  it  would  look.  The  big  gash,  with  the 
snow  sifting  into  it,  white  drifting  down  on 
blue  depths.  The  sun  would  slip  clear  just 
before  setting.  For  a  moment  you'd  see  the 
black  ribbon  of  river  a  mile  below  and  the 
canon  walls,  every  color  of  the  rainbow  and 
the    snow    drifting    and    shimmering    like 


318 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


wavering  mist.  Nothing  can  give  you  the 
idea  of  eternity  that  the  Grand  Canon  does. 
And  the  peace  of  it  and  the  silence!  Lrord, 
Lord,  the  silence!  I  wish  I  could  spend 
Christmas  there.  I  believe  I'd  get  back  some 
of  the  religion  I've  lost  here.  Lord,  the 
quiet  of  it!" 

Then  he  stopped  speaking  with  a  sigh  as 
though  the  hideous  uproar  of  the  subway 
discouraged  him. 

HEROISM  FROM  THE  AVERAGE  MAN 

Kansas    City  Times 

Word  comes  that  a  gas  explosion  has 
buried  a  party  of  workmen  in  the  Cleveland 
water  works  tunnel.  Seven  men  are  hastily 
gathered  to  go  to  the  rescue.  They  stumble 
and  fall,  overcome  by  the  fumes.  Eleven 
more  are  summoned.  There  is  no  time  to 
wait  for  the  life-saving  oxygen  helmets.  All 
they  know  is  that  their  fellows  are  dying 
there,  but  that  some  of  them  may  be  saved 
by  prompt  action.  They  rush  in,  and  six  of 
them  are  suffocated.  But  they  have  saved 
one  of  the  first  rescue  party.  Then  the 
helmets  come  and  a  third  party  rescues  the 
survivors. 

Under  the  thrill  of  battle  men  take  part 
in  forlorn-hope  charges.  They  press  for- 
ward in  the  face  of  machine-gun  fire  to 
capture  a  trench.  But  in  that  Cleveland 
tunnel  there  was  none  of  the  pomp  and  cir- 
cumstance of  war.  The  rescuers  simply 
dived  into  a  hole  in  the  dark,  on  the  chance 
of  saving  a  few  workers,  and  they  con- 
tinued when  they  knew  almost  certain  death 
lay  ahead. 

Such  incidents  as  the  self-sacrificing  de- 
votion of  those  tunnel  workers  make  us 
proud  of  the  human  race — proud  that  in  the 
final  crisis  the  average  man  is  ready  to 
answer  the  call  of  duty  with  his  life. 

SPINNING  LITTLE  GOLDEN  THREADS 

Cincinnati  Commercial  Tribune 

^  It  is  an  easy  matter  to  give  a  person  a 
little  bit  of  praise  once  in  a  while  when  it  is 
warranted. 

The  majority  of  us  take  too  much  for 
granted.  We  expect  a  great  deal  and  take 
everything  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Even  your  best  friend  likes  to  hear  a 
complimentary  word. 

If  your  husband  does  something  which 
you  appreciate  very  much,  tell  him  so.  Com- 
pliment him  with  enthusiasm. 

If  your  wife  does  something  above  the 
average,  tell  her  how  proud  it  makes  you. 
Encouraging  words  have  a  marvelous  effect 
sometimes. 

At  any  rate,  they  make  life  run  smoother. 

And  what  better  work  can  you  do  than 


make    home   happy   to    those   nearest   and 
dearest  ? 

Between  the  closest  friends  too  much  is 
taken  for  granted  sometimes,  and  a  pleas- 
ant surprise  and  show  of  appreciation  spins 
a  golden  thread  of  sympathy  and  under- 
standing as  nothing  else  can. 

ABAFT  THE  FENDER 

Wall  Street  Journal 

Recently  in  Los  Angeles  an  electric  car 
and  a  jitney  bus  came  together  quite  ex- 
temporaneously. There  were  no  fatalities, 
but  the  jitney  was  practically  demolished, 
and  the  accident  was  brought  into  court. 
One  of  the  passengers  on  the  electric  car 
was  a  "Jackie"  from  the  monitor  Cheyenne. 
Sis  version  of  the  accident,  as  expressed  in 
a  letter  to  the  claim-agent  of  the  trolley 
company,  follows: 

"I  was  standing  on  the  starboard  fo'castle 
of  the  car  when  the  gasoline  cutter  hove  in 
sight  off  our  port  bow.  We  were  making 
about  fifteen  knots,  and  the  cutter  was 
coming  about  the  same  along  another  chan- 
nel. It  was  clear  weather  and  not  much 
ground  swell. 

"Our  chief  engineer  blew  his  siren  and 
reversed  his  propeller,  but  he  couldn't  heave 
her  to  in  time  to  keep  from  ramming  her. 
There  wasn't  even  time  to  get  out  the  life- 
preservers  or  sound  the  emergency  call.  We 
smashed  in  a  couple  of  the  little  craft's 
compartments.  Her  captain  stuck  to  his 
post.  The  jitney  went  down  like  a  sub- 
marine. 

"I  think  the  cause  of  the  wreck  was  that 
the  jitney's  binnacle  light  was  out." 
"WHAT  IS  MY  GREATEST  PROBLEM?' 

Building  Trade  with  Farmers 

Do  you  sometimes  stop  and  say  to  your 
self,  "What  is  my  greatest  problem?"  or  d 
you  just  keep  on  plugging  away  doing  what 
ever  seems  most  necessary  at  the  time? 

If  you  do  the  first,  we  will  venture  to  sa; 
you  are  finding  means  to  solve  your  prob 
lems  practically  as  fast  as  you  reach  thena 
You  know  it  is  only  when  one  knows  wha 
is  wrong  that  a  remedy  can  be  found 
Usually  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  wori 
out  problems  that  we  know  all  about. 

But  when  we  do  not  know  just  what  should 
be  changed,  we  really  cannot  be  expected  tol 
arrive  at  a  solution  at  once  under  that  pro- 
cedure. All  the  while  other  problems  are 
piling  up  so  fast  that  when  we  have  worked 
one  out,  we  are  hardly  likely  to  make  the 
most  of  it  because  so  many  other  thing?, 
take  up  time. 

It  often  happens  that  a  man  who  becaus 
of  the  very  nature  of  his  work  is  so  clo» 
to  it  that  he  can  hardly  see  out — and  thia 
seems  to  apply  quite  extensively  to  countryf 


I 


EDITORIALS  HAVING  HUMAN  INTEREST 


publishers — to  back  off  a  ways  and  view  the 
situation  from  a  little  distance.  Frequently 
he  can  see  the  whole  working  of  his  job  to 
a  much  better  advantage  and,  therefore,  find 
ways  in  which  to  make  his  efforts  more 
effective.  Sometimes  when  things  seem 
particularly  complicated,  just  arbitrate,  take 
off  a  half  hour,  time  yourself,  think  out 
your  whole  line  of  procedure,  what  you  are 
doing,  and  what  you  ought  to  be  doing  to 
meet  the  situation.  You  will  find  perhaps 
that  it  is  not  quite  as  hard  to  readjust  and 
to  do  some  little  thing  you  ought  to  be  doing. 
The  writer  knows  from  experience  that  this 
helps — known  problems  are  easier  to  solve 
;han  unknown  problems. 

WHEN  THE  DEW  IS  ON  THE  CORN 

The    Review 

The  Daylight-Saving  law,  a  happy  by- 
product of  the  war,  was  repealed  by  the 
^otes  of  Congressmen  who  explained  their 
iction  as  due  to  pressure  from  the  farmer, 
^'arm  workers  of  today,  we  are  told,  will 
lot  be  dragged  into  the  fields  while  wheat 
md  com  are  still  dripping  with  the  dew. 
3ow  old-time  farmers,  lured  into  city  life 
luring  the  past  twenty  or  thirty  years,  must 
•ub  their  eyes  and  look  again  as  they  read 
ill  this  in  the  morning  paper!  The  farmer, 
shivering  at  the  thought  of  the  dew,  un- 
willing to  set  his  foot  on  the  grass  until 
lure  that  his  shoes  will  not  be  dampened! 
A^hat  a  contrast  with  the  time  when,  as  a 
>oy,  you  hiked  over  the  pasture-field  looking 
imong  clumps  of  pawpaw  bushes  for  old 
5elim,  long  before  rosy-fingered  Aurora 
hot  the  hilltops  with  her  shafts  of  gold.  If 
lis  erratic  grazing  drew  you  under  the  honey 
ocusts  in  the  still  imperfect  light,  you  might 
ven  have  to  sit  down  in  the  dew  and  extract 
,  thorn  from  your  foot,  like  the  boy  who  has 
ome  down  to  us  in  bronze  from  some  thorny 
leld  of  the  old  Mediterranean  world,  though 
linus  his  sculptural  dignity  and  plus  a  more 
omprehensive  outfit  of  clothes.  And  after 
ou  had  caught  your  horse  and  curried  him, 
aten  your  breakfast  and  reached  the  field 
;'ith  the  double-shovel  cultivator  of  that  day, 
here  was  still  dew  enough  on  the  corn  to 
oak  through  your  shirt  and  trickle  down 
our  sides  as  you  went  back  and  forth  be- 

.  ween  the  rows.  If  you  had  not  appeared 
ntil    the   dew   was    gone,    your   neighbors 

j|/ould  have  thought  something  wrong. 

BLUE-BEARDS  OF  TODAY 

Boston  Herald 

The  Barbe-Bleue  of  the  17th  century 
'rench  novel  has  been  outdone  several  times 
ccording  to  the  news  dispatches  of  the  last 
ew  months;  for  he  married  seven  wives  in 
uccession,  six  of  whom  mysteriously  dis- 


319 

'appeared,  while  today  Egypt  claims  a  Blue- 
beard who  has  married  twenty  women, 
±  ranee  has  one  whose  record  mounts  higher 
still,  and  California  presents  us  with  the 
story  of  another,  with  some  thirty  marriages 
to  his  credit  in  less  than  twenty  years. 
±lenri  Landru,  whose  case  has  been  exploited 
m  the  newspapers  not  only  of  France,  but 
of  ^ngland,  used  to  advertise  for  middle- 
aged  widows,  "object  matrimony,"  and  in- 
duce them  to  move  out  to  a  villa  in  a  distant 
Pans  suburb,  whence  they  never  were  seen 
to  emerge.  Just  how  Landru  disposed  of 
the  bodies  of  his  victims  is  not  known  and 
he  has  manifested  an  agile  wit  in  prodding 
the  police  inquisitors  over  their  failures. 
But  the  Los  Angeles  Blue-Beard  is  the  most 
interesting— and  repulsive— of  them  all.  He 
always  carried  with  him  a  mysterious  black 
•leather  bag,  so  the  papers  say,  and  it  con- 
tained a  card  index  of  his  victims,  with  their 
names,  tastes,  special  foibles,  and  personal 
information  at  length.  With  this  aid  to 
memory  and  a  series  of  form  letters  which 
won  the  confidence  of  many  women  James 
K.  Huirt  played  upon  the  whims  of  his  vic- 
tims, and  so  successfully  that,  when  sev- 
eral of  them  met  by  legal  arrangement  and 
confronted  him,  they  at  once  became  mutual- 
ly jealous  and  acrimonious.  Yet  he  admits 
his  thirty-odd  marriages  and  confesses  the 
murder  of  at  least  one  of  his  "wives."  What 
a  tale  the  French  romancer  might  write  out 
of  the  materials  in  the  news  of  today. 

PROOF  BY  FINGER  PRINTS 

Boston  Herald 

It  appears  to  be  established  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt  that  the  finger  prints  of  no 
two  persons  are  alike.  Take  a  print  of  the 
fingers  of  any  one  and  it  will  be,  and  con- 
tinue to  be,  infallible  evidence  of  identity. 
No  end  to  the  variety  of  the  lines  has  been 
found,  and  each  print  differs  so  from  every 
other  that  persons  accustomed  to  read  them 
can  make  no  mistake.  These  things  have 
been  hard  to  believe.  But  if  there  remains 
a  doubter  he  may  be  convinced  by  what  has 
just  happened  in  the  United  States  district 
court  at  Brooklyn,  New  York.  Private 
George  W.  Barry  of  the  Forty-fourth  Coast 
Artillery  of  the  United  States  Army  was 
tried  for  the  murder  of  Sergeant  Frank  H 
King  and  was  acquitted.  Standing  at  the 
bar  m  his  military  uniform,  wearing  a  Vic- 
tory ribbon  and  four  bronze  stars  for  Can- 
tigny,  Chateau-Thierry,  St.  Mihiel  and  the 
Argonne,  he  heard  the  verdict  with  a  sigh  of 
relief  and  turned  smilingly  away  to  leave 
the  court.  But  he  found  himself  faced  by 
three  police  officers,  one  from  Omaha,  Neb., 
and  two  from  Council  Bluffs,  la.,  with  a 
warrant  for  the  arrest  and  extradition  of 


320 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


George  Walter  McGuire.  They  spoke  to 
him  and,  after  a  look  of  surprise,  he  threw 
his  hands  out  submissively,  saying,  "Well,  I 
guess  I'm  through." 

Who  was  McGuire,  and  how  was  he  iden- 
tified ?  Nothing  about  the  past  of  "Barry" 
came  out  at  the  trial  except  that  he  en- 
listed in  the  army  at  San  Diego,  Cal.,  in 
April,  1916.  But  his  photograph  and  finger 
prints  had  been  sent  to  police  departments 
throughout  the  country,  and  the  police  at 
Omaha  and  Council  Bluffs  saw  that  the 
prints  were  those  of  McGuire,  a  criminal 
they  knew.  In  1906,  at  the  age  of  14,  he 
had  been  sent  to  a  reform  school  for  truancy, 
in  1909  had  been  sentenced  to  three  years' 
imprisonment  for  burglary,  in  1912  had 
served  thirty  days  for  carrying  concealed 
weapons,  in  the  same  year  had  been  sent  to 
prison  on  another  charge  of  burglary,  and 
in  March,  1916,  had  been  arrested  for  rob- 
bery, but  had  escaped  before  the  date  fixed 
for  his  trial.  No  news  of  him  had  been 
obtained  until  the  "Barry"  finger  prints 
were  seen.  They  were  the  proof  of  the 
young  man's  identity,  and  the  key  to  his 
record.  Criminals  may  well  dread  the  lines 
on  their  fingers  as  a  natural  provision  for 
"the  punishment  of  evil-doers." 

KILLED  BY  A  POEM 

Oklahoma  City  Oklahoman 

John  M.  Thurston,  former  United  States 
senator  from  Nebraska,  who  has  just  died, 
was  a  distinguished  member  of  that  body 
at  a  time  when  its  deliberations  were  graced 
by  a  classic  flavor  now  departed.  Thurston 
himself  was  a  man  of  polite  learning,  much 
given  to  polished  phrase  and  rounded  period. 
He  did  not  quite  attain  to  the  luster,  ele- 
gance, and  opulence  of  allusion  that  set 
Ingalls  apart  from  and  above  the  rest,  but 
great  riches  of  mind  and  wealth  of  fancy 
were  his,  and  he  dispensed  them  proudly  on 
many  a  galleried  occasion. 

It  was  that  fancy,  bursting  into  an  im- 
passioned poem,  that  drove  Thurston  out 
of  public  life.    The  lyric  began, 

I  said  to  the  rose,  0  rose,  red  rose. 
Will  you  lie  on  my  bosom  tonight? 

It  had  hardly  appeared  when  the  poet- 
asters of  the  press  took  it  up  in  an  impish 
chorus  of  parodies  that  swept  the  country 
with  gales  of  laughter.  Of  those  parodies 
the  cleverest  and  most  destruc+ive  was  that 
addressed  to  the  lunch  in  fervia  persiflage — 

I  said  to  my  lunch,  0  lunch,  late  lunch, 

Will  you  lie  on  my  stomach  tonight, — 
and  which   galvanated   through   the  whole 
gamut  of  nightmare  terrors. 

There  was  another,  too,  which  bemoaned 
the  carmine  curse  of  long  indulgence  in  re- 


frain to  "My  nose,  red  nose."  The  resuH 
was  that  Thurston,  the  eloquent  and  th( 
practical,  a  commanding  figure  in  both  th( 
forum  and  the  field,  to  whom  leadership  an( 
following  paid  deference,  now  walked  th( 
way  of  ridicule  flanked  by  the  tittering  o: 
the  crowd. 

He  never  recovered,  politically,  from  thai 
poem. 

COUNTING  THE  DAYS 

Kansas    City    Star 

Back  home  in  the  little  town,  which  is 
typical  of  all  the  little  towns  of  Kansas  an( 
Missouri,  this  has  been  a  week  of  prepara 
tion.  Mother  has  gone  about  the  houseworl 
with  a  faraway  look  in  her  eyes.  Dad  has 
spent  a  lot  of  time  out  in  the  woodshec 
where  the  fishing  tackle  is  stored.  For,  yoi 
see.  Bill  is  coming  home  next  week. 

The  day  they  have  looked  forward  to  foi 
a  year  and  a  half  is  very  near  now.  It  is  t( 
them  the  day  of  all  the  days  in  their  lives— 
the  day  when  the  boys  of  the  35th  come  bad 
to  the  home  town. 

Mother  already  is  planning  the  dinnei 
that  Bill  shall  eat  that  day  of  days.  All  the 
home-cooked  delicacies  that  Bill  used  to  lik( 
so  well  when  he  was  a  boy  will  be  on  th( 
old  oak  table  that  day.  Mother  has  worriec 
a  lot  whether  to  bake  lemon  pie  or  that  rich 
crustless  apple  pie  that  only  she  can  make 
She  recalls  that  Bill  was  very  fond  of  botl 
and  she  is  sure  that  if  she  bakes  one  the 
other  would  be  the  one  that  Bill  would  have 
liked  best.  Of  course.  Mother  will  compro 
mise  and  bake  them  both. 

For  several  days,  too.  Mother  has  beei 
going  over  Bill's  civilian  clothes,  airini 
them,  using  a  dab  of  gasoline  here  and  ther< 
and  pressing  them  so  they  will  be  ready  f  o: 
him.  And  the  pictures  and  little  persona 
knickknacks  of  Bill's  room  have  been  duste< 
time  and  again  and  put  in  just  the  prope 
place.  There  won't  be  a  thing  missing  whei 
old  Bill,  who  went  through  the  gas  and  bloo< 
and  mire  of  the  Argonne,  returns  an 
"shucks"  his  uniform. 

Out  in  the  woodshed  Dad  is  putting  ne\ 
lines  on  the  old  cane  fishing  poles  and  won 
dering  whether  that  deep  hole  out  in  Ot\ 
Creek  or  that  one  on  Big  Sandy  would  b 
the  best  fishing  place. 

They  don't  talk  much  about  it  back  home 
somehow  the  most  sacred  things  of  life  ar 
a  little  hard  to  discuss.  But  when  they  s; 
down  at  the  table  Mother  looks  at  that  Ion 
time  vacant  spot — the  one  in  front  of  whic 
she  used  to  set  the  most  tempting  dishe; 
And  Mother's  glance  wanders  to  the  caler 
dar.  She  is  counting  the  days — now  so  fe^ 
—until  The  Day. 


EDITORIALS  HAVING  HUMAN  INTEREST 


321 


SOMEBODY  MADE  IT 

Dayton   News 

Somebody  made  this  old  world.  It  did  not 
just  happen.  Great  intelligence  was  dis- 
played in  the  making — in  the  plans.  It 
works  too  perfectly,  it  runs  too  smoothly, 
for  it  to  have  been  the  result  of  an  accident, 
or  left  to  its  own  volition. 

If  you  were  to  find  a  piece  of  perfect 
machinery — a  watch,  for  instance — ^there 
would  be  no  doubt  in  your  mind  about  its 
having  been  made  by  an  intelligent  person. 
You  would  observe  the  wheels — how  they  fit 
each  other,  how  they  perform  their  func- 
tions in  unison,  how  the  whole  mechanism 
co-operates  for  a  purpose.  You  would  know 
by  gazing  upon  it  that  the  maker  had  great 
intelligence,  wouldn't  you? 

Well,  the  earth  is  more  perfect  in  its 
proportions  than  any  piece  of  machinery 
made  by  the  hands  of  man.  It  performs  its 
functions  more  accurately.  It  "never  slips 
a  cog,"  but  goes  round  and  round  on  time 
to  a  dot.  It  is  more  beautiful  than  anything 
made  by  man — more  delightfully  tinted  and 
colored,  and  proportioned.  Every  feature 
of  it  is  perfection  itself;  every  citizen  knows 
its  own  place  and  attends  to  its  own  busi- 
ness. The  trees  and  shrubs  and  plants,  the 
birds  and  fishes  and  the  beasts  of  the  field, 
the  human  beings — each  performs  its  own 
functions  with  accuracy.  The  blossom  of 
the  rose  comes  upon  the  rosebush  and  no- 
where else.  The  quail  hatches  other  quail, 
and  robins  bring  forth  robins.  The  sun 
does  not  get  in  the  way  of  the  moon,  and 
the  stars  do  not  interfere  with  each  other. 
It  is  a  perfect  machine,  doing  exactly  that 
which  the  creator  of  it  evidently  planned 
for  it  to  do. 

It  was  here  when  you  came  upon  the 
scene.  It  will  be  here  when  you  depart. 
You  are  only  a  visitor  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  permitted  to  tarry  here  for  but  a  little 
while.  So  it  should  be  your  pleasure — cer- 
tainly it  is  your  duty — to  pass  through  the 
world  as  gracefully  as  possible,  to  mar  it 
as  little  as  possible,  and  to  make  it  a  little 
better  for  the  next  fellows  to  come  after  you. 

SHOULDERING  THE  BURDEN 

Philadelphia   Public   Ledger 

The  men  the  world  learns  to  respect  are 
the  men  who  do  not  side-step  and  stand  from 
under  and  "pass  the  buck"  when  it  is  a 
question  of  assuming  a  responsibility. 

The  rest  of  us  feel  a  sense  of  relief  when 
a  task  is  loaded  upon  their  already  over- 
burdened shoulders,  for  we  have  reason  to 
think  it  will  be  done,  and  done  well.^  In  the 
past  their  performance  has  kept  faith  with 
their  pledges.  '  Their  consistent  faithfulness 
in  well-doing  gives  us  to  expect  that  they 


will  continue  to  do  as  they  have  done.  We 
have  learned  to  trust  them,  because  they 
have  been  true. 

Out  of  the  generality  of  mankind  certain 
strong  souls  emerge  like  a  high,  bold  rock 
through  clouds,  and  we  groping  and  wander- 
ing valley-dwellers  love  to  raise  our  eyes  to 
them,  as  to  the  fixed  stars,  for  they  seem  to 
determine  our  places,  and  they  assure  us 
that  the  foundations  of  the  world,  our  world, 
are  not  yet  moved. 

The  responsibility  of  leadership  is  this — 
that  it  gives  a  quickening  confidence  to  those 
who  follow.  The  leader  has  the  light  and 
he  lets  it  shine  before  men,  and  should  he 
lead  a  host  astray  his  is  the  monstrous 
shame  and  sin.  If  he  went  wrong  by  him- 
self it  would  only  be  for  his  solitary  soul 
that  he  would  be  answerable  to  his  Maker — 
but  to  guide  many  into  the  mazes  of  error 
instead  of  to  the  heights  where  truth  and 
peace  abide  is  a  hideous,  unmitigable  wrong. 
In  recent  years  the  world  has  had  that  spec- 
tacle before  its  eyes  in  the  misuse  of  his 
power  by  a  ruler  drunk  with  the  notion  that 
he  had  a  monopoly  of  the  agency  of  God  on 
earth — and  by  following  its  leader,  who  was 
lost  in  that  illusion,  an  empire  fell. 

The  brave  man  accepts  his  cross  and  car- 
ries it.  He  knows  that  if  he  puts  it  by  and 
says  that  it  does  not  belong  to  him  he 
thereby  imposes  an  extra  burden  upon  shoul- 
ders that  may  not  be  so  strong  as  his  own. 
But  to  wear  the  load  and  to  march  with  it 
is  not  necessarily  grievous  exercise.  A 
strong  man  welcomes  the  chance  to  try  his 
strength — life  is  for  him  a  game,  "a  brave 
gymnasium."  He  does  not  fret  and  cavil 
when  he  is  asked  to  do  more.  He  springs 
forward,  a  joyful  volunteer.  He  is  not 
looking  for  the  irreducible  minimum  of  work 
and  the  preposterous  maximum  of  wage. 

There  comes  a  time  when  the  burden  must 
be  shifted  to  another  carrier.  The  loyal 
"old  guard"  is  not  immortal.  The  veterans 
must  give  place  to  their  juniors,  and  "the 
feet  of  the  young  men"  must  tread  the  steep 
and  rocky  path  that  their  elders  took  before 
them.  Not  reluctantly  and  resentfully  are 
those  of  the  new  generation  to  come  to  the 
relief,  but  with  a  joyous  acquiescence  in 
the  ruling  of  destiny  that  finds  for  them  a 
use  and  a  place  in  the  world. 

HOW  MUCH? 

The  Delineator 

It  was  a  tea-party  and  little  Margery  was 
there  by  special  favor.  There  had  been 
much  conversation  about  the  high  cost  of 
living  and  much  bemoaning  of  the  get-rich- 
quick  methods  of  the  butcher,  baker  and 
garage  man. 


322 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Margery  listened  in  well -trained  silence 
for  a  time;  then  with  the  abrupt  simplicity 
of  the  eight-year-old  mind  she  said: 

"Mother,  how  much  money  do  you  have 
to  have  before  you  are  rich?" 

A  little  laugh  went  round  the  room;  then 
Margery's  mother  said  lightly,  "Enough  to 
keep  one  from  worry." 

"How  much  is  that?"  asked  Margery. 

"You  make  me  think   of   Paul   Dombey, 

Margery,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  A .  "He  asked 

his  father  what  money  was.  And  his  father 
replied  that  money  was  something  that 
could  accomplish  anything.  And  Paul  said, 
'Then  why  didn't  it  save  my  mother?'  and 
the  astute  older  Dombey  had  no  reply." 

"Well,  what  is  money?"  shrilled  Margery. 

There  was  a   short  silence.     Then   Mrs. 

A said  soberly,  "I  guess  money  is  about 

what  you  make  it,  my  dear;  a  little,  some- 
times, is  a  blessing  and  a  great  deal  a 
curse." 

"I  was  thinking  last  night,"  said  Mar- 
gery's mother,  "that  if  I  were  back  where 
I  was  ten  years  ago  I'd  be  doing  my  own 
housework  and  not  caring  a  fig  about  ser- 
vants' wages.  And  John  would  be  working 
in  the  garden  Saturdays  instead  of  playing 
golf." 

"Oh,   I   know  how   you  feel!"   exclaimed 

Mrs.  S .     "It  seems  sometimes  as  if  it 

would  be  a  relief  if  a  crash  would  come  and 
we'd  all  have  to  go  back  to  the  simple  days 
of  our  grandmothers.  Heavens!  How  it 
would  simplify  our  problems!" 

Margery  wriggled  in  her  chair.  "But 
you  don't  tell  me  how  much  money  makes 
you  rich,"  she  insisted.  "I  want  to  be  rich 
some  day,  and  I  must  know." 

Little  Miss  R ,  the  librarian,  leaned 

forward  to  take  the  child's  hand. 

"Oh,  my  dear!"  she  exclaimed.  "It's  not 
money  that  makes  one  rich.  The  people 
with  money  I  know  are  mostly  stupid  and 
mostly  unhappy.  I  have  little  money,  but 
I  count  myself  rich.  I  know  through  my 
work  most  of  the  great  minds  of  the  ages. 
I  have  enough  salary  to  feed  and  clothe 
myself  decently  and  to  save  toward  my  old 
age.  And  I  envy  no  one.  Who  says  I'm 
not  rich?" 

The  child  looked  puzzled.  Then  she  said: 
"Aren't  all  great  people  rich?  I  mean, 
don't  they  have  lots  of  money?" 

"Very,  very  few  great  people  have  been 
rich,"  replied  the  little  librarian.  "Much 
money  clutters  up  the  mind  so  that  there  is 
little  room  for  the  finer  things." 

"Were  Christ  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
poor?"  asked  the  child. 

"They  were  the  richest  men  in  the  world, 
because  they  had  everything  but  money," 
said  Miss  R , 


Margery  sat  staring  thoughtfully  at  the 
cream-tart  in  her  hand.  Her  mother  sighed 
and  smiled.  "I  feel  as  if  I'd  had  a  pretty 
fair  sermon,  thanks  to  Margery  and  Miss 
R ,"  she  said. 

"But  nobody's  told  me  how  much  money 
makes  you  rich,"  shrilled  Margery.    "And  I 
want  to  know!" 
NEW  MISSION  OF  THE  AUTOMOBILE 

Helena    Independent 

Do  you  know  the  Gypsies  have  taken  to 
automobiles  ? 

During  the  week  Helena  had  a  band  of 
these  distinguished  visitors  camped  near  the 
city.  They  traveled  in  eight  high-power 
automobiles.  The  King  had  an  eight-cylin- 
der automobile  which  was  as  near  a  palace 
on  wheels  as  any  Gypsy  ever  possessed. 
Romany,  he  said,  had  sold  and  given  away 
its  nags  and  parked  its  red  wagons.  Beg- 
gars on  horseback  have  give  away  to  the 
beggars  in  automobiles. 

With  the  horse  the  Gypsy  has  been  asso- 
ciated since  the  bands  first  began  to  rove 
over  Europe  in  1417.  It  is  said  their  lan- 
guage is  modern  Aryan  Indian  and  they 
are  likely  descended  from  Indian  tribes; 
hence  in  the  earliest  stories  and  drawings 
of  his  people,  the  horse  was  the  one  beast 
that  was  the  companion  of  his  wandering. 
He  rode  it  out  of  that  unknown  Asiatic 
land  from  which  he  came  and  it  has  helped 
him  in  the  world-wide  roaming. 

Besides  being  a  fortune  teller,  a  musician 
and  a  tinkerer,  the  Gypsy  is  an  original 
David  Harum.  As  a  trader  he  has  no  equal. 
The  Gypsy  knows  the  charm  which  will 
transform  a  jaded  nag  into  a  race  horse  and 
the  dye  which  will  make  a  roan  steed  of  a 
despised  piebald. 

When  the  Gypsy  king  appeared  at  a 
Helena  garage  to  buy  oil  and  gasoline,  he 
had  all  his  automobiles  looked  over,  and 
when  time  for  payment  came  he  pulled  out 
a  roll  of  long  green  which  would  choke  a 
Great  Northern  tunnel.  The  garage-owner 
almost  fainted.  "No  silver,  nothing  but 
bills,"  chuckled  the  Gypsy. 

What  does  he  do  for  a  living? 

As  Irvin  Cobb  and  other  writers  of  pure 
English  would  say:  "You  can  search  me." 
Perhaps  the  Gypsy  is  trading  automobiles. 
Perhaps  the  automobile  will  civilize  the 
Gypsy  as  no  other  influence  has  been  able 
to  do.  No  people  of  the  world  have  pre- 
sented a  stranger  problem;  students  of 
races  and  languages  have  never  been  able 
to  understand  how  these  nomads,  without  a 
common  creed  of  religion,  history  or  tradi- 
tion, retained  wherever  they  went  the  pe- 
culiar characteristic  that  forces  them  ever 
on  their  restless,  endless  roaming.    Nations 


EDITORIALS  HAVING  HUMAN  INTEREST 


323 


ave  tried  to  tame  them,  to  settle  them 
own  into  good  citizens.    But  the  Gypsy  has 

sisted. 

But  the  Gypsy  has  taken  to  the  automo- 
ile.  It  represents  a  phase  of  citizenship, 
[e  must  now  be  registered,  numbered  and 
agged.  The  automobile  cannot  be  run  on 
:rass,  nor  com  stolen  from  the  farmer's 
leld.  The  Gypsy,  like  other  unfortunate 
wners  of  automobiles,  must  buy  gasoline. 

Will  this  fix  a  Gypsy's  place  of  residence? 
Vill  he  have  a  home  as  well  as  an  auto- 
nobile?  If  the  motor  car  accomplishes 
his,  it  will  have  worked  out  a  problem 
p-hich  every  government  in  the  world  long 
go  gave  up  as  hopeless. 

A  FARMER'S  BEST  CROP 

The   Country    Gentleman 

There  is  a  little  farm  hidden  away  in  a 
luiet  valley  among  the  mountains  of  Ten- 
lessee  whose  boy  and  girl  output  is  a  splen- 
lid  illustration  of  the  old  saying  that  a 
'armer's  best  crop  is  his  children.  Nine 
hildren  in  all  have  gone  forth  into  the  world 
^rom  the  cabin  home  of  this  farm,  seven 
^rown  to  manhood  and  womanhood,  while 
two  others,  a  son  and  a  daughter,  are  still 
securing  an  education. 

These  boys  and  girls  sprang  from  the 
same  Southern-highland  stock  from  which 
Abraham  Lincoln  also  came,  and  wherever 
their  lot  has  been  cast  they  have  made  good, 
they  have  been  conspicuous  for  their  interest 
in  the  common  welfare,  and  without  excep- 
tion they  have  been  men  and  women  of  fine 
Christian  spirit. 

James  was  the  eldest,  and  the  lure  of 
business  drew  him  out  of  the  mountains  to 
Chicago.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  while 
still  a  young  man,  he  was  recognized  as  the 
second  best  salesman  for  a  great  Western 
grain  company.  In  the  midst  of  his  busy 
life,  however,  he  had  not  only  gladly  found 
time  to  attend  church,  but  to  act  as  one  of 
its  official  board. 

William,  who  came  next,  was  not  satisfied 
until  he  found  himself  in  New  York  City,  a 


student  at  Columbia  University.  He  had 
only  a  few  dollars  in  his  pocket  when  he 
left  home.  Character  and  grit  carried  Wil- 
liam forward  until  he  filled  one  of  the 
largest  pulpits  in  a  great  city — until  his 
influence  extends  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific. 

Fred  took  a  different  line.  He  became  in- 
terested in  those  who  were  mentally  defec- 
tive, and  at  length  was  appointed  the  super- 
intendent of  a  hospital  for  the  insane  in  one 
of  the  New  England  States. 

Henry  felt  the  fascination  of  the  auto- 
mobile business,  but  much  as  he  enjoys 
selling  cars  this  is  only  the  way  he  makes  a 
living.  The  thing  in  which  he  is  supremely 
interested  is  a  little  mission  church  which 
he  and  his  wife  founded  and  very  largely 
support. 

Thomas,  like  his  brother,  William,  felt 
the  call  to  the  Christian  ministry,  and  is 
the  pastor  of  an  important  church  in  one 
of  the  Atlantic  States. 

Mary,  having  felt  the  enlargement  of  mind 
and  heart  which  comes  through  a  liberal 
education,  resolved  that  other  girls  in  the 
mountains  should  have  the  same  oppor- 
tunities which  had  come  to  her.  She  be- 
came a  teacher  in  a  school  for  the  children 
of  the  mountaineers  of  North  Carolina. 

Andrew  studied  the  healing  art.  For 
twenty-two  months  he  served  as  a  surgeon 
in  the  British  Army,  never  more  than  3000 
yards  behind  the  firing  line  except  for  brief 
furloughs.  After  the  war  he  resumed  his 
practice  in  one  of  our  seaboard  cities. 

If  an  explanation  is  asked  for  this  splen- 
did crop  of  boys  and  girls  it  is  to  be  found 
in  part  in  a  Christian  school  and  college 
and  church  which  had  been  established  in 
the  mountains  a  few  miles  from  the  place 
of  their  birth.  On  the  farm  they  learned  to 
toil,  to  save  and  to  be  self-reliant.  Then 
these  mind  and  character  building  institu- 
tions lifted  the  horizon  circle  of  their  imag- 
inations above  the  rim  of  their  native  valley 
and,  while  they  still  loved  the  mountains 
with  an  undying  love,  sent  them  forth  as 
builders  of  the  higher  life  of  America. 


CHAPTER    XI 


EDITORIALS  TOUCHING  HOME  INTERESTS 


Local,  or  home-subject,  editorials 
are  discussed  in  Part  I,  Chapter  XL 


Additional  illustrations  of  the 
torial  of  local  subjects  follow. 


edi- 


TEXAS  WANTS  THE  PLUMS 

Houston   Post 

The  directors  of  a  cotton  mill  in  an  East- 
ern State  have  recommended  a  stock  divi- 
dend of  100  per  cent,  increasing  the 
capitalization  to  $4,800,000.  Another  com- 
pany declares  a  stock  dividend  of  66  2-3  per 
cent  and  raises  the  capitalization  to  $8,000,- 
000.  If  the  manufacturing  of  cotton  is  such 
a  profitable  industry,  why  not  build  cotton 
mills  in  Texas,  where  one-third  of  the 
world's  crop  is  produced?  Why  are  Texans 
allowing  manufacturing  interests  in  other 
States  to  monopolize  this  important  and 
profitable  end  of  the  cotton  industry? 

PULL  TOGETHER 

Earlville  (la.)  Phoenix 

Did  you  ever  see  a  team  of  big,  powerful, 
well-trained  horses  pull  a  heavily-loaded 
wagon  out  of  a  mud  hole?  Did  you  notice 
how  they  leaned  forward  in  their  collars, 
steadily,  slowly,  and  pulled  together  ?  Does 
the  man  at  the  next  bench,  counter  or  desk 
need  your  help?  Help  him  out.  Tomorrow 
you  may  need  his  help.  Ben  Franklin  said, 
"If  we  don't  hang  together  we  will  hang 
separately."  Stick  together.  Co-operate 
with  the  man  above  you  and  below  you.  Co- 
operation is  the  very  life  of  national  and 
personal  prosperity.     Pull  together! 

A  BOOSTER  POEM  IN  PROSE 

Bloomfield    (Neb.)    Journal 

Tell  me  not  in  mournful  numbers  that  the 
old  town's  on  the  bum;  rouse  up  from  your 
peaceful  slumbers  and  come  help  us  make 
things  hum.  If  we  go  to  work  in  earnest 
we  can  make  things  hit  on  high;  "dust  thou 
art,  to  dust  returnest,"  is  a  song  of  by  and 
by.  All  the  past  has  gone  forever — you 
can't  call  one  moment  back — and  the  future 
may  come  never;  this  is  true  so  help  me 
Mack.  Now's  the  time  to  do  the  boosting, 
do  not  wait  tomorrow's  dawn;  you  may  in 
the  grave  be  roosting,  all  your  chance  of 
boosting  gone.  Lay  aside  your  little  ham- 
mer, grab  a  horn  and  toot  a  few;  squelch 
the  kicker's  dad-burned  yammer  with  a 
joyful  blast  or  two.    Our  old  town  is  sure 


a  pippin  and  we  ought  to  boost  it  big;  when] 
we  hear  some  growler  yippin,  we  should  biff 
him  on  the  wig.  Those  who  do  not  like  our 
city  ought  to  straightway  hit  the  grit — 
boost  for  Bloomfield — that's  my  ditty — or 
arise  and  straightway  "git." 

FARMERS  AGAINST  BILLBOARDS 

Grand  Junction   (Iowa)   Globe 

Farmers  in  some  parts  of  the  country  are 
advocating  laws  prohibiting  billboard  ad- 
vertising and  other  such  enterprises  along 
main-traveled  roads.  They  claim  such  signs 
decrease  to  a  marked  degree  value  of  farm 
lands  and  are  unsightly  to  the  traveling 
public.  In  eastern  states  where  much  of 
this  kind  of  advertising  was  done  years  ago, 
it  has  all  been  removed  now.  Such  large 
signs  were  placed  so  close  to  the  intersec- 
tion of  highways  and  near  railroad  cross- 
ings that  travelers  could  not  see  approach- 
ing vehicles  and  moving  railway  trains. 

KICK  IN  OR  KICK  OUT 

Anthony   (Kan.)    Republican 

What  Anthony  needs  is  more  of  the  spirit 
which  has  been  manifest  here  the  past 
twelve  months.  The  spirit  in  Anthony  to- 
day is  for  progress  in  every  line.  Progres- 
sive business  undertakings,  progressive 
schools  and  churches,  progressive  thought 
— these  are  what  Anthony  boasts  today 
and  we  cannot  get  too  many  of  them. 
But  there  is  one  thing  Anthony  does  not 
need  and  that  is  the  wet  blanket  personified. 
We  do  not  need  chronic  kickers,  grouches 
and  other  impediments  to  advancement.  All 
we  can  say  to  this  type  of  person  is  if  you 
don't  like  progress  in  the  community,  move 
out. 

Let's  make  this  Anthony's  slogan:  "Kick, 
in  or  kick  out." 

GET  THE  HOME  TOWN  SPIRIT 

Henry     (111.)     Republican 

While  you  can't  force  people  into  senti- 
mental affection  for  their  home  town,  you 
can  make  them  see  solid  reasons  for  pride 
in  it. 


EDITORIALS  TOUCHING  HOME  INTERESTS 


325 


Take  Henry  as  it  stands  today.  Does  it 
show  steady  advance  every  year?  Homes 
and  business  buildings  are  most  tasteful, 
kept  in  better  order.  Private  grounds  and 
streets  are  neater.  Citizens  raise  more 
shrubbery  and  flowers,  and  many  other  im- 
provements are  made.  It's  a  fine  town  and 
people  who  come  here  and  see  it  with  in- 
terested eyes  say  so. 

When  people  begin  to  be  proud  of  their 
home  town,  to  realize  that  it  is  a  privilege 
to  live  among  such  kindly,  intelligent  and 
wide-awake  people,  you  have  taken  the  first 
step  toward  developing  home-town  feeling. 
The  result  is  to  make  people  realize  it  as 
privilege  to  belong  to  such  a  community  and 
have  a  share  in  its  hopes  and  enterprises. 

A  GOOD  FEATURE 

Boston    Post 

That  the  local  option  clause  of  the  new 
Sunday  amusement  law  was  put  in  the 
measure  to  excellent  effect  is  shown  by  the 
working  of  the  statute  thus  far. 

No  such  public  playing  of  games  and  in- 
dulging in  sports  is  possible  in  a  city  or 
town  that  does  not  desire  it — or,  at  least,  in 
which  their  responsible  officials,  presumably 
reflecting  public  opinion,  will  not  approve. 
Such  is  the  case  in  Melrose,  whose  board  of 
aldermen  rejected  the  plan  at  its  latest 
meeting.  So  there  will  be  no  Sunday  sports 
in  Melrose  for  some  time. 

A  referendum  of  the  question  to  the  whole 
people  of  a  community  would,  perhaps,  have 
been  more  in  line  with  true  democracy.  But 
the  present  plan  is  acceptable  enough. 

BUILDING-LINE  PROPOSITION 

Springfield    Evening   News 

There  will  be  wide  interest  locally  in  the 
announced  new  building-line  policy  of  the 
board  of  public  works,  which  is  to  test  its 
right  to  enforce  the  proposed  policy  on  resi- 
dential streets  where  it  is  not  intended  to  do 
widening  or  other  elaborate  improvement- 
work.  In  this  case  releases  from  all  abut- 
ters have  not  been  secured,  so  that  there 
is  a  chance  of  an  interesting  legal  contest 
which  will,  no  doubt,  be  thoroughly  threshed 
out.  For  long  we  have  been  hearing  of  this 
proposed  building-line  policy,  and  it  will  be 
gratifying  to  see  the  matter  argued  out  and 
fought  out  to  a  finish,  if  necessary,  in  order 
that  the  city  may  know  precisely  where  it 
stands  in  this  matter.  The  establishment 
of  a  precedent  is  a  desideratum  to  be  await- 
ed with  keen  interest. 

NOT  QUITE  ALL 

Boston    Post 

Speaking  of  the  inconvenience  caused  by 
the  running  of  railroad  trains  on  the  new 


"daylight-saving"  scheme  in  Massachusetts, 
a  local  newspaper  observes  that  "all  the 
people  have  to  remember  is  that  their  trains 
are  one  hour  ahead  of  their  watches." 

That  would  be  all  right  if  it  were  uni- 
versal; but  it  is  not.  There  are  quite  a 
number  of  trains  on  the  New  Haven,  the 
Boston  &  Albany  and  the  Boston  &  Maine 
leaving  Boston  at  the  old  time;  that  is  to 
say,  their  leaving  time  has  not  been  put 
ahead  an  hour,  as  in  the  cases  of  most  of 
the  trains.  That,  too,  must  be  remembered, 
and  it  is  likely  to  be  an  important  thing  to 
recall  on  occasion. 

REMOVE  THE  BILLBOARD 

New  Bedford  Standard 

With  an  authorized  committee  of  the  board 
of  commerce  urging  the  adoption  of  an  ordi- 
nance for  the  regulation  of  billboards,  the 
city  council  ought  not  to  be  shy  about  un- 
dertaking the  matter.  If  there  were  no 
other  reason  for  opposing  the  billboard  to 
the  full  extent  of  the  permissive  law  than 
its  offensiveness  to  the  eye  and  the  mind, 
that  were  enough  to  undertake  its  regulation. 
But  it  is  fully  recognized  to  be  a  fire  hazard, 
a  promoter  of  rubbish  heaps  in  the  public 
eye,  a  menace  to  life  and  limb  under  stress 
of  the  wind,  a  promoter  of  iniquity,  as  well 
as  a  blot  upon  the  landscape. 

To  take  it  beyond  a  twenty-five-foot  limit 
from  any  building  used  as  a  dwelling  and 
twenty-five  feet  off  back  from  any  public 
street  or  sidewalk  would  legislate  it  out  of 
existence  so  far  as  the  populated  sections  of 
the  city  are  concerned.  That  is  its  fit  fate. 
The  day  will  come  when  the  rural  landscape 
will  be  safeguarded  from  this  offense.  Let 
this  community  make  progress  in  that  direc- 
tion by  refusing  sanction  to  it  upon  the  city 
residence  streets. 

Springfield  Union 

As  stated  by  the  Hampden  County  Im- 
provement League,  the  need  of  intensive 
home  gardening  this  year  is  greater  than 
during  the  war  period,  as  the  farm  produc- 
tion is  certain  to  be  much  less  than  in  any 
of  the  last  three  years,  due  chiefly  to  the 
scarcity  of  farm  labor.  The  volunteer  farm 
workers,  available  in  war  time,  have  dropped 
out  of  the  situation,  and  the  conditions  that 
confront  the  farmers  are  discouraging  in 
many  respects.  With  their  three  years  of 
experience  the  home  gardeners  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  elsewhere  are  in  a  position  to 
add  materially  to  the  food  production  of 
this  part  of  the  country,  and  it  behooves 
them  for  their  own  good  as  well  as  for  the 
general  welfare  to  carry  on  their  gardening 
with  even  greater  energy  and  zeal.  Home 
gardening  has  been  a  large  factor  in  holding 


326 


EDITORIALS  AND   EDITORIAL-WRITING 


down  prices  of  many  vegetable  products  in 
the  last  three  years,  and  will  serve  a  similar 
purpose  this  year  if  everybody  with  a  gar- 
den plot  will  do  his  share. 

THE  TOWN  IN  WHICH  WE  LIVE 

Dwight  (Kan.)   Advance 

A  stranger  drove  into  a  little  country  town 
the  other  day.  He  pulled  up  by  the  side  of 
the  first  native  he  met  and  inquired:  "What 
sort  of  a  town  is  this  one,  a  good  one  or  a 
bad  one?" 

The  native  scowled.  "It's  the  rottenest 
burg  on  God's  green  earth,"  he  replied  and 
swore. 

The  stranger  drove  on.  He  drew  up  by 
the  side  of  the  next  man  he  met.  "What 
sort  of  a  town  is  this  one,  a  good  one  or  a 
bad  one?"  he  asked  again. 

The  native  blew  out  a  cloud  of  blue  smoke. 
His  features  lightened  up.  "Why,"  he  de- 
clared as  he  threw  out  his  hands,  "this  is 
the  bulliest  little  ranch  you  ever  entered, 
stranger.  If  you're  looking  for  the  real 
thing  you  need  hunt  no  further;  it's  here." 

Which  man  was  right  ?  Both  had  lived  in 
that  town  the  same  number  of  years  almost 
to  a  day;  both  were  about  the  same  age,  and 
both  were  blessed  with  this  world's  goods 
to  about  the  same  extent.  Yet  they  held 
diametrically  opposed  opinions.  One  was  an 
optimist,  the  other  a  pessimist;  one  was  a 
smiler,  the  other  a  groucher.  They  were 
both  confronted  by  exactly  the  same  condi- 
tions, yet  each  viewed  them  from  opposite 
angles. 

Which  man  do  you  think  was  right, 
reader?  "Thou  art  the  man."  You  are  the 
man  who  lives  in  Dwight,  Morris  county, 
Kansas.  What  do  you  think  about  your 
town?  V/hat  sort  of  a  town  is  yours;  a 
good  one  or  a  bad  one?    Answer. 

FOR  MOTHERS  AND  BABIES 

Providence    Journal 

The  Social  Service  Department  of  the 
Board  of  Lady  Managers  of  the  Providence 
Lying-in  Hospital  has  undertaken  a  com- 
mendable work  in  establishing  a  home  for 
mothers  and  babies,  to  be  occupied  by  them 
when  they  leave  the  hospital.  A  house  on 
Smith  street  has  been  secured  and  the  board 
now  wishes  to  equip  it.  Accordingly  an  ap- 
peal is  made  to  the  public  to  contribute  old 
furniture  and  other  household  articles.  It 
is  a  modest  appeal  and  will  of  course  meet 
with  a  prompt  and  generous  response. 

All  kinds  of  domestic  articles  are  needed, 
in  particular  a  refrigerator,  a  kitchen  table, 
chairs,  carpets  and  rugs,  bureaus,  cribd  and 
baby  carriages.  Anyone  who  is  willing  to 
give  any  of  these  good  things  to  this  good 
cause  is  requested  to  notify  the  Social  Serv- 


ice Department,  Providence  Lying-in  Hos- 
pital, 109  Washington  street.  The  telephone 
number  is  Union  1350. 

This  plan  involves  no  serious  drain  on 
anybody.  It  is  only  a  plea  for  "cast-offs." 
It  asks  simply  for  second-hand  furnishings, 
such  as  are  lying  useless  at  the  present  time 
in  many  Providence  attics.  Let  the  new 
home  have  without  delay  whatever  its  benefi- 
cent plans  require. 

BANKS  ARE  REALIZING 

Bucklin    (Mo.)    Booster 

W.  R.  Morehouse  of  the  Guarantee  Trust 
and  Savings  Bank  of  Los  Angeles,  in  a 
recent  address  to  arouse  the  interest  of  ad- 
vertising among  financial  institutions,  had 
the  following  to  say  to  his  listeners: 

"The  old  mistaken  notion  that  it  is  un- 
dignified for  banks  to  advertise  has  been  set 
aside.  Many  banks  which  looked  with  in- 
difference on  advertising  prior  to  the  war 
(content  with  an  occasional  statement  of 
the  bank)  used  it  extensively  in  the  sale  of 
war  bonds  or  savings  stamps." 

Posters  and  banners  which  under  no  ordi- 
nary circumstances  would  have  been  allowed 
to  adorn  the  walls  of  these  banks,  were 
used  in  superabundance. 

By  using  these  mediums  to  sell  war  securi- 
ties, hundreds  of  banks  have  been  converted 
to  the  sound  value  of  advertising. 

The  best  banks  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
now  have  display  advertising  in  their  local 
papers,  and  these  institutions  make  a  strong 
play  for  human  interest  copy  and  ideas. 

We  would  call  your  attention  to  the  Bank 
of  Bucklin  advertisement  found  elsewhere  in 
these  columns.  Here  you  no  longer  see  the 
bare  statements  of  assets  and  liabilities, 
topped  off  with  a  list  of  the  directors  and 
the  officers.  Instead  there  are  direct  ap- 
peals for  deposits,  clear  cut  and  appealing 
explanations  of  what  this  institution  can  do 
for  our  readers.  These  advertisements  are 
designed  to  convince  the  most  casual  reader 
of  the  size  and  strength  of  the  institution. 
In  these  advertisements  are  concentrated  a 
combination  of  all  the  skill  of  the  technical 
advertising  man  and  all  the  banker's  knowl- 
edge of  the  multitudinous  ways  in  which  the 
bank  touches  the  life  and  business  of  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  this  community. 

MAKING  EDUCATION  A 

MORE  FINISHED  PRODUCT 

Amherst    Student 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  larger  number  of 
Amherst  men  than  usual  will  be  studying  at 
Oxford  next  winter.  The  qualifying  Oxford 
entrance  examination  and  the  Greek  require- 
ment are  no  longer  prerequisites  for  receiv- 
ing a  Rhodes  Scholarship.    These  two  facts 


EDITORIALS  TOUCHING  HOME  INTERESTS 


327 


ought  to  increase  the  interest  of  Amherst 
undergraduates,  and  especially  of  the  grad- 
uating class,  in  the  opportunity  for  three 
years  of  study  at  Oxford  without  cost. 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  Rhodes  selecting  com- 
niittees  in  the  United  States  to  send  Amer- 
icans to  Oxford  who  will  be  leaders  on  their 
return.  Following  this  purpose,  they  do  not 
select  men  on  the  basis  of  their  scholastic 
record  alone,  but  on  all  around  ability  and 
leadership.  In  the  past,  they  have  not  al- 
ways been  successful  in  securing  the  kind 
of  men  that  they  wanted  and  many  book- 
worms have  crept  in.  Now  the  committees 
are  trying  harder  than  ever  to  reach  their 
ideal  of  a  Rhodes  Scholar  and  there  is  an 
excellent  opportunity  for  men  who  are 
leaders  in  college  activities  to  study  in 
England  during  the  short  winter  terms  and 
to  travel  in  the  long  summer  vacations.  The 
opportunity  to  gain  such  an  education  with 
its  advantage  of  an  increased  breadth  of 
vision  is  a  chance  which  Amherst  men  can- 
not well  afford  to  overlook. 

MORE  ONE-WAY  STREETS 

Providence   Journal 

There  is  nothing  experimental  in  making 
one-way  highways  of  Angell  and  Waterman 
streets,  two  of  the  most  important  thorough- 
fares between  the  business  center  of  Provi- 
dence and  the  country  east  of  the  Sekonk. 
The  plan  was  tried  for  several  weeks  last 
winter  during  the  snow  blockade  and  worked 
so  well  that  there  is  every  reason  for  be- 
lieving that  the  new  order  will  be  approved 
by  motorists  and  drivers  of  horses. 

Angell  street  traffic  in  particular  will  be 
benefited  by  the  change,  for  at  more  than 
one  point  the  roadway  is  too  narrow  for 
electric  cars  and  two  lines  of  automobiles, 
and  cross  streets  are  so  numerous  that  no 
one  is  likely  to  be  greatly  discommoded  by 
the  one-way  rule.  Some  confusion  in  the 
enforcement  of  the  regulation  is  to  be  ex- 
pected, but  the  probability  is  that  in  a  few 
days  the  traffic  officers  will  have  compara- 
tively little  trouble  as  the  rule  is  simple 
and  easily  remembered — follow  the  direction 
of  the  electric  cars,  east  on  Waterman  from 
Prospect  and  west  on  Angell  to  Prospect. 

Both  streets  need  repairing,  but  the 
easterly  part  of  Waterman  is  especially 
rough  and  ought  to  be  resurfaced  at  once. 
These  highways  are  too  important  to  be 
neglected  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

"INFORMATION  SERVICE" 

Herrick    (S.   D.)    Press 

"Information  Service"  is  a  new  phrase. 
It  came  in  with  the  war.  The  government 
found  that  it  needed  something  more  than 
guns  and  ammunition  and  uniforms  to  win 


the  war  with.  It  needed  co-operation  and 
unified  action  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

The  government  also  learned  that  you 
can't  fight  a  war  unless  the  people  under- 
stand what  the  war  is  for.  So  it  created  a 
vast  machinery  of  propaganda  and  informa- 
tion to  communicate  the  facts  about  the 
war  to  the  people.  In  a  few  months,  by 
publicity  articles,  moving  picture  films,  four- 
minutes,  etc.,  a  great  service  of  information 
was  created.  It  revolutionized  the  spirit  of 
the  people!  It  fired  the  heart  of  the  nation 
to  action  and  won  the  war. 

As  the  government  created  a  great  In- 
formation Service  to  arouse  the  people  to 
the  need  for  fighting  the  war  with  all  their 
might,  so  an  Information  Service  is  needed 
all  the  time  to  help  the  community  to  fight 
its  battles  and  solve  its  problems. 

There  is  the  problem  of  economic  com- 
petition. There  is  the  problem  of  business 
success  against  the  difficulties  of  the  com- 
mercial field.  There  is  the  problem  of 
human  inertia  and  laziness  and  vice.  There 
is  the  problem  of  ignorance,  and  how  it  is 
to  be  combated  by  education.  And  so  on 
with  many  others. 

Now,  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  community 
against  the  obstacles  and  enemies  to  suc- 
cessful life  and  progress,  requires  the  educa- 
tion of  popular  sentiment.  The  community 
needs  to  unify  and  arouse  sentiment  for  civic 
progress,  just  as  the  government  needed  to 
unify  and  arouse  war  sentiment.  And  the 
home  newspaper  is  the  Information  that 
performs  this  function. 

YOUR  TOWN 

New    Canaan     Advertiser 

No  town,  county  or  community  will  ever 
prosper  to  any  great  extent,  where  there  is 
a  division  or  strife  of  any  nature.  People 
in  towns  should  strive  to  help  each  other, 
for  in  helping  others  you  invariably  help 
yourself.  There  is  no  man  that  cannot  assist 
in  the  growth,  prosperity  and  development 
of  his  town.  However  small  his  influence, 
it  has  its  effect.  Opposition  is  the  life  of 
trade  and  merit  wins.  No  town  will  prosper 
and  grow  where  a  lack  of  enterprise  and 
push  on  the  part  of  its  citizens  is  felt.  The 
true  motto  of  each  and  every  citizen  of  a 
town  is  and  should  be:  To  assist  and  help 
your  neighbors,  encourage  business  of  all 
kinds  (don't  fear  any  danger  in  gorging  the 
market  in  this  line),  do  all  you  can  and 
encourage  all  in  the  matter  of  improvement 
in  making  the  town  attractive  and  giving 
it  a  homelike  appearance.  When  this  is 
done  people  from  a  distance  will  form  a 
good  opinion  of  the  place,  and  it  will  be  an 
inducement  for  them  to  locate  with  us  and 
become  permanent  and  substantial  citizens. 


328 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Dallas  News 

It  must  be  evident  to  everyone  that  the 
Lone  Star  Gas  Company  will  not  spend  a 
large  sum  of  money  to  get  an  adequate  sup- 
ply of  gas  if  an  increase  in  the^  rates  is 
made  contingent  on  the  success  of  its  effort. 
It  will  not,  because  such  a  proposal  is 
inequitable.  It  is  morally  justified  in  re- 
fusing, and  that  moral  justification  is  a 
guaranty  that  it  will  persist  in  its  refusal. 
In  The  News*  opinion  the  most  sensible 
thing  for  the  Mayor  and  Commissioners  to 
do  is  to  enter  into  a  contract  on  the  basis 
of  the  Lone  Star  Gas  Company's  proposal, 
as  modified  by  the  suggestions  of  Judge 
Etheridge.  If  they  cannot  bring  themselves 
to  doing  that,  they  ought  at  least  to  give 
the  people  of  Dallas  an  opportunity  to  ex- 
press their  opinion  of  that  proposal.  The 
News  believes  they  would  vote  for  the  ac- 
ceptance of  it,  because  while  it  is  a  specula- 
tive adventure  to  which  it  would  commit 
them,  it  is  a  speculative  venture  which  offers 
large  odds  in  their  favor.  If  the  Mayor 
and  Commissioners  cannot  bring  themselves 
to  do  either  of  these  things,  then  there  is 
but  one  other  thing  they  can  do  compatibly 
with  their  duty  to  the  people  of  Dallas. 
This  is  to  terminate  the  negotiations,  and 
advise  the  people  to  provide  themselves  with 
wood  and  coal.  The  Mayor  and  Commis- 
sioners are  paltering,  and  paltering,  with- 
out making  failure  less  inevitable,  will  make 
it  more  distressing  and  costly  to  the  people 
of  Dallas. 

CITY  CONTROLLED  TREES 

Indianapolis  News 

Municipalities  contract  for  street  paving 
and  assess  the  cost  of  the  improvements 
against  the  property  <iwners.  This  practice 
has  been  upheld  by  the  courts  and  is  in 
general  use.  A  writer  in  the  American  City 
believes  that  cities  should  exercise  control 
over  the  selection,  planting  and  care  of  shade 
trees,  assessing  the  cost  to  the  property 
owner  because  a  living  tree,  properly  cared 
for,  adds  to  the  value  of  the  taxpayer's 
property. 

A  vacant  lot  with  a  few  large  trees  on 
it  is  worth  more  than  a  lot  without  shade, 
or  with  only  young  trees.  Real  estate  deal- 
ers emphasize  the  value  of  a  forest  tree  on 
property  that  is  for  sale.  The  American 
City  writer  makes  this  suggestion: 

Providing  shade  on  city  streets  is  as 
much  a  municipal  function  as  providing 
lights  or  sidewalks,  and  therefore  should 
be  undertaken  by  public  officials.  Nega- 
tive control  of  requiring  permits  for 
planting,  pruning  and  removing  is  little 
better  than  no  control.  Probably  the 
most  satisfactory  provision  is  through 


an  unpaid  commission  of  three  or  five 
members — men  who  should  be  appointed 
to  long   terms,   since   it  takes  two   or 
three    years    for    a    commissioner    to 
realize  the  needs  and  scope  of  the  work. 
...     All    things    considered,    it    is 
probably  desirable  to  assess  the  cost  of 
tree  planting  against  property  owners 
on  a  frontage  basis,  while  maintenance 
may  be  provided  out  of  general  funds. 
In  this  section  popular  approval  goes  to 
the  sycamores,  maples  and  elms,  although 
other  shade  trees  would  thrive  as  well  and 
would  lend  variety  to  the  picture.     In  re- 
cent years  efforts  have  been  made  to  per- 
suade property  owners  to  plant  nut  trees. 
Cone-bearing  trees  do  not  do  well  in  com- 
munities   where    there    is    much    soft    coal 
smoke,  but  nut  trees  give  satisfaction  and 
might  well  be  planted.    They  have  an  eco- 
nomic value  in  addition  to  the  shade  they 
furnish. 

WHERE  DO  THE  POLICE  STAND? 

Kansas    City    Times 

Would  it  be  intrusive  to  inquire  just  where 
the  police  department  stands  on  the  para- 
mount issue  of  highway  robbery  in  this 
town?  It  may  be  a  delicate  question  with 
an  election  coming  on  in  the  spring,  but 
with  platforms  being  announced  every  day 
and  people  taking  sides  it  seems  a  not  un- 
reasonable demand  that  the  police  come  out 
flat-footed  or  otherwise  and  line  up  some- 
where. 

For  instance,  if  they  would  line  up  on  the 
boulevards  they  might  learn  that  the  hold- 
up industry  is  violating  the  zone  system  and 
operating,  illegally  many  persons  believe, 
in  districts  reserved  for  residence  purposes. 
The  city  counselor  probably  could  inform  the 
police  board  what  the  charter  says  about 
it.  We  do  not  know.  But  anyway  it  is  a 
nice  legal  question  whether  people  coming 
home  from  the  theater  can  be  held  up  and 
robbed  practically  at  their  own  doors  after 
having  escaped  from  down  town.  There 
ought,  it  should  seem,  to  be  some  regulation 
somewhere.  Perhaps  cards  ought  to  be 
issued  to  persons  going  home  showing  they 
already  had  been  exposed  to  robbery  in  the 
recognized  holdup  districts,  which  should 
guarantee  them  immunity  in  their  own 
neighborhoods.  A  citizen  ought  to  be  safe 
somewhere,  unless,  of  course,  he  is  an  open 
and  notorious  Republican. 

The  attention  of  the  police  board  is  in- 
vited to  the  problem.  The  commissioners 
should  at  least  look  into  it  and  see  if  it  is  a 
police  matter.  It  may  turn  out,  of  course, 
that  these  boulevard  holdup  men  are  within 
their  rights.  It  may  be  that  the  persons 
robbed  in  the  residence  districts  had  used 


EDITORIALS  TOUCHING  HOME  INTERESTS 


329 


tifair  tactics  in  evading  payment  at  prop- 
'ly  designated  holdup  points.  In  such  case 
ley  ought  to  be  severely  censured  and  for- 
it  their  license  to  use  the  streets  or  some- 
ning.  But  the  facts  ought  to  be  ascer- 
lined.  The  police  owe  it  to  themselves,  and 
nything  the  police  owe  to  themselves  ought 
be  paid.  Let's  have  a  declaration  of 
rinciples  all  round.  The  holdup  men  are 
ut  with  their  platform,  the  public  is  pretty 
rell  settled  in  an  attitude  of  strong  opposi- 
ion  to  it,  and  now  if  the  police  would  an- 
ounce,  by  card  or  open  letter  or  something, 
he  campaign  could  start. 

OLD  HOTEL  NAMES 

Boston  Transcript 

The  old  American  House,  on  Hanover 
itreet,  which  gives  up  the  ghost  after  sixty- 
ive  years  of  continuous  service  as  a  hotel, 
vas  the  parent  of  a  thousand  "American 
louses"  all  over  the  country.  The  name 
tself  was  older  than  that  of  the  building. 
The  building,  still  virtually  intact,  erected 
n  1851,  had  had  a  predecessor  on  the  same 
jpot,  to  which  the  name  American  House  had 
Deen  given  in  1835.  In  the  years  which  were 
:he  high  noon  of  the  nineteenth  century  no 
new  town  was  opened  up  in  Wisconsin, 
[owa,  Nebraska  or  California  without  its 
American  House,  called  after  our  original, 
rhat  was  the  period  of  flamboyant  spread- 
eagleism  which  was  satirized  in  Dickens's 
"Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  and  of  which  the  Hon. 
Elijah  Pogram  was  the  shining  example. 

English  names  for  hotels,  such  as  the 
Westminster,  the  Windsor,  the  Victoria,  the 
Buckingham,  and  so  on,  were  then  decidedly 
at  a  discount.  It  was  the  period  which  gave 
us  such  names  as  the  American,  the  United 
States,  the  Revere  House,  the  Eagle  Hotel. 
It  followed  the  epoch  of  fantastic  and  pic- 
turesque old  titles  such  as  the  Blue  Bell,  the 
Indian  Queen,  the  Red  T^ion,  the  Green 
Dragon,  the  Blue  Anchor  and  the  Bunch  of 
Grapes,  all  of  which  had  their  names  from 
the  sign  which  swung  before  their  doors. 

A  CITY  WITHOUT  SONGS 

New    York    Herald 

If  the  wise  man  who  said  he  would  rather 
write  the  songs  of  a  people  than  make  their 
laws  were  alive  now  he  would  weep  over  a 
city  staggering  under  the  weight  of  its  laws, 
but  without  songs  of  its  own.  For  they  have 
all  disappeared— those  songs  relating  to 
New  York,  its  people,  localities  and  cus- 
toms, that  were  so  common  here  a  quarter 
of  a  century  and  more  ago. 

The  patriotism  stirred  by  the  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter  was  quick  to  find  expression  in 
such  ditties  as  "Just  Before  the  Battle, 
Mother,"   "Rally   Round  the   Flag,    Boys," 


"When  This  Cruel  War  Is  Over,"  and 
"Tramp!  Tramp!  Tramp!"  The  spirit  of 
the  flash  age  that  followed  was  truthfully 
reflected  in  a  song  about  John  Fisk,  who 
"may  have  done  wrong,  but  he  thought  he 
did  right,  and  he  always  was  good  to  the 
poor."  The  period  of  dullness  and  quiet  that 
succeeded  the  panic  of  1873  gave  oppor- 
tunity to  Dave  Braham,  than  whom  no  song 
writer  has  ever  voiced  the  feelings  of  New 
York  more  accurately  or  tunefully.  His 
songs  were  first  heard  at  Harry  Clifton's,  in 
East  Houston  street,  and  later  sung  by  the 
Harrigan  and  Hart  company,  of  which  he 
was  musical  director.  "The  Babies  on  Our 
Block,"  "My  Dad's  Dinner  Pail,"  "Paddy 
Duffy's  Cart,"  "The  Mulligan  Guards,"  and 
a  score  of  others,  were  of  the  very  soil  of 
the  older  wards  of  New  York. 

Alienists  who  have  studied  the  idiocy  of 
balladry  are  of  opinion  that  musical  de- 
generacy has  reached  its  lowest  possible 
depths  in  some  of  the  jingles,  barren  of  both 
wit  and  melody,  that  have  taken  the  place 
of  those  real  songs  that  still  live  in  the 
memory  of  an  elder  generation. 

FOOD  FOR  BROWN  STUDENTS 

Providence  Journal 

One  of  the  admittedly  perplexing  prob- 
lems at  Brown  University  is  that  of  properly 
feeding  the  undergraduates.  Many  schemes 
have  been  suggested  in  the  past,  but  none 
has  proved  entirely  satisfactory. 

Theoretically  the  students  might  be  ex- 
pected to  get  board  on  their  own  account; 
the  first  business  of  the  university  is  sup- 
posed to  be  to  provide  them  with  an  educa- 
tion. But  the  trouble  with^  this  theory  is 
that  a  good  many  students,  if  left  to  them- 
selves, do  not  get  enough  wholesome  food. 
A  considerable  proportion  of  them  look 
anaemic  or  improperly  fed.  The  truth  is 
that  these  boys  eat  irregularly  at  down-town 
restaurants,  often  or  usually  at  quick-lunch 
places,  where  they  are  apt  to  order  sand- 
wiches, pie,  doughnuts  and  coffee — a  diet 
that  certainly  is  not  best  calculated  to  meet 
their  physical  needs. 

Years  ago  the  college  authorities  were 
averse  to  fraternity  boarding  houses.  It 
was  thought  wise  that  as  many  student  ac- 
tivities as  possible  should  center  on  the 
campus.  But  present  conditions  have  led  to 
the  establishment  of  a  number  of  fraternity 
dining  rooms  with  the  full  approval  of  the 
authorities.  Yet  even  so,  the  problem  is  far 
from  solution. 

There  seems  no  inducement  to  the  private 
boarding-house  keeper  of  a  generation  or 
half  a  generation  ago  to  advertise  for  busi- 
ness. The  cost  of  food  has  risen  to  a  point 
where  the  margin  is  very  small  between 


330 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


expenditures  and  income.  What,  then,  is 
to  be  done?  ,  •       ,  ^. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  solution  is 
for  the  university  itself  to  provide  an  under- 
graduate commons,  regardless  of  profits. 
The  Brown  Union  dining-room  closed  some 
time  ago  because  of  lack  of  patronage,  and 
anyone  who  has  had  anything  to  do  with 
maintaining  a  dining-room  in  the  Union  un- 
derstands the  financially  precarious  charac- 
ter of  the  enterprise.  Once  upon  a  time  the 
university  established  a  refectory  in  the  for- 
mer President's  house  at  the  corner  of  Col- 
lege and  Prospect  streets,  where  the  John 
Hay  Library  now  stands,  and  later  it  set 
up  another  in  a  house  at  the  corner  of 
Thayer  and  Waterman  streets,  on  the  site  of 
the  present  Biological  Laboratory.  But  for 
one  or  another  reason  both  undertakings 
were  abandoned. 

Should  not  the  university  now  establish 
a  commons  sufficient  to  accommodate  all 
undergraduates  who  do  not  live  at  home, 
and  supply  wholesome  meals  at  a  fair  price 
— at  a  price,  indeed,  that  may  entail  a  sub- 
stantial loss  to  the  college  treasury?  The 
present  arrangements — or  rather  the  lack  of 
arrangements — ought  not  to  be  permitted  to 
continue.  The  college  should  do  what  it 
can,  not  merely  to  educate  its  students,  but 
to  keep  them  in  bodily  health,  on  which  their 
effective  mental  efforts  of  course  depend. 

STATEN  ISLAND 

New  York  Times 

When  a  strike  cripples  Staten  Island's 
transportation  system  and  people  in  the  in- 
terior who  have  work  to  do  in  Manhattan 
cannot  get  to  the  ferry  except  on  foot — a 
serious  matter  for  those  in  remote  parts — 
the  borough  feels  its  isolation  and  complains 
of  neglect  by  the  City  Government.  It  is  a 
familiar  cry  and  loses  nothing  by  iteration. 
If  the  municipal  ferryboats  should  cease  to 
run  for  any  reason,  the  Staten  Islanders 
would  be  in  grave  difficulties.  There  would 
remain  only  the  little  ferry  at  Tottenville, 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  island,  the  an- 
cient craft  that  on  the  west  side  plies  to 
Elizabethport,  and  the  Bayonne  boat  as 
means  of  communication  with  the  outer 
world.  Only  dire  necessity  would  drive  an 
islander  to  cross  over  to  Perth  Amboy  and 
seek  access  to  Manhattan  by  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  a  long  route  that  consumes 
much  time.  Only  less  irksome  and  time- 
wasting  is  the  outlet  through  Elizabethport, 
where  the  waterfront  is  three  or  four  miles 


1 

Penrij 


from  the  New  Jersey  Central  and  the  Pen 
sylvania.    In  the  present  emergency  travel 
ers  could  be  carried  by  the  Rapid  Transii 
road,  which  is  still  in  commission,  to  the 
Bayonne  ferry,  where,  on  the  Jersey  side 
there  is  a  connecting  trolley  link  with  t' 
Jersey  Central.    With  the  municipal  ferri 
unavailable,    no    Staten    Island    commut 
could  reach  Manhattan  in  time  to  do  mor« 
than  half  a  day's  work  at  the  utmost,  and> 
as  the  return  journey  would  be  formidable 
comparatively   few  residents,  a  mere   cor 
poral's  guard,  would  answer  to  the  call  of  i 
duty  that  must  exact  so  much  from  them. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  say  that  Staten  Islanc 
is  "marooned"  when  the  usual  transporta4 
tion  facilities  are  crippled,  and  the  expres 
sion  is  aptly  descriptive,  if  not  original.  Bu^ 
there  is  more  to  consider  than  the  incon 
venience  of  several  thousand  commuters  wh( 
want  to  earn  their  day's  bread;  Statei 
Island,  if  no  ferries  on  any  side  of  th< 
island  were  running,  would  be  completely 
shut  off  from  the  States  of  New  York  anc 
New  Jersey,  and  yet  Richmond  is  a  borougl 
of  the  Greater  City  and  supposed  to  b< 
within  the  pale  of  civilization.  Staten  Islan 
entirely  isolated  might  soon  have  very  littl 
bread  at  all,  all  its  industries,  local  an( 
interstate,  paralyzed.  If  it  came  to  tha 
pass  in  the  depth  of  Winter,  there  would  b< 
dearth  of  coal  as  well  as  of  provisions,  anc 
the  islanders'  plight  would  border  oi 
tragedy. 

Richmond  is  the  least  progressive  of  th( 
boroughs,  largely  because  several  miles  o: 
water  separate  it  from  Manhattan  and  j 
mile  or  more  of  harbor  from  Brooklyn,  anc 
partly  because  it  is  the  Cinderella  of  thi 
group  of  boroughs  that  make  up  the  Create: 
City,  and  is  therefore  overlooked — neglected 
say  its  people.  A  tunnel  between  the  east 
ern  part  of  the  island  and  Bay  Ridge,  or  thi 
Fort  Hamilton  section  of  Brooklyn,  wouh 
be  a  difficult  and  costly  improvement,  bu 
partial  relief  could  be  provided  by  tunnelini 
under  the  Kill  between  the  west  shore  an< 
Bayonne.  Connection  could  be  made  wit] 
the  Central  of  New  Jersey  by  building  \ 
branch  line  of  half  to  three-quarters  of  ', 
mile.  A  tunnel  at  this  point  would  b 
feasible  and  not  costly,  for  it  is  only  \. 
short  distance  of  blue  water  between  th 
two  States.  Express  trains  from  St.  George 
to  Communipaw  could  make  the  run  in  les 
than  forty-five  minutes.  In  furnishing  thi 
outlet  for  the  Staten  Islanders  New  Jerse; 
should  be  willing  to  co-operate. 


CHAPTER    XII 


SOME  BRITISH  EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


Next  following  are  reprinted  ex- 
imples  of  editorial  writing  from 
5ome  of  the  more  familiarly  known 
British  journals.  Not  enough  jour- 
lals  are  included  nor  enough  articles 
from  any  one  journal  to  make  these 
selections  thoroughly  representative; 
3ut  so  far  as  the  collection  goes,  it  is 
probably  typical,  and  the  material  is 
sufficient  to  enable  the  student  to 
form  a  fairly  accurate  impression  of 
:he  kind  of  subject  likely  to  be  treated 
oy  the  British  editorial,  and  of  the 
nethod  and  manner  of  the  treatment. 
)  As  a  means  to  forming  a  tentative 
estimate  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
British   editorial,    students    are   ad- 


vised to  make  a  catalog  of  eight  or 
ten  items  naming  what  he  regards 
as  the  leading  characteristics  of  the 
American  editorial-article,  its  style, 
manner  and  method,  and  then  to 
study  the  British  editorials  in  com- 
parison with  the  American  by  means 
of  this  catalog.  This  will  afford  him 
material  for  a  number  of  short 
papers,  or  critiques,  and  these  can  be 
combined  into  a  longer  thesis  or 
essay.  That  in  such  comparisons 
one  should  approach  the  subject  in 
the  purely  investigative  spirit,  with- 
out prejudice  for  or  against  either 
the  British  or  the  American  editorial, 
scarcely  needs  pointing  out. 


THE  VILLAGE  CRAFTSMAN 

London  Daily  Mail 

New  evidence  is  being  evinced  of  a  prac- 
ical  phase  of  the  movement  to  brighten 
ullage  life.  It  is  recognized  that  an  essen- 
ial  part  of  this  idea  is  to  give  the  villagers 
ome  spare-time  work  which  shall  be  pleas- 
,ntly  suited  to  them  and  lucrative  as  well, 
n  what  better  way  could  this  be  done  than 
ly  reviving  local  arts  and  crafts  ? 

At  the  great  Bath  and  West  of  England 
)how  at  Salisbury  visitors  saw  the  old  spin- 
ing  wheels  and  looms  in  action.  They  could 
^atch  the  making  of  baskets  in  osier  and 
ush,  the  skilled  use  of  the  blade  in  cleft 
ak  and  ash  work,  the  fashioning  of  horse- 
hoes  on  the  anvil  and  not  in  the  machine, 
[andsome  wrought  iron,  lace  made  on  the 
Id-fashioned  pillows,  toys  of  wood  and  fur, 
nd  many  other  articles  bear  evidence  of 
lis  revival  of  the  village  craft. 

It  is  a  pity  these  old  industries  ever  fell 
way,  but  there  is  satisfaction  in  finding 
lat  the  reservoir  of  the  accumulated  expe- 

ence  of  centuries  of  country  craftsmanship 
as  not  dried  up. 

THE  NEW  RENT  BILL 

London  Daily  Mail 

Dr.  Addison's  new  Rent  Bill  clinches  two 
ils  which  The  Daily  Mail  hammered  home, 
scraps  the  old  confusing  Restriction  Acts 


under  which  many  tenants  did  not  get  their 
"rights,"  and  it  raises  the  protected  rental, 
in  London,  from  £70  to  £105,  and  propor- 
tionately elsewhere.  And  premiums  are 
definitely  forbidden  as  well  as  profiteering 
in  furnished  houses. 

The  main  features  will  be  none  the  worse 
for  a  little  discussion.  Apparently  rents  of 
houses  hitherto  protected  are  to  be  liable  to 
a  15  per  cent  increase  of  the  rent  paid  on 
August  3,  1914;  5  per  cent  only  of  such  in- 
crease being  allowed  within  the  first  year  of 
the  new  Act.  But  in  addition,  where  the 
tenant  is  not  under  any  express  liability  for 
repairs,  a  further  increase  of  25  per  cent 
of  the  standard  rent  (August  3,  1914,  rent) 
may  be  levied,  provided  the  house  is  in  a 
sanitary  and  habitable  condition. 

On  the  other  hand,  tenants  need  not  pay 
the  increases  for  houses  which  are  insan- 
itary or  in  a  state  of  disrepair.  That  side  of 
the  present  Rent  Acts  has  been  a  dead  letter. 

EMPIRE  DAY 

London  Daily  Mail 

Although  at  home  Empire  Day  is  not  yet 
a  holiday  in  its  own  right — as  it  should  be — 
its  meaning  for  every  Briton  received  a  full 
share  of  appreciation  on  Whit-Monday. 

On  this  day  of  all  in  the  year  men  of 
British  race  and  loyalty,  whether  in  the 
great  Dominion  continents  or  in  the  tiniest 


332 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


ocean  islet,  were  drawn  together  in  kinship 
of  spirit,  in  pride  of  achievement,  and  in  a 
sense  of  responsibility.  They  rejoiced  freely 
in  the  knowledge  that  the  British  Empire 
needs  no  apology. 

All  the  world  over  the  word  of  an  English- 
man stands  for  justice.  Wherever  the 
Briton  sets  up  his  flag  he  claims  fair  play 
and  equal  opportunity  for  all  without  dis- 
tinction of  race,  creed,  or  colour. 

The  British  Empire  is  a  unique  common- 
wealth of  free  nations — no  less  essential  to 
the  good  of  mankind  by  its  triumphant  vin- 
dication of  free  institutions  in  the  war  than 
by  its  readiness,  now  as  ever,  to  sustain  a 
world-burden  in  the  arduous  era  of  peace. 

THE  WINE  OF  SENTIMENT 

London  Daily  Mail 

"Of  course  I  cannot  afford  it,"  said  my 
host,  as  he  ordered  a  second  bottle  of  Veuve 
Cliquot,  "but  to  me  champagne  is  not  merely 
a  wine.  It  is  a  symbol.  I  drink  it  as  a 
tribute  to  our  gallant  Allies.  It  is  a  token 
of  my  admiration  for  France." 

Regarded  thus,  it  becomes  almost  a  pious 
duty  to  drink  champagne  on  every  possible 
occasion.  With  every  glassful  one  has  the 
satisfaction  of  feeling  that  one  is  helping  a 
great  French  industry  and  assisting  to  re- 
establish France.  Pleasure  and  duty  are  sel- 
dom so  happily  coupled. 

But  apart  from  any  altruistic  and  unselfish 
considerations,  what  would  the  world  be 
without  champagne?  It  is  the  wine  of 
wines.    There  is  no  substitute. 

There  are  many  sparkling  wines,  but  the 
best  of  them  is  a  poor  thing  compared  with 
champagne.  No  cork  pops  quite  like  a 
champagne  cork,  and  there  is  a  subtle  pleas- 
ure in  the  mere  sight  of  the  amber-coloured 
wine  foaming  and  bubbling  in  slender- 
stemmed  glasses. 

There  is  magic  in  this  bottled  sunshine. 
It  ministers  to  sight,  smell,  and  palate.  A 
sip  of  it  dispels  gloom  and  brings  to  the 
drinker  something  of  its  own  joyous  sparkle. 
It  is,  indeed,  the  wine  which  maketh  glad 
the  heart  of  man. 

There  are  many  splendid  wines,  soft,  silky 
clarets,  rich,  generous  Burgundies,  and  right 
royal  ports.  But  they  have  their  times  and 
seasons.  There  is  something  almost  solemn 
about  them,  especially  about  old  vintage 
port.  Champagne  is  the  wine  of  our  lighter 
moments,  the  harbinger  of  gaiety  and  good 
cheer.  No  festivity  is  really  complete  with- 
out it. 

Sentiment  clusters  round  champagne.  It 
is  the  wine  of  great  occasions,  from  the 
launching  of  a  battleship  to  the  launching 
of  a  married  couple  or  the  christening  of  a 


child.  Many  who  never  drink  wine  at  other 
times  reserve  it  for  special  events,  birth- 
days, high  festivals,  and  the  like — an  out- 
ward and  visible  sign  of  rejoicing. 

Pre-eminently  a  sociable  wine,  it  calls  for 
companionship.  There  are  dour,  selfish  fel- 
lows who  may  be  seen  in  club  comers  soli- 
tarily drinking  a  pint  on  their  own.  But 
they  miss  the  true  pleasure.  To  crack  a 
bottle  with  a  crony  is  the  way  of  enjoy- 
ment. How  many  old  friendships  have  been 
renewed  and  old  feuds  forgotten  over  a 
bottle  of  "boy"  ?  A.  E.  M.  F. 

LONDON  CHANGING  HANDS 

Some  Mammoth  Buildings 

London  Daily  Mail 

London  changes  more  slowly  than  any 
other  great  capital.  Peking  and  Tokio  have 
undergone  a  more  radical  transformation 
during  the  past  twenty-five  years.  That  is 
part  of  London's  charm. 

But  London  is  now  on  the  eve  of  big  de- 
velopments, many  due  to  the  incoming  of 
new  men  and  new  wealth,  some  from  the 
provinces,  some  from  the  very  ends  of  the 
world. 

You  find  evidences  of  them  everywhere. 
Walk  down  Kingsway,  London's  newest 
thoroughfare,  and  notice  the  American 
names  there,  such  as  Armour;  Gaston,  Wil- 
liams and  Wigmore — Gaston,  the  newest  of 
New  York's  great  millionaires,  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  his  fortunes  in  London  in  the 
early  days  of  the  war — Ingersoll  and  East- 
man. Bush,  who  domiilates  New  York  with 
the  illuminated  dome  of  his  super-sky- 
scraper, is  making  ready  to  dominate  the 
finest  site  in  business  London  at  the  bottom 
of  Kingsway. 

The  incoming  of  the  Continentals  resem- 
bles the  old  Huguenot  immigration.  The 
Huguenots  fled  from  religious  persecution, 
bringing  us  new  industries  and  wealth;  the 
new  Continental  arrivals,  fleeing  from  Bol- 
shevism and  unrest,  are  also  bringing,  many 
of  them,  qualities  that  will  help  to  make 
London  still  more  great. 

The  amusement  industry  is  being  revolu- 
tionized. Two  powerful  groups,  mainly  com- 
posed of  South  Africans,  Canadians,  and 
Americans,  are  fighting  to  secure  dominating 
sites  for  the  erection  of  picture  palaces  finer 
than  any  so  far  known  in  Europe,  holding 
from  5000  to  6000  people,  sumptuously  fitted 
and  with  orchestras  that  will  attract  the 
music  lovers  who  now  go  to  the  Queen's 
Hall. 

The  next  great  expansion  will  be  in 
hotels-  Even  when  all  the  old  hotels  are 
released  from  Government  control  we  shall 
not   have    nearly    enough,    especially   since 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


333 


London  has  become  the  world's  political  and 
social  center  as  well  as  its  commercial  cap- 
ital. The  unit  of  size  will  probably  be  the 
thousand-roomed  hotel,  and  the  manage- 
ments of  these  will  aim  at  securing  a  large 
percentage  of  permanent  residents. 

The  great  increase  of  London  land  values, 
which  has  come  during  the  past  year  be- 
cause of  the  rush  of  population  here,  is  go- 
ing to  make  rebuilding  on  a  large  scale  an 
economic  necessity.  Business  men  will  not 
be  able  to  afford  to  maintain  small  estab- 
lishments on  costly  sites.  An  idea  of  the 
new  building  line  of  control  in  London  can 
be  obtained  from  the  new  block  of  flats  now 
nearing  completion  at  the  corner  of  Park- 
lane  and  Oxford-street. 


The  increase  of  land  values  will  have  an- 
other effect.  There  are  in  the  older  suburbs 
many  square  miles  of  streets  which  are  in 
a  process  of  steady  deterioration  and  decay. 
It  has  not  been  worth  the  while  of  the 
owners  to  rebuild  them  so  far,  but  with  rents 
and  values  going  up  they  will  soon  find  that 
it  no  longer  pays  them  to  keep  things  as 
they  are.  Some  of  the  old  houses  rented  on 
lease  for  about  £100  a  year  are  fetching 
from  £400  to  £500  a  year  let  out  in  floors. 
New  buildings  on  their  sites  will  yield  from 
five  to  ten  times  as  much. 

A  great  development  is  coming  in  educa- 
tion here.  Every  higher  educational  institu- 
tion in  London  today  is  overwhelmed  with 
applications  for  admission;  London  Univer- 
sity, the  hospital  schools,  and  the  technical 
schools  cannot  cope  with  the  flood.  Men 
who  formerly  went  to  Vienna  and  Berlin  for 
post-graduate  courses  are  now  flocking  to 
London. 

London  will  become  in  vhe  immediate  fu- 
ture the  greatest  center  of  medical  educa- 
tion in  the  world.  The  University  of  London 
has  today  the  opportunity  of  attracting  to 
itself  the  pioneer  students  of  five  continents 
as  the  University  of  Paris  now  does.  The 
Regent-street  Polytechnic  has  the  chance  to 
make  itself  the  rival  of  the  Boston  "Tech," 
and  to  take  the  place  Charlottenburg  once 
held. 

WHY  NOT  EVERYWHERE? 

London  Daily  News 

An  article  by  our  Housing  Commissioner 
shows  that  a  Middlesex  township  has  built 
houses  which  can  be  sold  at  £450  and  are  at 
least  as  good  as  those  for  which  private 
builders  ask  £1000.  It  has  been  done  by 
methods  which  are  open  to  every  other  local 
authority  and  have  been  urged  upon  the 
Government  by  disinterested  experts.  If  the 
Government  had  really  cared  about  houses 


it  could  have  seen  that  they  were  adopted 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land.    The  plain  fact  is  that  it  did  not. 

SECRET  EVILS 

London  Daily  News 

The  dreadful  misery  of  venereal  disease 
has  thrust  itself  upon  the  public  notice  in 
several  recent  cases  in  the  law  courts.  The 
agony  of  the  girl  whose  death  has  just  been 
investigated  by  a  Southport  coroner  defies 
silence.  It  is  but  one  voice  from  a  great 
underworld  of  suffering  which  is  largely  si- 
lent. Doctors  and  other  experts  know  its 
extent.  The  public  cannot  afford  to  ignore 
its  existence.  The  danger  to  the  State  and 
the  sufferings  of  the  individual  give  ground 
for  drastic  action,  but  they  do  not  justify 
that  attitude,  so  common  since  the  war, 
which  believes  that  the  main  thing  is  to  pre- 
vent the  disease.  The  vital  thing  is  to  fight 
in  every  possible  way — and  some  of  the 
most  effective  ways  are  indirect — the  gen- 
eral condition  of  things  in  which  this  evil 
arises.  There  are  worse  things  than  a  dis- 
eased body.  But  whatever  else  may  be 
called  for,  a  system  of  cure  in  active  opera- 
tion is  urgently  necessary.  The  scheme 
exists,  though  there  is  grave  doubt  if  in 
many  places  it  is  more  than  a  scheme.  The 
large  number  of  young  women  at  present  in 
our  medical  schools  gives  promise  that  be- 
fore long  one  of  its  most  serious  handicaps, 
the  shortage  of  women  doctors,  may  be  re- 
lieved. There  is  no  cause  for  panic  nor  for 
a  meaningless  publicity,  but  this  sad  case 
shows  the  need  for  a  more  general  under- 
standing of  the  evil  and  its  cures.  The 
matter  is  too  grave  for  secrecy,  but  it  will 
never  be  mended  by  false  sentiment  or  un- 
reasoning alarm. 

ACROSS  A  TABLE 

London  Daily  News 

The  prospect  of  the  opening  of  some  kind 
of  conversations,  formal  or  informal,  be- 
tween M.  Krassin  and  prominent  members 
of  the  British  Government  will  force  once 
more  to  the  forefront  the  urgent  question 
of  a  clear  understanding  with  Russia.  Into 
the  state  of  mind  of  the  school  of  publicists 
who  denounce  the  mere  suggestion  of  a 
meeting  between  the  Prime  Minister  and  M. 
Krassin,  and  protest  against  the  acceptance 
of  Russian  gold  in  payment  for  British  man- 
ufactures, it  is  profitless  to  enter.  In  view 
of  the  vital  importance  to  the  world  of  the 
re-entry  of  Russia  into  relations — commer- 
cial at  least  if  not  at  the  moment  diplomatic 
— it  would  be  a  gross  and  unpardonable 
dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  if  he  failed  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity   of   discussing   the    whole    situation 


334 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


frankly  across  a  table  with  the  ablest,  and 
in  many  respects  the  most  reasonable,  mem- 
ber of  the  Government  of  Russia.  To  the 
Prime  Minister's  critics  Russia — which,  as 
Signor  Nitti  recently  had  the  good  sense 
to  remind  the  world,  so  far  from  being  an 
enemy  of  Great  Britain  and  Italy  and 
France,  is  an  ally  who  has  fallen  on  mis- 
fortune— is  an  object  of  more  bitter  hos- 
tility than  Germany  herself.  There  was 
general  acquiescence  in  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Council  to  meet  the  Germans  face 
to  face  at  Spa.  To  meet  a  single  Soviet 
Minister  in  London  is  an  enormity.  The 
Treaty  of  Versailles  empowered  the  Repara- 
tions Commission  to  give  Germany  leave  to 
purchase  the  food  and  raw  material  neces- 
sary before  she  paid  a  penny  of  indemnity. 
Russia,  it  is  now  contended,  must  not  part 
with  an  ounce  of  her  gold  for  such  pur- 
poses because  the  creditors  of  Russia  have 
first  claim  on  her  resources.  It  is  of  some 
interest  to  consider  how  Italy  and  France 
and  other  Allied  Powers  would  fare  if  the 
same  lunatic  principle  were  applied  to  them 
by  their  creditors. 

On  that  point  it  is  safe  to  attribute  to 
the  Prime  Minister  enough  sanity  to  enable 
him  to  realise  that  unless  Russia  is  permit- 
ted to  reorganise  her  industry,  particularly 
her  transport,  there  is  not  the  smallest 
chance  of  her  meeting  those  claims  which, 
in  peace  offers  which  the  Allies  consistently 
ignored,  she  has  repeatedly  undertaken  to 
honour.  But  there  is  every  reason  to  hope 
that  any  conversation  the  Prime  Minister, 
or  any  of  his  colleagues,  has  with  M.  Krassin 
will  cover  a  much  wider  field  than  that.  Nor 
is  the  need  for  explanations  all  on  one  side. 
The  Soviet  Government  has  sent  its  second 
reply  to  the  League  of  Nations,  and  has 
issued  at  the  same  time  an  appeal  for  jus- 
tice to  the  Allied  Powers.  The  basis  of  both 
documents  is  the  allegation  that  the  League 
by  countenancing  lawless  aggression  on  the 
part  of  one  of  its  members,  and  the  Allies 
by  actively  conniving  at  that  action  by  one 
of  their  number,  have  in  the  one  case  con- 
doned, and  in  the  other  case  promoted  an 
act  of  hostility  against  Russia.  The  un- 
welcome feature  of  the  allegation  is  that  it 
IS  irrefutable.  This  country  for  all  its 
virtuous  horror  at  the  crimes  the  Bolsheviks 
have  committed— and  they  have  committed 
crimes,  at  which  politicians  whose  own 
hands  were  clean  might  justly  express 
hoiTor— has  chosen  deliberately  to  put  itself 
in  the  wrong  in  relation  to  Russia.  The 
Council  of  the  League  of  Nations,  which  ap- 
pears to  be  sinking  from  depth  to  still  lower 
depth  of  impotent  futility,  has  uttered  no 
word  of  rebuke  or  protest  in  regard  to  the 


Polish  offensive.  It  has  even  shown  itself 
capable  of  discussing  a  campaign  against 
typhus  in  Poland  without  a  single  public 
reference  to  the  steps  Poland  is  taking  to 
disseminate  typhus  and  frustrate  preventive 
measures.  The  refusal  of  Moscow  to  admit 
the  proposed  commission  of  inquiry  may  not 
be  in  Russia's  own  interest,  but  it  is  a  per- 
fectly fair  and  a  perfectly  natural  com- 
mentary on  the  bankruptcy  of  the  League  in 
regard  to  the  whole  matter.  Now  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  is  to  take  the  stage.  Mr.  Lloyd 
George's  record  in  regard  to  Russia  for  the 
last  sixteen  months  has  been  that  of  a  man 
who  throughout  saw  the  right  course  to  take, 
and  throughout  lacked  the  courage  to  take 
it.  Once  more  an  opportunity  is  offered  him. 
This  time  the  forces  in  his  favour  are 
stronger  and  the  forces  against  him  less 
formidable.  He  has  much  to  retrieve,  but  he 
could  still  in  large  measure  retrieve  it. 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  GET  YOUR  WHACK 

By  Canon  Langbridge 

London  Daily  News 

The  things  that  happen  outside  a  man 
don't  matter  very  much.  The  ups  and  downs 
of  bacon  and  butter  are  less  important  than 
the  drama  of  our  hearts.  One  grows  accus- 
tomed to  almost  any  surroundings.  Life  is 
much  the  same  with  or  without  a  collar. 
One  can  do  without  wine;  one  can  do  with- 
out a  club;  one  can  almost  do  without  books. 

Nearly  all  of  our  necessaries  are  luxuries. 
I  am  not  entirely  satisfied  that  food  is  the 
great  thing  that  we  make  of  it.  The  sitting 
down  four  times  a  day  to  a  deliberate  and 
formal  meal  is  a  foolish  and  wasteful  re- 
dundancy. Wordsworth  lived  pleasantly  on 
what  his  cupboard  sent  on;  a  bear,  I  dare- 
say, pulls  along  quite  nicely  on  his  fat. 
When  I  look  round  and  see  the  vast  ma- 
chinery of  the  world,  I  ask  myself:  "Is  it 
worth  while  ?"  I  think  of  the  dreamy  Pacific 
Islands,  where  people  wait  for  the  cocoa- 
nuts  to  drop,  and  only  the  fussy  and  neurotic 
think  of  knocking  them  down.  It  may  be 
needful  now  and  then  to  knock  nuts  and 
niggers  down,  but  some  men  are  altogether 
too  fond  of  the  game. 

They  tell  us  we  must  produce  more,  or 
come  to  grief.  But  there  is  another  way  of 
helping  ourselves;  we  can  want  less.  Here 
and  there  we  are  retrenching.  Now  that  our 
stylish  people  have  taken  to  overalls,  we 
are  sewing  up  our  tailors  pretty  well.  For 
myself,  indeed,  I  thought  overalls  a  little 
dressy;  perhaps  a  little  arrogant.  I  thought 
it  was  almost  pushing  into  the  Birthday 
Honours.  I  am  making  shift  with  fringed 
trousers  and  broken  boots;  but  I  hope  I  am 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


335 


setting:,  in  an  unostentatious,  clerical  way, 
a  good  example.  I  hope  I  indicate  the  sim- 
ple life,  if  not  the  higher  life.  I  hope  it 
won't  be  brought  up  to  my  disadvantage 
that  the  things  are  my  best. 

But  I  hardly  dare  to  think  that  the  self- 
denying  life  is  having  a  great  run.  From 
what  I  hear  there  is  too  much  champagne 
going  on  for  real  mortification  of  the  flesh; 
I  doubt  if  mortification  can  be  done  on  cham- 
pagne. There  are  better  ways.  If  every 
woman  in  society  would  have  one  less  di- 
vorce, that  would  really  be  a  start.  Some- 
times I  think  we  are  almost  self-indulgent 
in  silver  foxes  and  diamond  clasps.  We 
trust  our  spiritual  peace  too  much  to  silver 
foxes.  And  are  we  not  almost  rashly  de- 
pendent on  our  skunks?  There  is  a  place 
for  everything.  Let  us  keep  our  skunk 
in  his. 


I  thought,  a  little  while  ago,  we  were 
stripping  off  the  fal-lals  of  life.  I  thought 
we  were  packing  our  world  smaller,  were 
putting  first  among  our  possessions  our 
emotions,  aspirations,  efforts.  But  the  re- 
action has  set  in.  There  is  a  slump  in  the 
better  life.  Psyche's  wings  are  folded;  we 
pray  to  the  muck-fly  today. 

Often  I  ask,  in  all  earnestness,  Bret 
Harte's  sarcastic  question,  "Is  our  civilisa- 
tion a  failure,  or  is  the  Caucasian  played 
out?"  Are  our  standards  sound?  Is  the 
boy  with  a  money-box  better  than  the  boy 
who  spends  his  money  on  tarts?  He  is 
nearer,  perhaps,  to  being  a  self-made  man, 
but  wouldn't  he  be  as  well-off  if  God  had 
made  him  ?  Is  it  not  the  boys  with  money- 
boxes who  start  companies  with  10  per  cent 
Preference  shares,  organise  public-spirited 
raids,  invent  quick-firing  guns,  run  up  the 
Union  Jack  and  plunge  us  into  the  joys  of 
civilisation  and  war  ?  Is  the  gospel  of  "Get 
your  whack  and  a  bit  of  somebody  else's" 
really  worth  preaching? 

When  I  read  the  news  I  fancy  that  we 
might  be  rather  less  proud  of  the  man  that 
makes  money  and  of  the  money  that  makes 
man.  Sometimes  I  wonder  if  we  might  not 
take  advantage  of  the  high  cost  of  paper  to 
wind  up  our  daily  journals  instead  of  raising 
their  prices.  Nobody,  I  suppose,  has  ques- 
tioned the  propriety  of  winding  up  our 
weeklies  (and  our  rather  too  stronglies),  in 
their  own  winding  sheets.  The  story  of 
civilisation  in  its  present  instalment  is  not 
inspiring.  There  is  something  wanting  in 
man  as  he  fills  our  printed  record;  I  rather 
think  it  is  his  soul.     There  does  seem  to  be 

temporary  cessation  of  the  soul;  I  doubt 
if  the  film  beauties  will  set  it  in  action 
gain. 


We  must  get  the  game  of  grab  out  of  life. 
While  every  nation  is  working  for  its  pe- 
culiar gain,  a  league  of  nations  is  a  league 
of  pickpockets.  While  every  class  treats 
every  other  class  as  its  enemy,  society  is  a 
brotherhood  of  assassins.  While  every  man 
is  on  the  make,  the  make  is  the  smoke  of 
Tophet  and  the  fire  of  Gehenna.  A  nation 
of  shopkeepers  we  were  once;  we  have 
grown  to  be  a  nation  of  profiteers.  What  is 
profiteering  but  living  for  yourself? 

There  is  only  one  way  of  inheriting  the 
earth — not  grabbing  it.  There  is  only  one 
way  of  getting  your  rights — giving  other 
people  theirs.  While  every  man  wants  the 
best  of  the  bargain,  everyone  is  apt  to  get 
the  worst  of  it.  More  pudding  is  not  more 
peace. 

I  am  weary  of  the  truth,  ostentatiously 
proclaimed,  piously  assumed,  that  man  shall 
live  by  bread  alone — or  by  its  modem  equiv- 
alent of  five  courses. 

A  NEW  EGYPT 

Peace,   Education   and   Employment. 

By  the  Rt.  Hon.  G.  N.  Barnes,  M.  P. 

London  Daily  News 

In  this  country  the  general  view  of  the 
Egyptian  worker  has  been  that  of  a  miser- 
able wretch  held  to  labour  in  the  interests 
of  foreign  bondholders.  To  some  extent  I 
shared  that  view  myself,  for  I  lived  more 
or  less  in  the  memories  of  the  "military 
operations"  of  the  'eighties,  and  the  con- 
troversies to  which  they  gave  rise. 

But  I  know  now  that,  whether  true  or 
false  then,  the  view  has  no  relation  to 
present-day  facts.  What  proportion  of  the 
national  resources  are  devoted  to  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  on  foreign  bonds  is  a  mat- 
ter upon  which  I  have  no  information,  but 
it  can  be  but  negligible.  The  whole  unified 
debt  of  Egypt  is  but  £90,000,000,  and  the 
Government  probably  own  as  much  as  would 
cover  it  in  State  railways,  docks,  irrigation 
works  and  other  public  enterprises.  And,  in 
addition,  the  Egyptian  Government  is  the 
prospective  beneiElciary  legatee  of  the  Suez 
Canal  Company,  whose  lease  expires  in 
1968.  Moreover,  the  incidence  of  taxation 
is  such  that  wealth  gets  off  without  paying 
anything,  so  that,  even  if  it  were  true  that 
Labour  was  taxed  to  pay  foreign  bonds,  it 
would  simply  mean  that  Labour  was  taxed 
to  relieve  capitalists  at  home. 
Cotton  Profiteers 

The  economic  condition  of  Egypt  is  by 
no  means  as  bad  as  it  has  sometimes  been 
painted.  Judged  by  the  ordinary  standards, 
Egypt  is  rich  beyond  the  conception  of  the 
average  Englishman  at  home.    The  country 


836 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


has  been  immune  from  the  ravages  of  the 
war.  In  fact,  the  war  has  taken  money 
into  the  country.  And,  during  the  war,  the 
planting  of  cotton  has  gone  on  apace,  and 
has  been  extraordinarily  remunerative  for 
the  last  year  or  two.  It  is  said  that  cotton 
prospects  are  so  good  this  year  that  the 
yield  is  expected  to  show  100  per  cent  in- 
crease in  money  value  over  the  yield  of  last 
year.  But  all  this  material  prosperity  has 
not  been  an  unmixed  blessing.  It  has  pro- 
duced a  "new  rich"  of  a  particularly  unde- 
sirable kind.  Fabulous  fortunes  have  been 
made  by  land  owners  and  speculators,  some 
of  them  of  foreign  birth  and  interests,  and 
many  of  them  illiterate.  Feverish  specula- 
tion has  resulted  in  cotton  being  grown  in- 
stead of  grain.  It  is  even  said  that  growing 
grain  has  been  torn  up  to  make  room  for 
cotton.  The  increased  activity  in  cotton  has 
been  the  subject  of  edicts  by  the  Govern- 
ment, prescribing  the  limits  of  cotton 
growth.  These  have  caused  discontent,  and 
are  said  to  have  been  evaded  by  the  farming 
community. 

From  the  revenue  point  of  view  the  in- 
creased wealth  due  to  cotton  means  nothing 
but  disturbance,  for  cotton  contributes  noth- 
ing to  the  public  exchequer.  The  revenue 
is  maintained  entirely  by  taxes  on  land,  ac- 
cording to  fixed  principles,  and  on  imports. 
There  is  also  a  sort  of  super  tax  on  date 
trees,  ranging  from  sixpence  to  a  shilling 
per  tree. 
No  Income  Tax  in  Egypt! 

But  the  income  of  the  rich — new  or  old — 
goes  scot  free.  There  is  no  income  tax. 
Nor  can  there  be  such  a  tax  while  the 
capitulations  remain  in  force;  for  these  ex- 
pressly exempt  the  foreigner  from  taxa- 
tion, and  it  is  impossible  to  tax  the  native. 
Taxing  the  foreigner  would  therefore  ap- 
pear to  be  a  real  need  in  Egypt. 

The  revision  or  abolition  of  the  capitula- 
tions would  seem  to  be  one  of  the  most 
urgent  reforms  in  Egypt;  for  it  is  only  in 
this  way  that  there  can  be  an  alteration  of 
a  system  of  taxation  which  is  so  flagrantly 
unjust. 

Another  reform  no  less  urgent  is  the  pro- 
vision of  work  for  those  who  cannot  get  em- 
ployment in  agriculture.  Egypt  has  hitherto 
been  almost  entirely  an  agricultural  country. 
But,  as  an  agricultural  country,  it  is  now 
peopled  up  to  its  capacity.  There  are  in 
Egypt  fifteen  hundred  people  to  the  square 
mile,  which  is  a  greater  density  of  popula- 
tion than  in  any  other  country.  And,  at  the 
same  time,  there  is  a  system  of  land  owner- 
ship under  which,  at  the  death  of  an  owner, 
the  land  becomes  the  joint  or  equal  prop- 
erty of  all  his  sons.     For  the  worker  this 


has  been  a  good  thing  in  the  past,  for  it 
has  made  a  large  number  of  men  inde- 
pendent of  employment  by  the  capitalist  or 
landlord.  But  it  has  reached  its  limit.  It 
has  been  swamped  by  growing  numbers. 
There  are  now  nearly  a  million  holdings  of 
less  than  half  an  acre. 

There  is  but  little  alternative  work.  There 
is  a  large  sugar  pressing  plant  about  fifty 
miles  below  Assuan,  and  there  are  a  few 
factories  in  the  Delta  area;  but  these  are 
conspicuous  because  there  are  so  few. 
Egypt,  if  she  is  to  maintain  her  growing 
population,  must  not  only  grow  cotton.  She 
must  turn  it  into  cloth. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  irrigation  works 
in  hand,  and  in  view,  above  Assuan,  which 
may  bring  an  additional  two  millions  of 
land  under  cultivation  in  the  next  twenty 
years;  but  these  will  only  provide  for  the 
normal  increase  of  population. 
The  Educated  Native 

There  is  also  the  question — ^akin  to  that 
just  mentioned — of  the  employment  of  the 
young  educated  Egyptians.  Many  of  them 
come  from  the  prosperous  farmer,  or  effendi 
class,  but,  after  being  maintained  in  Western 
ways  either  in  Lower  Egypt  or  Europe,  till 
the  end  of  their  studies,  they  have  no  in- 
clination to  go  back  to  the  rural  districts. 
They  are  a  burden  to  their  parents  and  a 
source  of  trouble  to  the  community.  I  can- 
not but  think  that  room  could  be  made  for 
them  to  a  larger  extent  in  the  public 
services. 

And,  arising  from  this  same  considera- 
tion, the  educational  system  could  surely 
be  overhauled  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide 
education  nearer  the  homes  of  the  children. 

All  these  things  mean  money.  In  so  far 
as  they  involve  changes  in  public  adminis- 
tration, there  should  be  little  difficulty.  The 
money  is  there.  What  is  needed  is  power  to 
divert  it  from  where  it  is  now  being  spent 
in  riotous  living  into  the  channels  where  it 
might  bless  and  fertilise  the  land. 

But  money  from  outside  is  needed  for  the 
development  of  industries;  and  for  this  the 
main  thing  is  security.  Egypt  is  now  as- 
sured of  external  security.  That  has  been 
bought  at  a  great  price  in  British  blood  and 
treasure.  What  she  needs  now  is  peace 
within  her  borders,  so  that  industries  may 
be  begun  and  maintained  to  give  employ- 
ment to  her  teeming  millions. 

And,  over  and  above  all  material  changes,, 
there  is  the  change  that  can  only  be  made: 
by  the  people  themselves,  namely,  the  im- 
provement in  the  status  of  women.  That  is 
the  most  important  change  which  Egypt, 
needs.  It  will  come  but  slowly,  involving,, 
as  it  does,  religious  sanctions  and  an  altera- 


SOME  BRITISH  EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


S37 


tion  in  social  habits  which  are  deeply  rooted 
in  the  past;  but  as  it  comes,  all  else  may  be 
added  and  Egypt  may  emerge  as  a  free  and 
independent  people. 

UNDER  THE  CLOCK 

London  Daily  News 
[This    reprint     illustrates    the    editorial     melange, 
medley,  or  miscellany.     Such  columns  or  departments 
of    mingled    chronicle,    comment,    and    reflection,    are 
carried   in   both  newspapers   and  magazines.] 

Among  living  explorers,  none  has  packed 
more  adventure  into  life  than  Capt.  Frank 
Wild,  the  right-hand  man  of  Shackleton  in 
many  a  dark,  cold  corner  of  the  Southern 
Seas,  who  left  London  yesterday  for  Portu- 
guese East  Africa,  where  he  hopes  to  de- 
velop a  certain  area  for  tobacco-growing. 
A  direct  descendant  of  the  great  Capt.  Cook, 
he  has  been  a  member  of  most  of  the  Ant- 
arctic expeditions  during  the  past  20  years. 
After  serving  in  the  Navy,  he  accompanied 
Scott  on  the  Discovery  in  1901-4,  went  South 
again  with  Shackleton  in  1907-9,  and  Maw- 
son,  1911-13,  and  again  with  Shackleton  in 
1914.  He  went  out  in  the  open  boat  trip  to 
Elephant  Island  when  Shackleton's  party 
was  marooned.  Small,  spare,  trim-bearded 
— a  Captain  Kettle  figure  of  a  man — no 
more  efficient  explorer  ever  traversed  the 
Antarctic  wastes,  and  none  has  had  less  to 
say  about  it. 

It  was  a  very  near  thing  that  the  2d  postal 
rate,  which  we  are  to  have  next  month,  was 
not  introduced  instead  of  the  Id  rate  when 
Rowland  Hill's  reform  was  brought  about, 
for  the  Select  Committee  appointed  in  1837 
to  inquire  into  the  postal  question,  as  a 
result  of  Hill's  pamphlet,  "Post  Office  Re- 
form," formally  recommended  a  2d  rate, 
though  the  Id  rate  was  suggested  for  adop- 
tion. A  2d  rate  would  not  have  been  ac- 
ceptable to  Rowland  Hill  and  to  those  who 
supported  him,  for  it  would  have  rendered 
his  scheme  useless,  as  a  uniform  rate  was 
the  essence  of  his  plan,  and  a  2d  rate 
would  have  left  the  local  Id  posts  still  in 
existence. 
Canon  Rawnsley 

Canon  Rawnsley's  square,  bearded  figure 
always  seemed  perfectly  at  home  among  the 
hills  he  loved,  though  he  did  not  go  to  live 
in  the  Lakes  till  he  was  27.  His  efforts  to 
help  men  as  near  to  nature  as  they  knew 
how  to  go  were  not  merely  academic.  Only 
a  few  years  ago,  I  was  on  a  tramping,  camp- 
ing holiday,  when  I  met  him  in  the  Kes- 
wick High-street,  and,  though  a  complete 
stranger,  introduced  myself  with  some  diffi- 
dence to  ask  if  camping  was  allowed  in 
Borrowdale  Park.  He  was  very  sorry  to  say 
that  the  danger  from  fires  was  considered 


too  great,  but  I  had  a  most  difficult  job  in 
refusing  his  pressing  invitation  to  camp  in 
his  own  garden  for  as  long  as  I  liked. 


Ireland  has  caused  a  good  deal  of  pro- 
fanity in  her  long  history,  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  Montana  have  a  lamentable  freedom 
of  speech,  so  it  may  be  permissible  to  quote 
the  comment  of  a  visitor  from  Montana  on 
the  subject  of  Ireland,  sent  me  by  a  friend 
interested  in  "split"  words: 

The  trouble  with  Ireland  is  that  she 

wants  to  be  too  inde-God-dam-pendent. 
A  man  who  takes  so  much  trouble  to  swear 
is  beyond  hope  of  reform. 


Anent  the  tender  age  at  which  Mr.  Will 
Thorne  began  to  earn  his  living,  several 
other  Labour  leaders  made  an  early  start. 
Mr.  William  Carter,  M.  P.  for  Mansfield, 
worked  "the  clock  round**  in  a  brickyard  at 
the  age  of  ten,  whilst  at  the  same  age  Mr. 
J.  G.  Hancock,  another  miners'  M.  P.,  was 
driving  a  donkey  in  the  Pinxton  pit,  often 
working  eight  shifts  in  one  week. 

The  people  who  visit  the  second-hand 
bookshops  are  often  as  entertaining  as  the 
books  themselves.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
burly  and  bucolic  gentleman  in  a  billycock 
hat  who,  so  a  friend  tells  me,  was  seen  out- 
side one  of  these  establishments  the  other 
day,  lost  in  the  pages  of  Maeterlinck's  "Life 
of  the  Bees."  The  traffic  of  the  pavement 
surged  about  him,  but  still  he  read  on,  and 
when  the  watchful  shopkeeper  came  to  the 
door  from  time  to  time,  he  found  him  read- 
ing yet.  At  last  he  closed  the  volume  with 
an  approving  grunt,  and,  tapping  its  cover 
with  a  thick  fore-finger,  addressed  the  book- 
seller. "I  suppose,  now,"  he  said,  "you 
don't  happen  to  have  a  book  by  this  chap 
on  cows?" 

Maeterlinck's  beautiful  idyllic  story  of  the 
bees  has  more  discriminating  readers.  I  re- 
member a  dear  woman  near  Glossop,  in 
Derbyshire.  She  kept  bees  in  her  garden. 
For  many  years  she  had  worked  in  the  mill. 
Her  two  books,  which  represented  the  two 
great  passions  of  her  life,  were  the  Bible 
and  Maeterlinck's  "Life  of  the  Bees."  She 
saw  a  long  way  into  them  both. 
Big  Hailstones 

The  Royal  Meteorological  Society  has  pre- 
served some  interesting  details  of  the  storm 
at  Richmond,  Yorks,  which  I  described  yes- 
terday. Hailstones  roughly  circular,  and 
from  six  to  seven  inches  in  circumference, 
were  picked  up  and  carefully  measured. 
Some  of  the  biggest  were  photographed  as 
soon  as  they  fell,  and  copies  of  these  photo- 


338 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


graphs  can  be  seen  in  the  rooms  of  the 
R.M.S.  Hailstones  are  frozen  rain,  and 
their  size,  on  reaching  the  earth,  depends 
on  the  distance  they  fall  and  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  through  which  they  pass. 
Usually  they  attain  the  size  of  marbles,  but 
under  certain  exceptional  conditions  a  num- 
ber combine  together  and  reach  the  ground 
as  single  hailstones  as  big  as  a  man's  head 
and  weighing  fully  a  pound,  as  was  the  case 
during  a  storm  in  April,  1907,  in  Indo-China, 
as  was  testified  to  by  the  Director  of  the 
Central  Observatory  of  that  French  Colony. 


A  feature  of  the  forthcoming  Handel 
Festival  at  the  Crystal  Palace  will  be  the 
great  organ,  which  has  been  overhauled  and 
brought  up  to  date.  Over  £8000  has  been 
spent  on  the  instrument,  which  was  original- 
ly built  by  Gray  and  Davidson  for  the  first 
Festival  in  Mutiny  year  (1857).  Special  at- 
tention has  been  devoted  to  the  voice  stops. 
Mr.  Walter  Hedgcock,  the  Palace  organist, 
will  be  taking  part  in  his  ninth  Festival. 
Week-end  Weather 

A  depression  to  the  south-east  of  England 
will  probably  influence  the  week-end  weather 
unfavourably,  and  unsettled  conditions  may 
be  expected,  with  very  little  sunshine  and 
the  possibility  of  slight  rain. 

THE  HUNTER  COMMISSION'S  REPORT 

London  Times 

Mr.  Bonar  Law's  statement  that  "the 
natural  opportunity  for  a  debate  on  the 
Hunter  Report  would  be  upon  the  Vote  for 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  India"  is  unfor- 
tunate and  ill-advised.  What  will  be  the  re- 
sult? The  day  set  apart  for  the  equivalent 
of  the  old  Indian  Budget  debates  will  be 
devoted  to  a  heated  wrangle  about  General 
Dyer  and  Amritsar,  and  many  other  im- 
portant Indian  questions,  which  ought  to  be 
discussed  in  the  House  of  Commons,  will  be 
ignored.  During  the  past  year  Parliament 
has  effected  great  constitutional  changes  in 
India,  certain  aspects  of  which  require  fur- 
ther consideration.  There  is  also  the  prob- 
lem left  by  the  Afghan  war,  the  issue  pre- 
sented by  Waziristan,  the  future  control  of 
the  frontier,  the  proposed  reforms  in  the 
Indian  Army,  and  various  other  matters,  all 
of  which  should  be  ventilated  in  an  Indian 
debate.  We  do  not  welcome  the  prospect  of 
an  Amritsar  day  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  incline  to  the  view  that  the  controversy 
should  be  closed  as  soon  as  possible;  but  as 
both  the  House  and  the  public  are  clearly 
anxious  for  a  debate  on  the  Hunter  Com- 
mission's report,  a  special  day  should  be 
set  apart  for  it.  When  so  many  great  ques- 
tions are  arising  for  settlement  in  India,  it 
would  be  a  mockery  of  the  control  supposed 


to  be  exercised  by  Parliament  to  neglect 
them  in  order  to  discuss  the  Dyer  case  alone. 

FUTURE  OF  CAPTAIN  FRYATT'S  SHIP 

London  Times 

Last  night  an  announcement  was  issued 
that  Captain  Fryatt's  ship,  the  Brussels,  is 
to  be  offered  at  auction  on  the  Baltic  Ex- 
change on  June  23.  The  only  other  intima- 
tion was  that  only  British  subjects  will  be 
allowed  to  bid.  This  qualification,  at  any 
rg,te,  will  distinguish  the  auction  from  the 
rather  sordid  sale  of  the  River  Clyde,  of 
Gallipoli  memory,  at  the  end  of  January. 
Then  there  was  no  restriction  whatever. 
The  River  Clyde  was  bought  for  Spanish 
account,  and  the  subsequent  offer  of  a  num- 
ber of  British  shipowners  to  buy  her  back 
for  the  nation,  in  order  that  she  might  be 
preserved  as  a  national  memorial  of  British 
heroism,  was  unavailing,  since  no  substi- 
tute ship  for  the  buyers  could  then  be  dis- 
covered. 

The  sentiments  surrounding  the  name  of 
the  Brussels  are,  in  some  respects,  even 
more  precious.  It  was  not  from  her  decks 
that  British  soldiers,  with  high  courage, 
swarmed  to  their  deaths,  but  from  her  deck 
one  British  seaman,  whose  name  will  al- 
ways be  revered,  stepped  to  a  martyr's 
death.  After  she  was  captured  by  the  Ger- 
mans, she  was  sunk  by  them  at  Zeebrugge, 
refloated  by  the  British  Admiralty,  adjudged 
a  Belgian  prize,  and  presented  by  Belgium 
to  Britain  at  an  impressive  ceremony  on 
April  26  last,  "as  a  mark  of  its  recognition 
of  the  heroism  of  the  British  Navy."  On 
that  occasion  M.  Poullet,  the  Belgian  Minis- 
ter of  Marine,  described  the  decision  of  the 
Belgian  Government  to  restore  the  ship  to 
Britain  as  "a  supreme  homage  to  the  British 
Navy." 

That  act  was  deeply  appreciated  by  this 
nation.  If  the  ship  is  to  be  sold  at  auction, 
then  the  subsequent  course  seems  to  us 
clear.  The  money  which  is  obtained  for 
the  hull  must  be  applied  to  some  cause  as- 
sociated with  the  names  of  Captain  Fryatt 
and  of  Belgium.  To  what  better  use  could 
the  money  be  put  than  to  the  erection  of  a 
permanent  memorial  to  Captain  Fryatt  in 
Belgium,  if  Belgium  will  permit  that  ?  Her 
generous  act  of  April  suggests  that  she 
would  welcome  it.  What  form  the  memo- 
rial should  take  will  depend  on  the  sum 
realized.  The  associations  aroused  by  the 
heroism  of  her  master,  her  later  degrada- 
tion, her  subsequent  salvage,  and  her  char- 
acter as  a  precious  link  between  two  Allied 
nations,  must  not  be  allowed  to  fade  into 
the  past  with  the  fall  of  the  auctioneer's 
hammer. 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


339 


GENTLEMEN,  THE  KING! 

London  Times 

Today  is  the  fifty-ninth  anniversary  of 
the  birth  of  the  King.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered in  the  hearts  of  his  people  in  every 
continent,  in  remote  islands,  and  in  the  ships 
that  dot  the  oceans.  To  the  peoples  of  the 
British  Empire,  the  Sovereign  is  a  symbol 
that  has  broadened  and  deepened  in  the 
historic  evolution  of  our  Constitutional 
Monarchy  and  of  the  Empire.  The  most 
recent,  and  in  many  respects  the  most  mo- 
mentous, expansion  of  the  idea  of  sov- 
ereignty is  in  its  relation  to  Empire.  Not 
many  years  since,  men  spoke  of  the  loyalty 
of  our  fellow-subjects  in  the  Dominions  as 
if  it  were  to  the  British  King.  It  is  no 
longer  so.  The  King  is  the  King  of  each  of 
his  peoples,  as  well  as  of  all  his  peoples 
collectively.  The  Prince  of  Wales,  visiting 
the  Dominions,  goes  to  them,  and  is  received 
by  them,  not  as  the  Heir-Apparent  of  the 
British  Sovereign,  but  as  the  Heir-Apparent 
of  their  own  Sovereign.  It  is  a  distinction 
with  a  difference,  whose  complete  realization 
will  solve  many  difficulties.  But  on  the 
King's  Birthday  the  personal  rather  than 
the  symbolic  note  will  vibrate  through  the 
British  peoples.  Simple  dignity,  a  broad- 
based  sense  of  duty,  and  a  sympathetic  in- 
terest in  all  that  concerns  every  section  of 
the  nation  characterize  His  Majesty  King 
George.  Stately  functions,  the  pomp  and 
the  dangers  of  war,  the  splendours  and  the 
perils  of  the  sea,  our  sorrow  and  our  joy, 
our  pursuits  and  our  pastimes  have  engaged 
him  in  turn,  and  have  drawn  from  him  re- 
sponses so  fitting  and  so  helpful  that  only 
a  genius  for  Kingship  could  have  inspired 
them.  For  his  sake,  and  for  our  own  sakes, 
employing  the  phrase  of  British  home  life 
in  all  respect  and  in  all  sincerity,  we  wish 
His  Majesty  many  happy  returns  of  the  day. 
In  celebrating  the  King's  Birthday,  our 
thoughts  will  turn  also  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  whose  devotion  to  duty  must  not  be 
suffered  to  overtax  his  strength.  Last  De- 
cember, on  the  Prince's  return  from  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States,  we  thought  it 
right  to  urge  that  he  should  be  spared 
some  of  the  calls  upon  his  priceless  gifts  of 
sensitive  sympathy  and  generous  emotion. 
We  trust  that  a  week  of  rest  will  restore 
him,  and  that  on  his  return  to  England  the 
King  will  insist  that  a  real  holiday  be 
granted  to  him. 

THE  CABINET  AND  THE  BOLSHEVISTS 

London   Times 

To  the  amazed  disgust  and  indignation  of 
our  French  Allies,  Mr.  Lloyd  George  has 
dragged    his    colleagues    into    negotiations 


with  Lenin's  colleague  and  emissary,  the 
Bolshevist  Commissary  Krassin.  The  com- 
munication from  a  French  statesman  who 
proved  himself  a  strong  friend  of  England 
in  the  war,  which  we  publish  today,  con- 
firms the  warning  of  our  Special  Corre- 
spondent in  Paris  on  Monday  as  to  the 
severe  shock  to  French  feeling  caused  by 
the  recent  actions  of  Ministers.  The  nego- 
tiations with  the  Soviet  Government  have 
naturally  heightened  the  uneasiness  and 
the  perplexity  of  our  Allies.  The  Journal 
des  Debats — an  organ  which  measures  its 
words — does  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  the 
"dangers  of  the  policy  which  seems  to  be 
embarked  upon  in  London."  Audacious  and 
dishonest  attempts  to  disguise  the  real  char- 
acter of  that  policy  merely  excite  contempt 
in  Paris.  The  French  had  their  experience 
of  Krassin,  when,  in  the  guise  of  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Russian  Cooperative,  he 
met  M.  du  Halgouet  and  Mr.  Wise  in 
Copenhagen.  They  then  satisfied  them- 
selves that  the  talk  about  trade  is  moon- 
shine, that  Russia  has  nothing  practically 
to  export,  except  the  gold  which  belongs  to 
her  foreign  creditors,  and  that  any  imports 
sent  to  her  would  go  not  to  the  Cooperatives 
but  to  the  Soviet  Government,  which  would 
utilize  them  in  the  first  place  for  its  mil- 
itary ends — including  the  war  against  our 
Polish  Allies.  A  memorial  from  a  member 
of  the  Soviet  Sovnarhos,  the  "Committee  of 
the  People's  Economy,"  dated  in  March  last, 
which  has  reached  us,  is  excellent  first-hand 
evidence  on  the  real  prospects  of  this  trade. 
The  writer  speaks  with  great  frankness. 
He  confirms  the  worst  that  has  been  stated 
about  the  economic  condition  of  Russia, 
which  he  declares  is  still  deteriorating.; 
Russia  is  now  building  forty  or  fifty  loco- 
motives yearly,  against  the  800  to  100( 
which  she  turned  out  under  the  old  regime 
Experts  say  that  railway  communication 
must  cease  altogether  the  month  after  nextl 
many  factories  are  closed  and  the  output  oi 
such  large  works  as  remain  open  is  abou^ 
ten  per  cent  of  what  it  was  before  the  war.\ 
The  workmen  are  "bondsmen,"  and,  as  is  \ 
the  way  with  slave  labour,  they  desert  and  \ 
steal  rather  than  work.  Farming,  to  which  \ 
Mr.  Lloyd  George  bids  us  look  for  those  \ 
"bulging  com  bins,"  is  of  all  industries  the 
worst  off.  Only  twenty  per  cent  of  the 
arable  land  is  under  the  plough,  there  is 
no  seed,  and  horses  are  scarce.  The  estates 
under  Soviet  management  do  not  produce 
corn  enough  to  feed  the  labourers  on  them, 
and  the  peasants — like  the  French  peasants 
under  the  Terror — will  not  grow  more  food 
than  they  require  for  their  own  consump- 
tion.' Even  if  international  commercial  rela- 


340 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDlTORIAL-WRITING 


tions  were  restored,  the  position,  this  Soviet 
official  declares,  would  scarcely  improve,  be- 
cause traffic  of  all  sorts  will  be  difficult  for 
years  to  come.  There  are  no  means  of  pro- 
duction, he  remarks,  and  there  is  no  incen- 
tive to  work.  In  these  circumstances  few 
will  share  the  Government  optimism  on  the 
results  of  barter. 

To  barter,  Ministers  affirm,  the  contem- 
plated trading  will  be  strictly  confined.  The 
Russian  gold  is  not  to  be  touched  on  any  ac- 
count. To  touch  it  would  indeed  be  danger- 
ous after  the  formal  protest  lodged  by 
France  against  the  accieptance  of  a  consign- 
ment in  Sweden.  We  are  not  sure  that  even 
other  commodities  exported  by  the  Russian 
Government  will  be  quite  safe  from  attach- 
ment by  its  creditors.  All  its  property  would 
seem,  on  general  principles,  to  be  assets  sub- 
ject to  its  debts,  and  we  do  not  suppose  that 
even  this  Cabinet  would  have  the  evil  cour- 
age to  ask  Parliament  to  give  its  property 
any  exceptional  privilege.  We  have  yet  to 
learn  the  views  of  Ministers  upon  another 
form  of  commercial  transaction.  Lenin,  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  will  remember,  has  been  hold- 
ing out  the  grant  of  "concessions"  as  a  bait 
ever  since  the  days  of  Prinkipo  and  Bullitt. 
M.  Krassin,  we  understand,  is  dangling  it 
anew.  He  explains  that  they  would  be  for 
a  term  of  years,  and  would  then  revert  to 
the  Soviet  Government.  The  memoir  from 
which  we  have  quoted  adds  further  particu- 
lars. They  would  be  granted  upon  condi- 
tions, and  among  the  conditions  are  that  the 
concessionaires  should  adopt  the  Soviet  sys- 
tem of  pay  and  labour  regulations,  and 
"recognition  and  submission  to  the  Soviet 
Republic."  The  restrictions  may  detract 
from  the  value  of  the  concessions  in  the  eyes 
both  of  politicians  and  of  the  haute  finance 
which  has  been  urging  them  for  months  to 
make  terms  with  Lenin.  We  shall  await 
with  interest  the  first  mention  of  concessions 
from  the  well-informed  circles  about  Mr. 
Lloyd  George.  The  repayment  of  Russia's 
debts  is  another  stale  bait  now  again  being 
employed.  Krassin,  we  believe,  has  not 
dared  to  go  farther  than  to  drop  hints  that 
the  matter  might  be  discussed.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  is  careful  to  disavow  any 
obligations  under  the  law  of  nations.  That 
"great  ligament  of  mankind"  does  not  exist 
for  the  Bolshevists.  Of  course  not.  "Ac- 
cording to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Communist  Party,"  our  friend,  the  mem- 
ber of  the  Sovnarhos  observes,  "wars  must 
go  on  so  long  as  all  existing  States  are  not 
transformed  into  Soviet  Republics.  This," 
he  adds,  "is  a  basic  principle."  Accordingly, 
he  foresaw  in  March  that  the  Bolshevists 


would  certainly  be  at  war  with  Poland  "a^ 
soon  as  circumstances  permitted,  because  of 
the  impossibility  of  a  Socialist-Communist 
State  being  able  to  conform  to  its  ideals,  if 
situated  in  juxtaproximity  to  Bourgeois 
States."  Open  war,  however,  is  not  always 
essential.  The  end  may  also  be  achieved  "by 
the  judicious  inoculation  of  its  ideas  (Bol- 
shevist ideas)  by  peaceful  means."  He  in- 
stances the  expenditure  of  80,000,000  of  gold 
roubles  in  Koltchak's  rear  and  of  70,000,000 
in  Denikin's  rear  as  gratifying  examples  of 
successful  corruption,  and  he  states  that 
"vast  sums  of  money  are  being  sent  into 
Poland  in  the  rear  of  the  Polish  armies  for 
the  same  purpose."  The  money,  he  assures 
his  colleagues,  is  not  lost  to  the  Soviet  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  requisitioned  as  soon  as  the 
Reds  reoccupy  the  territory  where  it  has 
been  laid  out,  and  thus  "returns  almost  in 
full  to  the  State  Exchequer."  Deficits  in 
that  department  can  be  made  good,  he  points 
out,  by  further  requisitions  in  gold  from 
the  bourgeoisie. 

We  have  several  times  had  occasion  to 
quote  the  Prime  Minister's  reprobation  of 
the  Bolshevism  with  whose  paid  agent  he  is 
now  negotiating.  Lord  Curzon,  our  readers 
may  wish  to  be  reminded,  has  heartily 
agreed  with  him.  Whether  he  agrees  with 
him  now  is  another  question.  If  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  was  shocked  by  "the  horrors  of 
Bolshevist  rule,"  which  he  felt  "so  great 
that  there  is  a  sort  of  disgust  when  you 
come  to  deal  with  its  leaders,"  if  he  branded 
them  as  "assassins,"  if  he  knew  that  their 
system  "simply  governs  by  terror,"  if  he 
condemned  it  as  "deadly,"  as  "brutal,"  and 
as  "horrible,"  if  he  pictured  its  chariot  as 
"drawn  by  plunder  and  terror,"  if  he  pro- 
claimed that  "the  horrors  of  Bolshevism 
have  revolted  the  consciences  of  mankind," 
and  judged  that  "rapine  and  plunder  are  es- 
sential parts  of  its  policy,"  his  Conservative 
colleague  was  of  one  mind  with  him.  In  the 
House  of  Lords  this  aristocratic  guardian  of 
the  Conservative  tradition  assured  his  noble 
hearers  that  the  Bolshevist  Government 
owed  their  position  to  "terrorism"  and  to 
"crimes,"  that  they  had  attained  it  "by  the 
aid  of  mercenaries,"  that  their  Government 
pursued  its  policy  "with  relentless  ferocity," 
and  that  this  policy  is  "to  annihilate  its 
enemies,  to  destroy  the  social  order  in 
Russia,  and  to  spread  the  tentacles  of  its 
poisonous  influence  throughout  the  world." 
The  idea  of  recognizing  the  Bolshevists  was 
abhorrent  to  him.  "The  Bolshevists,"  he 
declared,  "are  persons  whose  ideas,  doc- 
trines, and  deeds  we  all  of  us  detest."  With 
his  chief,  and  like  his  chief,  has  his  Lordship 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITOHlAL-ARTICLES 


341 


"found  salvation,"  and  is  he  now  in  personal 
negotiation  with  the  official  representative 
of  Bolshevism?  His  conversion  would  be 
.even  more  edifying-  than  that  of  his  leader. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  GAS 

London   Times 

At  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  In- 
stitution of  Gas  Engineers  on  Tuesday,  Sir 
Dugald  Clerk,  the  President,  spoke  in  con- 
fident terms  of  the  future  of  the  gas  in- 
dustry. He  insisted,  however,  that  one  con- 
dition of  its  proper  development  is  that  it 
should  be  hampered  as  little  as  possible  by 
legal  interference,  and  at  the  same  time 
deplored  the  mistaken  tendency  on  the  part 
of  some  legislators  to  depreciate  the  rela- 
tive value  of  gas  as  compared  with  elec- 
tricity. Though  their  respective  capacities 
for  the  production  of  light  and  power  are  in 
all  probability  very  much  on  a  par,  gas  is, 
of  the  two,  by  far  the  more  efficient  as  a 
generator  of  heat.  To  secure  the  expansion 
of  which  the  industry  is  capable  it  must,  he 
said,  be  supplied  at  the  lowest  possible  price 
consistent  with  financial  stability,  in  order 
to  compete  with  the  necessarily  cheaper 
heat-unit  in  the  form  of  coal.  In  1917,  of 
twenty  million  tons  of  coal  carbonized  in 
this  country,  slightly  more  than  half  went  to 
the  production  and  distribution  of  coal  gas, 
while  the  rest  remained  available  in  the 
;  shape  of  coke  and  semi-liquid  tar  and  oil. 
If  gas  could  have  been  generated  from  the 
whole  coal  at  a  sufficiently  high  thermal 
I  efficiency,  without  the  production  of  coke, 
;  sixteen  of  the  twenty  million  tons  would 
have  been  available  for  distribution.  That 
■would  mean  that  the  same  amount  of  coal 
mow  carbonized  would  produce  a  supply  of 
<gas  of  more  than  three  times  the  potential 
heat,  light,  and  power  requirements  of  the 
country.  Sir  Dugald  Clerk  apparently  be- 
lieves that  there  is  a  distinct  possibility  that 
this  process  may  some  day  be  practically 
realized,  and  on  general  lines  he  recommends 
the  formation  of  a  research  committee  for 
the  study  of  all  kinds  of  gas  appliances  and 
the  encouragement  of  invention  and  dis- 
covery in  connection  with  the  industry.  The 
importance  of  the  economic  production  of 
heat  and  power  and  light  is  so  great  that 
there  are  strong  grounds  for  hoping  that 
his  scheme  will  be  carried  into  effect.  A 
cheap  and  abundant  supply  of  gas  is  one  of 
the  essentials  of  the  satisfactory  solution  of 
the  housing  problem.  In  this  country  we  are 
not  so  favourably  situated  as  certain  dis- 
tricts in  Canada,  where  the  volume  of  nat- 
ural gas  is  so  rich  that  it  costs  less  to  leave 
the  street  lamps  burning  all  day  than  to 
,  pay  men  to  extinguish  and  re-light  them.    It 


is  some  consolation  to  learn  that  so  com- 
petent an  authority  as  Sir  Dugald  Clerk 
considers  that  there  is  still  much  progress 
to  be  made  in  the  scientific  production  of 
the  manufactured  article,  and  that  he  is 
urging  the  gas  engineers  to  keep  that  end 
in  view. 

THE  REPUTE  OF  THE  POLICE 

Manchester  Guardian 

In  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  Government 
inspectors  of  constabulary,  whose  report  for 
the  past  year  is  now  issued,  the  result  of 
the  police  strikes  has  been  that  "the  whole 
body  of  the  force  has  suffered  a  loss  of 
public  confidence,  and  it  will  take  every  pos- 
sible effort  of  the  rest  to  regain  for  them- 
selves the  high  position  in  public  esteem 
which  has  been  lost."  His  argument  is  that, 
having  broken  one  of  the  pledges  which  a 
State  must  demand  of  those  who  serve  it  in 
emergency— not  to  withhold  service,— the 
police  have  laid  themselves  open  to  doubt  as 
to  their  veracity  in  other  matters,  such  as 
the  giving  of  true  evidence.  In  so  far  as 
this  view  is  based  on  a  clear  realisation  that 
the  status  of  the  constable,  like  that  of  the 
fireman,  the  soldier,  and  the  sailor,  differs 
from  that  of  other  workers,  it  is  sound.  But 
we  think  the  report  over-labours  the  point. 
The  country  holds  the  police  in  too  much 
respect  to  have  its  mind  altered  by  the  fact 
that  a  part  of  the  force  took  the  wrong 
means  to  have  very  real  grievances  righted 
at  a  time  when  that  means  was  being  suc- 
cessfully used  or  threatened  by  almost  every 
other  kind  of  worker.  The  issue  was  settled 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  bulk  of  the  police 
and  of  citizens,  and,  having  established  the  ' 
fact  that  doffing  helmets  is  a  civically  im- 
possible analogy  to  downing  tools,  most  of 
us  are  content  to  let  bygones  be  bygones 
and  to  repose  the  trust  in  the  constable  to 
which  long  acquaintance  and  an  orderly  dis- 
position have  accustomed  us. 

COLOUR  IN  JUSTICE 

Manchester  Guardian 

At  Badagry,  Nigeria,  in  1909,  a  sum  equiv- 
alent to  £55  was  stolen  from  a  Government 
office.  Suspicion  was  attached  to  the  Dep- 
uty Registrar,  an  educated  African  named 
Philip  Coker,  who  was  responsible  for  the 
key.  In  the  following  year  Coker  was  tried 
at  Lagos  before  the  Chief  Justice  and  three 
assessors.  By  the  assessors  he  was  unani- 
mously held  to  be  innocent;  but  the  Chief 
Justice,  overruling  them,  sentenced  him  to 
nine  months'  imprisonment.  On  his  release, 
ruined  and  outcast,  Coker  entered  upon  the 
uphill  task  of  clearing  his  character.  He 
collected  funds,  mortgaged  family  posses- 
sions, and  appealed  to  both  local  and  Im- 


342 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


perial  Governments.  His  effort  was  con- 
tinued for  five  years;  and  then,  at  the  end 
of  1915,  the  Supreme  Court  reviewed  the 
case  and,  without  any  qualification,  declared 
Coker  innocent.  In  setting  aside  the  con- 
viction, the  Chief  Justice,  Sir  Edwin  Speed, 
said  there  had  been  a  miscarriage  of  justice, 
and  that  the  victim  was  entitled  to  com- 
pensation for  a  grievous  wrong.  Mr.  John 
H.  Harris,  of  the  Anti-Slavery  and  Abo- 
rigines* Protection  Society,  who  sets  forth 
the  story  in  a  letter  to  the  "New  States- 
man," points  out  that  if  the  wrong  had  been 
done  to  a  white  civil  servant  the  Government 
would  presumably  have  made  amends  by 
ordering  reinstatement  to  office,  payment  of 
the  ten  years'  arrears  of  salary,  and  restora- 
tion of  pension.  In  the  case  of  Philip  Coker 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  de- 
cides that,  as  an  act  of  grace,  an  award  of 
£100  shall  be  made.  We  make  two  com- 
ments upon  this  affair,  which  touches  the 
fundamental  principle  of  British  colonial 
rule.  First,  that  any  man,  of  whatever  race 
or  colour,  who  could  carry  through  a  fight 
for  self-vindication  against  odds  so  heavy 
has  proved  himself  to  possess  personal  qual- 
ities of  a  noteworthy  kind.  Secondly,  that 
the  refusal  of  the  fullest  measure  of  recom- 
pense to  a  public  servant  in  the  position  of 
Coker  leaves  on  the  British  name  a  scar 
which  should  be  instantly  and  completely 
removed. 

AMERICA  AND  ARMENIA 

Manchester  Guardian 

There  is  a  skilful  approach,  as  well  as  a 
characteristic  fineness  of  spirit,  in  Mr. 
Wilson's  Message  to  Congress  on  behalf  of 
Armenia.  The  President  notes  as  "provi- 
dential" the  coincidence  that  the  Senate's 
resolution  expressing  hopes  of  early  peace 
and  full  national  restoration  for  the  Ar- 
menian people  was  passed  almost  at  the 
moment  when  the  San  Remo  Conference 
invited  the  United  States  to  accept  a  man- 
date. In  pressing  Congress  to  agree,  Mr. 
Wilson  is  aware  that  he  is  "urging  a  very 
critical  choice,"  but  at  the  same  time  he 
feels  that  the  appeal  is  made  in  a  spirit 
accordant  with  "the  wishes  of  the  greatest 
of  Christian  peoples."  Hence,  though  know- 
ing full  well  the  weight  of  the  opinion  and 
feelmg  against  him,  Mr.  Wilson  ventures  to 
speak  in  "earnest  hopefulness."  The  Mes- 
sage, we  cannot  doubt,  will  make  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  American  people,  al- 
ways ready  with  sympathy  and  aid  for 
Armenia.  But  it  would  be  foolish  to  pre- 
tend that  this  appeal,  or  any  other,  could 
make  any  material  difference  to  the  situa- 
tion. The  forces  which  have  kept  the  Unit- 
ed States  outside  the  League  of  Nations  are 


numerous  and  complex.  The  argument  that 
must,  unless  a  miracle  is  to  happen,  deter- 
mine the  refusal  of  Congress  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  mandatory  responsibility 
in  the  Middle  East  is  perfectly  simple.  The 
terms  of  the  "settlement"  for  the  Moslem 
world,  like  those  of  the  Treaty  of  Versailles, 
are  impossible.  No  peace  worth  the  name 
can  be  built  upon  them.  By  what  persua- 
sion, then,  could  the  United  States,  after 
rejecting  the  Covenant  of  the  League  as  now 
written,  be  induced  to  shoulder  responsibility 
for  the  administration  and  protection  of  an 
undefined  country  which,  to  the  American 
Congress  and  Government,  is  the  most  dis- 
tracted region  of  a  continent  wholly  strange 
to  American  political  experience?  The 
President's  Message  is,  as  our  New  York 
correspondent  rightly  says,  a  dramatic  ges- 
ture. As  for  the  request  of  the  San  Remo 
Conference  which  prompted  it,  coupled  with 
the  previous  offer  of  a  mandate  to  the 
League  of  Nations,  we  can  characterise  it  no 
otherwise  than  as  a  sheer  evasion  of  re- 
sponsibility. 

A  SATELLITE  FOR  MANCHESTER? 

Manchester  Guardian 

Mr.  Ebenezer  Howard,  the  chief  pioneer 
of  the  garden  city  movement  in  this  country, 
has  written  a  letter  to  warn  us  that  when  his 
Association  can  spare  time  from  its  present 
plans  for  the  new  "satellite  city"  for  Lon- 
don at  Welwyn  it  will  turn  its  attention  to 
Manchester.  All  very  well,  he  says,  in  effect, 
to  develop  on  the  best  possible  lines  the 
vacant  lands  that  lie  nearest  to  you,  but 
better  still  start  afresh  further  out  and  build 
the  ideal  city,  attaching  it  with  rapid  and 
cheap  transit  to  the  main  center.  We  shall 
welcome  his  approaches  when  they  are  made, 
for  clearly,  in  any  imaginative  regional  plan 
for  the  development  of  the  great  industrial 
area  of  which  Manchester  is  the  nucleus, 
there  is  both  room  and  need  for  an  entirely 
new  residential  center  to  the  planning  of 
which  will  go  that  concern  for  picturesque 
architecture,  open  spaces,  and  modern  ap- 
pliances which  makes  up  the  garden  city. 
The  success  of  the  Burnage  garden  suburb 
goes  far  to  prove  that  a  similar  experiment 
farther  out  and  on  a  bigger  scale  would  be 
well  backed.  There  can,  indeed,  be  no  ques- 
tion that  as  transport  facilities  increase,  in- 
cluding, as  we  may  expect,  transport  by  air, 
industrial  communities  will  refuse  to  live  in 
rows  of  "boxes  with  lids  on"  near  the  fac- 
tory, but  will  demand  that  their  non-working 
hours  be  spent  in  air  and  scenery  as  fine  as 
the  land  round  them  for  fifty  miles  can  give. 
The  garden  city  movement  is  still  only  in  its 
raw  but  lusty  and  likeable  youth.  As  often 
with  youth,  it  is  marked  by  a  certain  self- 


SOME   BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


343 


consciousness  and  idiosyncrasy.  No  one,  for 
instance,  could  mistake  Letchworth  or 
Hampstead  for  a  perfectly  normal  place  in 
which  to  live.  Their  buildings  are  too  con- 
sciously varied  and  picturesque  to  be  quite 
natural,  their  appearance  of  mellow  me- 
dievalism too  complete  to  be  convincing,  and 
the  concern  of  their  inhabitants  for  reforms, 
causes,  and  cultures  just  a  shade  too  ardent 
to  make  the  plain  man  feel  quite  at  home. 
But  the  plain  man,  even  though  he  be 
middle-aged,  conventional,  and  obtuse,  can- 
not walk  their  shady  avenues  nor  contem- 
plate their  trim  and  gracious  spaces  and 
their  combinations  of  antique  gables  and 
labour-saving  devices  without  a  pang  of 
envy.  Sooner  or  later  he  will  seize  upon 
the  pioneering  ideas  for  which  they  stand, 
and  make  them  his  own  and  comfortably 
commonplace.  That  is  a  fact  on  which  the 
far-sighted  planners  of  a  great  industrial 
district  must  reckon,  and  Mr.  Howard's  let- 
ter is  a  useful  reminder  of  it. 

ARE  THE  DOCTORS  SO  BAD? 

Manchester  Guardian 

At  this  week's  conference  of  the  Man- 
hester  Unity  of  Oddfellows  the  Grand  Mas- 
er  said  at  least  a  few  hard  words  about  the 
ioctors.  They  thought  too  much  of  money, 
16  said;  they  made  a  business  transaction  of 
lealing;  they  were  not  out  so  much  to  lessen 
uffering  as  to  get  paid.  This  is  what  comes 
)f  having  the  work  of  lessening  suffering  for 
I  profession.  After  all,  we  all  stand  out  for 
)ur  wages.  And  nobody  upbraids  us  for  that. 
^  life  insurance  canvasser  is  not  censured 
)y  moralists  for  thinking  of  his  commission 
nd  declining  to  support  himself  upon  his 
onsciousness  of  alleviating  the  household 
nxieties  of  many  widows.  No  one  re- 
roaches  a  bootblack  for  making  a  business 
ransaction  of  adding  glitter  to  our  drab 
treets.  If  someone  complained  of  a  sti- 
endiary  magistrate  for  expecting  such 
ross  as  gold,  or  Treasury  notes,  over  and 
bove  the  satisfaction  of  doing  justice  and 
bating  wrongs,  we  should  all  laugh.     But 

kind  of  confused  sentimentalism  leads 
lany  people  to  expect  of  doctors  and  nurses 

measure  of  unworldliness  which  they 
rould  not  ask  of  anyone  else.  People  work 
p  in  their  minds  an  idealised  picture  of  the 
octor  or  the  nurse  as  a  saint  always  on  tap, 
r  an  "angel  in  the  house,"  and  when  this 
tained-glass  vision  turns  out  not  to  be  a 
ision,  but  humanly  self -protective  and  only 
sasonably  good-natured,  like  everyone  else, 
ley  get  angry  and  feel  they  have  been 
Dbbed  of  their  beautiful  ideals,  instead  of 
>oking  into  their  own  froward  hearts  and 
sking  how  much  plumbing  or  bookkeeping 


or  drafting  of  leases  they  have  done  wholly 
or  mainly  out  of  pure  love  of  mankind. 

There  is  the  more  need  to  be  slow  in  rail- 
ing at  doctors  because  their  profession,  like 
all  professions  of  succour  in  emergency,  is 
one  on  which,  anyhow,  heavy  levies  of 
gratuitous  work  are  made  by  circumstance. 
A  sculptor  never  finds  anyone  lying  by  the 
road  and  on  the  point  of  perishing  unless  he 
can  at  once  be  given  a  small  bas-relief  for 
which  he  is  unlikely  to  pay.  Not  in  church 
only,  but  wherever  he  goes,  the  doctor  or 
surgeon  may  be  faced  at  any  moment  with 
an  ineluctable  collection-plate.  Unlike  the 
fashionable  barrister,  whom  the  admirable 
ethics  of  his  profession  allow  to  charge  you 
some  hundreds  of  pounds  for  being  in  an- 
other court,  doing  something  else,  while  your 
case  is  being  lost  for  lack  of  him,  the  doctor 
does  not  even  have  an  opaque  substance  like 
a  barrister's  clerk  interposed  between  his 
heart  and  the  occasionally  heartrending 
spectacle  of  his  patient's  difficulty  in  paying 
him.  So  almost  every  doctor  lets  himself 
be  preyed  upon  to  a  pretty  large  extent,  the 
kind-hearted  ones  because  they  are  kind- 
hearted,  and  the  other  ones  because  it  would 
be  indirectly  damaging  to  seem  anything 
else.  Of  course  every  honourable  practi- 
tioner of  any  kind  of  profession,  trade,  or 
form  of  labour  tries  to  give  the  world  full 
value  for  his  keep.  But  in  some  occupations 
— in  that  of  public  entertainers,  for  example 
^ustom  and  circumstance  virtually  extort 
inordinately  more  of  gratuitous  labour  than 
they  do  in  others,  and  in  such  cases  we  may 
do  well  to  be  more  than  usually  slow  to 
impute  to  the  heavily-taxed  persons  any  ex- 
ceptional degree  of  cupidity. 

THE  GOOD  AND  BAD  CRITICS 

Manchester  Guardian 

The  other  day  we  tried  here  to  rig  up 
danger  signals  at  a  few  of  the  points  where 
people  most  often  fall  into  confusion  about 
the  purpose  served  by  a  critic,  if  he  be  any 
good.  The  imperfection  of  our  efforts  is 
established  in  another  column  by  a  corre- 
spondent who,  with  sturdy  British  cheerful- 
ness, falls  into  all  the  old  confusion  once 
more.  He  evidently  feels  that  wherever 
there  is  a  work  of  art — a  play  or  a  picture, 
a  statue,  a  piece  of  music,  or  a  novel — 
there  is  laid  up  somewhere  a  dossier,  or 
definite  body,  of  relevant  "truth"  to  be  told 
about  it — something  like  the  judgment  of  a 
perfectly  wise  and  just  County  Court  Judge 
on  a  case,  only  with  an  "objective  standard 
of  beauty"  to  take  the  place  of  British  law, 
— and  that  the  critic's  job  is  the  scientific 
application  of  this  general  standard  to  par- 
ticular works  of  art,  the  result  being  good 


344 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


or  bad  according  to  the  measure  of  "truth" 
or  accuracy  in  this  business  of  scientific  sur- 
veying or  casting-up.  Indeed,  there  could 
hardly  be  a  better  description  of  the  kind  of 
criticism  that  fails,  and  must  fail,  because 
it  tries  to  do  a  thing  that  is  at  the  same 
time  not  worth  doing  and  beyond  the  wit  of 
man  to  do.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  single 
objective  standard  of  beauty.  Every  great 
critic's  standard  of  beauty  is  different  from 
that  of  every  other.  Indeed,  it  can  hardly 
be  called  a  standard  at  all;  it  is  a  sense,  a 
capacity  for  emotion  of  some  kind,  in  pres- 
ence of  some  works  of  art.  And  his  crit- 
icism is  his  expression  of  this  sense — ^not 
his  scientific  estimate  of  how  many  marks 
Mr.  Smee,  R.  A.,  has  earned  by  his  admir- 
able perspective  and  Mr.  Dick  Tinto  by  his 
excellent  sense  of  tone  and  Mr.  Gandish  by 
his  all  but  immaculate  values,  but  his  ex- 
pression of  the  purely  personal  emotion, 
whatever  it  may  be,  that  the  work  excites 
in  himself.  Of  course  there  is  a  kind  of 
truth  that  he  tries  for,  like  every  other  ex- 
presser  of  a  purely  personal  sense  of  fact — 
that  is,  like  every  other  artist.  But  it  is 
not  truth  to  some  supposed  body  of  laws 
and  standards  of  beauty.  It  is  simply  truth 
to  himself,  the  courage  of  his  own  impres- 
sions, candour  in  the  expression  of  an  in- 
dividual experience  which  will  probably  be 
not  exactly  that  of  any  other  person;  for 
nature  does  not  make  any  one  person's  tem- 
perament the  absolute  replica  of  another's. 
The  kind  of  criticism  that  incurs  and 
deserves  the  contempt  of  original  artists — 
and  critics  too — is  that  which  puts  on  the 
airs  of  the  scientific  pundit  and  sets  out  to 
tell  artists  how  to  paint  and  actors  how  to 
act,  warning  A  that  the  objective  standard 
of  beauty  requires  him  to  paint  with  a  high- 
er impasto,  and  B  that  the  eternal  truths  of 
art  demand  of  her  a  different  make-up  in  the 
part  of  Berenice.  Such  criticism,  with  its 
current  suggestion  of  the  existence  of  a 
definite  ideal  perfection  familiar  to  the 
critic,  but  imperfectly  unveiled  to  the  artists 
criticised,  has  a  perilous  resemblance  to  that 
of  the  elderly  men  who  attend  international 
football  matches  and  vociferate  "Feet! 
feet!"  and  other  august  instructions  to  the 
players  with  the  severity  of  Olympians  vexed 
by  the  madequacy  of  man.  To  the  critic 
of  this  kind — the  man  who,  as  Americans 
say,  would  show  artists  how— the  obvious 
retort  is  "Why  don't  you  do  it  yourself?" 
and  there  is  no  getting  over  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  more  or  less  damaging  retort  to 
almost  any  critic  whose  critical  manner  im- 
plies a  special  knowledge  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets.  The  only  critic  whose  work  lasts 
long,  or  counts  for  much,  is  he  who  keeps 


to  the  modest — ^but  really  much  bigger — job 
of  confessing,  in  the  old  phrase,  "the  adven- 
tures of  his  soul  among  masterpieces."  He 
will  often,  in  doing  this,  have  a  superficial 
air  of  assessing,  interpreting,  or  restating 
what  the  original  artist  has  expressed  al- 
ready, just  as  Turner  has  a  superficial  air 
of  stating  to  you  the  topographical  facts  of 
a  landscape.  But,  in  essence,  he  will  never 
do  only  that,  any  more  than  a  great  illus- 
trator will  merely  retell  in  black  and  white 
what  an  artist  in  words  has  already  told  in 
a  way  that  leaves  nothing  more  to  tell.  Fine 
critic  and  fine  illustrator  alike  attempt  the 
original  expression  of  some  personal  delight, 
wonder,  or  imaginative  stir  occasioned  to 
them  by  the  work  of  art  before  them,  so  that 
the  most  famous  and  valuable  of  criticisms, 
like  Pater's  descant  on  the  "Monna  Lisa," 
are  really  as  original  and  independent  works 
of  art  as  their  subjects,  and  would  retain 
their  value  long  after  those  subjects  had 
disappeared,  just  as  Thackeray's  beautiful 
and  tragic  illustrations  to  "Esmond"  do  not 
depend  for  most  of  their  value  upon  their 
relation  to  the  sad  sunshine  filling  the  book. 
But  the  world  is  somehow  intent  on  press- 
ing upon  the  poor  critic  the  character  of  an 
expert  witness,  potent  in  courts  of  law,  but 
unloved  and  unreadable. 

SIR  O.  M.  EDWARDS 


An  Appreciation 

By  Gerald  B.  Hurst,  K.  C,  M.  P. 

Manchester  Guardian 

In  Sir  Owen  Edwards  Welsh  nationalism 
has  lost  its  greatest  exponent.  His  writings 
penetrated  every  Welsh  village.  His  name 
was  idolised  wherever  Welshmen  fore- 
gathered. To  him  all  the  young  idealists  in 
Wales  have  looked  for  guidance  for  the  last 
thirty  years. 

His  own  country,  however,  will  never 
realise  how  much  Edwards  gave  up  to  its 
cause.  He  started  academic  life  with  suc- 
cesses hardly  paralleled  at  Oxford.  He  could 
write  brilliantly,  and  his  outlook  was  in- 
tensely original  and  detached  from  all  con- 
ventions. Yet  every  moment  of  leisure 
which  his  tutorial  work  at  Lincoln  College 
allbwed  him  was  applied  to  the  study  and 
propagation  of  Welsh  literature,  to  editing 
Welsh  papers,  and  to  his  vast  correspon- 
dence. His  only  book  in  English — the  volume 
on  Wales  in  the  "Story  of  the  Nations" 
series — hardly  reflects  the  range  and  grip  oi 
his  historical  scholarship.  It  indicates  bet- 
ter one  of  his  other  gifts— that  of  intensity 
of  interest  in  all  human  affairs.  Though  in 
his  politics,  as  in  his  teaching,  he  was  too 
much  a  poet  and  mystic  and  infinitely  too 


SOME  BRITISH  EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


345 


modest  to  win  the  public  eye  or  to  seek  to 
develop  a  very  definite  political  philosophy, 
he  was  often  a  singularly  penetrating  ob- 
server. His  nationalism  was  utterly  devoid 
of  the  acrid  flavour  which  taints  many  types 
of  nationalism.  As  member  for  Merioneth 
in  1900  his  model  was  Tom  Ellis,  not  Lloyd 
George;  he  could  never  become  a  partisan. 
The  real  Edwards  emerged  when  you  walked 
with  him  among  the  hills  around  his  native 
Llanuwchllyn  and  he  greeted  every  passer- 
by with  some  friendly  and  familiar  phrase. 
His  love  for  Wales  was  a  passion,  but  it 
was  the  passion  of  the  poet,  not  the  politi- 
cian. For  himself  he  had  no  ambitions.  In 
one  of  his  last  letters  to  me  he  wrote:  "My 
ambition  now  is  to  get  a  perfect  system  of 
education  in  Wales.  Then  I  dream  of  leisure 
to  write  Welsh  books."  Alas!  it  was  only 
a  dream. 

The  rare  gentleness  of  Edwards's  charac- 
ter gave  added  charm  to  his  gift  of  epigram. 
When  someone  alluded  to  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  a  certain  king,  he  answered.  "He 
will  not  be  picturesque  much  longer;  Pro- 
fessor X.  is  writing  a  book  about  him." 
Undergraduates  were  invariably  impressed 
by  his  polite  "Do  you  remember  such  and 
such  facts?"  He  never  said  "Do  you 
know?"  Many  hundreds  of  his  old  pupils 
all  over  the  world  will  recall  quiet  hours  in 
the  chapel  quadrangle  at  Lincoln,  where  he 
would  suggest,  in  a  halting  voice  and  with 
diffidence,  the  ways  in  which  their  essays 
fell  short  of  the  very  highest  literature.  He 
rarely  hinted  that  any  essay  of  theirs  could 
be  really  bad. 

He  brought  into  his  short  spell  of  public 
life  the  tolerance  and  detachment  of  a  seer. 
His  only  active  dislike  was  for  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain. The  Boer  War  he  hated  as  unjust; 
it  was  the  real  cause  of  his  retirement  from 
Parliament.  He  could  hardly  talk  of  it.  On 
all  other  issues  he  would  speak  and  write 
with  an  eager  brilliance.  In  the  early  years 
of  the  century  he  deplored  our  neglect  of  the 
Far  East,  which  (as  he  wrote  to  me  in  1903) 
was  ignored  in  favour  of  sport.  "I  would 
do  away  with  all  cricket  and  football,  as  an 
experiment,  for  a  hundred  years.  Other  na- 
tions through  better  education  and  harder 
work  are  taking  our  markets  from  us; 
Russia  is  drawing  nearer  our  most  valuable 
possessions.  Meanwhile  we  are  gallantly 
winning  a  cricket  match.  Hayward  is  the 
hero  of  the  hour,  and  all  England  rings! 
My  politics  are  simple.  I  want  two  things — 
(1)  an  efficient  system  of  education;  (2)  Im- 
perial expansion — all  the  Pacific  islands,  all 
Africa,  including  Madagascar;  all  Asia  up 
to  the  present  Russian  boundary,  with  China 
and  Japan  as  allies.    I  want  a  Dictator  who 


would  execute  Y.  for  bribing,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain for  talking,  and  Professor  Z.  for  writ- 
ing histories."  This  is  bracing  language  for 
a  Welsh  Nationalist  in  1903! 

In  1907  Edwards  left  Oxford  to  be  Chief 
Inspector  of  Welsh  Education,  but  his  hard 
official  work  in  London  and  Wales  was  tem- 
pered by  his  innumerable  personal  relation- 
ships, which  demanded  from  him  endless 
encouragement  and  advice.  The  sadness  of 
the  mountains  had  always  coloured  his  tem- 
perament, and  illness  and  bereavement 
weighed  down  his  last  years.  He  felt  the 
war  as  many  other  teachers  must  have  felt 
it.  "The  best  have  fallen,"  he  wrote  to  me 
in  1918.  "And  I  have  been  thinking  much 
of  men  whose  papers  I  read  in  scholarship 
examinations — Jack,  who  died  gallantly; 
Edward  Thomas,  the  nature-loving  mystic, 
who  also  died  in  action;  Scott-Moncrieff, 
who  died  in  an  Arab  tent;  Ball,  whose  boat 
capsized  in  the  Nile;  Osborne,  one  of  my 
first  scholars,  who  was  saved  clinging  to  the 
keel  of  one  of  the  boats  of  the  Leinster 
Castle;  J.  Olive  Wardrop,  who  escaped  from 
the  Bolshevists, — there  is  a  weighty  proces- 
sion of  them." 

It  may  be  that  such  men  were  as  truly 
influenced  by  the  wonderful  unselfishness  of 
Edwards's  life  as  by  any  of  the  intellectual 
exercises  which  it  was  his  duty  to  set  them. 
For  all  Lincoln  men  of  my  own  time  he  was 
the  ideal  Fellow,  and  no  congratulation  on 
some  success  in  the  House  of  Commons  could 
give  me  more  pleasure  than  the  note  in 
which  he  rejoiced  that  "you  represent  the 
most  Welsh  part  of  Manchester."  That 
thought  v/ould  have  occurred  to  no  one  else. 
Edwards  might  well  have  become  a  great 
writer.  He  preferred  to  serve  his  race  in 
ways  which  excluded  material  success  and 
abundant  fame.  As  a  consolation  he  has 
left  all  whom  he  knew  the  abiding  impres- 
sion of  essential  goodness.  His  goodness 
begot  hope.  In  the  last  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  me,  he  said,  "I  believe  the  world 
is  becoming  right." 

RAILWAY  COMFORT 

London  Daily  Telegraph 

We  accept  with  that  gratitude  which  is 
the  hope  of  favours  to  come  the  edict  of 
the  Minister  of  Transport  that  railways  are 
to  allow  as  much  luggage  free  as  we  could 
take  in  1914  and  as  much  more  as  we  choose 
to  pay  for  upon  a  scale  not  extortionate. 
The  restoration  of  this  old  privilege  will 
lighten  the  anxieties  of  the  mothers  of 
many  families  whose  task  in  providing  ade- 
quate clothes  for  holiday-making  children 
while  observing  the  war  restrictions  upon 
trunks  was  a  miracle  very  exhausting  to 
the  performer.    But  we  trust  that  this  is  not 


346 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


the  last  word  of  the  Ministry  of  Transport 
or  the  railway  companies  on  the  summer 
service.  Not  less  to  be  desired  than  an  in- 
crease in  the  amount  of  luggage  is  the  re- 
vival of  the  old  system  of  luggage  in  ad- 
vance. Never  within  the  memory  of  any 
living  Londoner  was  it  so  difficult  for  a 
traveller  with  baggage  to  obtain  a  convey- 
ance between  the  stations  and  his  home.  It 
is  impossible  for  any  but  those  who  live  in 
inner  London  to  hope  for  a  taxi  cab,  and 
even  such  fortunate  beings  often  find  that 
hope  tells  a  flattering  tale.  We  are  beset 
by  the  paradoxical  condition  that  the  vast 
development  of  mechanical  transport  has 
made  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  a  jour- 
ney far  more  uncomfortable  than  in  the  days 
of  the  hansom  and  the  "growler."  So  the 
opportunity  to  send  luggage  in  advance 
would  be  more  valuable  than  ever.  We  do 
not  know  whether,  with  their  straitened  re- 
sources in  vehicles  and  labour,  the  railway 
companies,  or  any  of  them,  can  re-establish 
the  system.  It  is  plain  that  unless  it  can 
be  worked  efficiently  the  public  is  better 
without  it.  A  railway  official  has  suggested 
in  our  columns  that  luggage  should  be  sent 
by  goods  train  as  merchandise.  But,  with 
goods  traffic  in  its  present  condition,  this  is 
B.  dubious  expedient.  Uncertainty  or  long 
delay  in  the  arrival  of  personal  luggage  is  a 
worse  evil  than  a  disagreeable  and  expen- 
sive journey  to  and  from  the  station.  We 
hope,  therefore,  that  the  companies  will 
spare  no  effort  in  organisation  to  give  us 
back  this  part  of  the  old  facilities.  There 
is  another  amenity  of  the  days  before  the 
war  which  was  much  prized  and  which  can 
impose  no  great  strain  upon  any  railway — 
the  reservation  of  seats  for  long  journeys. 
This  used  to  be  possible,  we  believe,  upon 
all  lines.  It  is  now  permitted  only  upon 
one  or  two,  and  there  only  for  one  or  two 
trains.  We  can  imagine  no  reason  why  it 
should  not  be  general.  If  some  small  ex- 
pense is  caused  by  the  booking,  a  small 
charge  might  be  levied,  as  is  in  one  case, 
at  least,  already  the  practice.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  for  long  holiday  journeys, 
which  in  the  nature  of  things  must  be  ar- 
ranged some  time  beforehand,  the  vast 
majority  would  gladly  pay  the  booking  fee 
for  the  certainty  of  a  seat  without  a 
struggle  or  a  long  wait.  The  railway  com- 
panies surely  should  themselves  desire  the 
system  as  enabling  them  to  estimate  with 
certainty  the  accommodation  required  and 
frame  adequate  and  definite  plans  in  ad- 
vance. In  the  long  run  it  will  be  found  that 
what  makes  for  the  comfort  of  the  passenger 
makes  not  only  for  the  prosperity  of  the 


railway  but  for  the  better  organisation  and 
smoother  working  of  traffic. 

THREE  KINGS 


Lamond,  Busoni,  D* Albert 

By  Norman  Wilks 

London  Daily  Telegraph 

It  is  one  of  the  privileges  of  the  artistic 
world  that  our  kings  are  ever  with  us. 
Earthly  thrones  may  fall,  and  empires  dis- 
appear, but  the  kings  of  our  choice  never  fail 
to  hold  their  sway;  though  it  be  only  in  the 
memory  of  our  hearts.  They  seldom  fail  us. 
Tried,  as  they  are,  a  hundred  times  by  the 
ordeal  of  battle,  we  feel  safe  in  their  keep- 
ing; we  have  reliance  in  their  generalship, 
and  we  are  proud  to  offer  them  our  homage 
and  our  love.  If  you  are  willing  to  wander 
into  the  countryside  of  thought,  I  would  take 
you  with  me  to  the  courts  of  three  great 
kings,  I  would  stroll  with  you  through  their 
palaces  and  their  gardens,  and  with  you 
would  wonder  at  the  gifts  they  have  to  offer 
us.  Being  well  aware  of  the  dangers  that 
lurk  in  palaces,  and  the  fact  that  compari- 
sons are  not  considered  quite  polite  in  our 
musical  life,  I  would,  however,  ask  you 
before  we  start  to  throw  off  your  doaks  of 
prejudice  and  politeness  for  the  heavier 
raiment  of  candour  and  truth.  For  remem- 
ber, we  are  to  move  in  the  courts  of  kings. 

We  will  make  no  apology  for  our  excur- 
sion, but  knowing  (as  everybody  does  know) 
that  there  are  still  a  quantity  of  pistols, 
and  a  greater  number  of  imbeciles  at  large, 
we  would  make  it  quite  clear  that  we  have 
no  wish  to  appear  provocative,  nor  have  we 
any  intention  of  wandering  into  the  side 
paths  of  criticism  by  counting  wrong  notes. 
We  will  tread  as  lightly  as  we  can,  so  that 
even  the  most  violent  revolutionary  will  not 
be  annoyed  by  our  step. 

Those  of  us  who  heard  Lamond  play 
Beethoven  the  other  day  must  have  com- 
pared his  readings  with  those  of  d* Albert 
and  Busoni  involuntarily.  These  three  will 
be  our  chosen  kings,  Let  us  then  agree 
that  they  are  monarchs  worthy  of  our  ^ 
homage  and  consideration.  j 

Every  artist  holds  a  court  worthy  of  him- 
self. A  regular  concert-goer  could  give  a 
fairly  correct  guess  at  a  programme  from  a  , 
glimpse  of  an  audience  alone.  Who,  for  ex-  ' 
ample,  would  expect  to  find  the  vast  public 
which  chuckles  in  unalloyed  delight  at  one 
of  our  priceless  Ballad  Concerts,  sitting  with 
nodding  head  and  smiles  of  conscious  wis- 
dom before  Dr.  Allen  and  the  Bach  choir? 
or — the  kind  friends  (and  enemies)  who 
gather  to  hear  the  latest  Matthay  recruit, 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


347 


kneeling  in  open-eyed  amazement  at  the  feet 
of  Mr.  Howard-Jones? 

The  study  of  audiences  is  a  fascinating 
one,  Chez  Monsieur  Eugen  d' Albert,  a  ' 
Scotchman  by  birth,  we  find  the  usual  au- 
dience that  flocks  to  hear  any  real  artist  of 
renown;  a  few  curious  dames  who  are,  per- 
haps, more  interested  in  the  player  himself, 
but  a  goodly  crowd,  earnest,  ready  to  be 
taught,  and  very  willing  to  appreciate. 
D'Albert  showers  his  gifts  on  us  with  a  cer- 
tain arrogance.  There  is  no  question  here 
of  compromise  or  pity.  He  would  almost 
seem  to  say,  "It  is  a  matter  of  complete 
indifference  to  me  whether  you  like  my  gar- 
dens." But  you  do  like  them — sometimes  in 
spite  of  yourself — you  are  held  by  the  castle 
he  builds  before  your  eyes  because  it  is 
strong  and  not  to  be  destroyed  with  a  sigh. 
You  cannot  get  away  from  the  overpower- 
ing will,  the  sense  of  beauty  as  a  whole,  the 
outline  of  a  master-painter.  And  faith  re- 
vives; faith  in  the  genius  of  our  race,  faith 
in  the  glory  of  Beethoven,  faith  in  the 
marked  superiority  of  the  male  over  the 
female  pianist,  faith  in  the  classic  school, 
faith  in  porridge,  faith  in  hard  work. 

Feruccio  Busoni.  What  visions  spring  to 
the  memory  at  this  name!  Busoni  is  a  king; 
he  is  not  ashamed  of  his  calling;  a  real 
pianist,  virtuoso,  musician  and  poet.  Busoni 
holds  a  right  regal  court.  It  does  not  mat- 
ter in  which  capital  of  Europe  he  appears. 
Here  are  the  connoisseurs  of  all  the  arts — 
the  most  beautiful  of  women — a  cosmopol- 
itan assembly — an  audience  unique.  (But 
our  piano  teachers  and  our  pianists  are  not 
there  tonight!) 

Busoni  casts  a  spell  over  his  audience.  He 
transports  you  into  a  land  of  dreams.  He 
takes  you  as  he  will  through  a  fairy  palace 
of  wondrous  beauty,  of  mystic  scents  and 
priceless  stones;  to  a  garden  of  unknown 
flowers  where  soft,  white  girls  and  golden 
boys  gently  play;  to  the  arms  you  long  for, 
and  the  lips  you  wish  to  kiss.  A  great  joy 
throbs  in  your  hearts.  This  poet  has  given 
you  back  your  youth.  You  have  hope  once 
more  in  the  joys  of  life,  in  the  beauty  of 
beauty,  in  the  wonders  of  human  ecstacy — 
you  are  intoxicated. 

Frederic  Lamond.  Here  are  memories, 
too,  but  a  different  crowd.  Look  closely  into 
this  court.  Musicians,  students,  the  curious 
—yes — but  who  are  these?  The  halt,  the 
lame,  and  the  blind;  the  world-weary  and 
the  toilers;  the  disappointed  and  the  sad. 
Here  is  the  greatest  gathering  a  King  can 
have.  Lamond  never  for  one  moment  holds 
you  by  his  virtuosity  or  by  his  power.  You 
forget  the  piano — you  are  one  with  Lamond 
and   a   world   of   sufferers.     He   builds  no 


castle;  he  tells  no  story.  He  creates  a 
mysterious  light.  You  see  it  reflected  in 
the  upturned  faces,  and  a  great  calm,  a  feel- 
ing of  serenity,  a  sense  of  divine  peace  falls 
over  all.  Now  is  added  to  the  never- 
forgotten  walk  on  the  hillside  the  compell- 
ing wonder  of  a  calm  night  at  sea,  the 
glimpse  of  a  mother's  joy,  one  more  su- 
preme moment  in  our  life.  You  do  not  wish 
to  shout,  you  would  rather  kneel  and  pray. 
Is  Lamond  aware  of  the  pricelessness  of  his 
gift?  The  greatest  of  all  gifts — charity. 
Maybe  unconsciously,  for,  as  he  returns  to 
us  and  smiles,  the  lined  and  rugged  face  we 
know  so  well  becomes  transfigured. 

NATIONAL  HEALTH 

London  Daily  Telegraph 

A  very  remarkable  development  of  na- 
tional health  policy  is  foreshadowed  in  the 
Interim  Report — a  summary  of  which  ap- 
peared yesterday  in  our  columns — ^presented 
by  the  Consultative  Council  on  Medical  and 
Allied  Services.  The  Council  is  associated 
with  the  Ministry  of  Health,  and  it  was 
invited  by  tile  Minister — at  the  time  of  its 
appointment,  seven  months  ago — to  consider 
the  question  of  forming  a  systematised 
medical  service,  set  up  on  a  basis  of  local 
areas,  but  applicable,  area  by  area,  to  the 
whole  country.  When  we  say  that  the  Re- 
port foreshadows  a  remarkable  develop- 
ment, we  mean  that  there  is  every  prospect 
of  legislation  founded  upon  it  being  laid 
before  Parliament,  and  those  are  in  error 
who  may  be  inclined  to  regard  the  scheme 
as  too  sweeping  to  be  taken  seriously.  What 
the  Interim  Report  proposes  is  the  estab- 
lishment in  the  local  area — say,  for  example, 
in  a  good-sized  county — of  a  complete  or- 
ganisation of  medical  service  which  should 
place  at  the  disposal  of  every  person,  what- 
ever his  social  status,  the  advantages  of  the 
best  medical  treatment  that  science  has  de- 
vised. This  would  be  effected  by  the  setting 
up  of  a  system  of  primary  health  centers, 
each  one  "the  rallying-point  of  all  the  med- 
ical services,  preventive  and  curative,"  of 
its  district;  with,  above  these,  a  much  small- 
er number  of  secondary  health  centers, 
whose  work  would  be  of  a  more  specialised 
character,  and  largely  in  the  hands  of  con- 
sultants. These,  in  their  turn,  would  be  in 
relationship  with  the  teaching  hospital  of 
the  district,  to  which  cases  of  unusual  difii- 
culty  would  be  referred.  The  layman's  first 
inquiry,  on  having  such  a  plan  laid  before 
him,  would  be,  What  about  my  own  doctor?" 
No  one,  rich  or  poor,  has  any  idea  of  hand- 
ing himself  or  any  of  his  family,  in  sickness, 
over  to  a  medical  bureaucracy,  and  having 


348 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


his  case  dealt  with  by  an  expert  whose  very 
name  he  may  never  have  heard.  But  the 
scheme  of  this  Report,  so  far  from  contem- 
plating anything  of  that  sort,  makes  the 
patient's  own  doctor"  the  very  foundation 
of  all  the  rest.  The  primary  center,  which 
is  the  essential  feature  of  the  plan,  would 
be  staffed  entirely  by  the  general  practition- 
ers of  the  district;  and  attendance  on  the 
patient  at  his  own  home  or  at  the  doctor's 
surgery — ^what  the  Report  calls  "domiciliary 
service" — would  remain  the  basis  of  med- 
ical practice.  It  would  continue,  however, 
with  the  enormous  advantage  for  both  pa- 
tient and  doctor  that  the  technical  resources 
of  the  primary  center  would  be  at  the  doc- 
tor's disposal — those  processes  of  investiga- 
tion, costly  apparatus,  facilities  for  special 
treatment,  and  many  other  matters  which 
the  general  practitioner  cannot  personally 
place  at  his  patient's  service,  and  which,  as 
things  are  today,  he  can  only  procure  with 
difficulty  and  expense,  and  sometimes  cannot 
procure  at  all,  for  his  more  well-to-do  pa- 
tients. If  a  case  needed  to  be  dealt  with 
under  hospital  conditions,  it  could  be  so 
treated  at  the  primary  center,  the  patient, 
though  removed  from  his  home,  still  being 
under  his  chosen  medical  adviser's  care; 
while  if  the  nature  of  the  case  made  re- 
moval to  a  secondary  center  and  treatment 
by  specialists  advisable,  the  general  practi- 
tioner would  still  have  every  opportunity  of 
keeping  in  touch  with  the  patient  and  re- 
suming attendance  on  him  upon  his  dis- 
charge. 

From  every  point  of  view,  then,  the  or- 
ganised service  proposed  by  the  Report 
would  be  a  vast  improvement  on  what  is 
possible  under  the  existing  conditions.  What 
raises  the  necessity  of  some  change  of  this 
sort  is,  as  the  Report  makes  clear,  the  im- 
mensely increased  complexity  of  medical 
treatment,  which,  as  it  has  grown  much  more 
effective  than  it  used  to  be,  has  at  the  same 
time  become,  in  many  directions,  much  more 
than  an  unaided  medical  practitioner  can 
grapple  with,  or  a  patient  of  limited  means 
can  afford.  Bacteriology,  bio-chemistry, 
radiology,  electro-therapeutics— all  these, 
and  many  other  branches  of  special  study, 
are  luxuries  in  medical  practice;  but  they 
should  not  be,  for  they  are  often  necessary 
for  effective  treatment.  In  many  even  of 
the  commonest  diseases  the  co-operation  of 
at  least  three  separate  experts  is  required  if 
the  best  possible  is  to  be  done  for  the  suffer- 
ers. We  make  this  statement  not  on  the 
authority  of  the  Report,  but  on  that  of  the 
Cavendish  Lecturer  of  1918,  who,  we  re- 
member, devoted  himself  to  pointing  out 
this  characteristic   of  modern  healing  sci- 


ence, and  advocating  the  establishment  of  a 
national  medical  service  on  lines  broadly 
similar  to  those  now  laid  down.  That  Cav- 
endish Lecturer  is  now  Lord  Dawson  of 
Penn,  and  chairman  of  the  Council  which 
has  just  presented  its  Report.  The  essence 
of  the  scheme  now  formulated  has,  in  fact, 
been  under  professional  discussion  long- 
enough  to  deprive  it  of  any  startling  novelty 
for  medical  men.  It  has,  indeed,  been  ac- 
tually adopted  and  fully  worked  out  by  the 
public  authorities  and  the  medical  profes- 
sion in  the  county  of  Gloucestershire,  thanks 
to  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  its  medical 
officer  of  health.  Dr.  J.  Middleton  Martin, 
upon  whose  detailed  scheme  the  proposals 
of  the  Report  are  based;  and  there  has  been 
experimental  action  in  the  same  direction 
elsewhere.  The  real  difficulty  is  that  of 
cost.  To  establish  at  a  stroke,  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  the  whole  of  the  organiza- 
tion proposed,  from  the  primary  centres  to 
the  teaching  hospital — which  would  have  to 
be  built  and  equipped  in  any  area  where 
none  exists  already — is  plainly  out  of  the 
question  in  the  present  state  of  the  nation's 
finances.  But  the  establishment  of  the  pri- 
mary centres,  which  is  the  heart  of  the 
scheme,  may  be  found  feasible;  for  patients 
who  now  pay  for  medical  treatment  will  be 
required  to  do  so  still,  while  the  more  effec- 
tive treatment  of  all  disease  and  the  better 
organization  of  preventive  methods  would 
lead  to  the  saving  of  a  mass  of  expenditure 
at  present  incurred  in  connection  with  public 
health.  The  Consultative  Council's  interim 
Report,  however,  is  not  much  concerned  with 
this  question;  it  is  issued  only  to  give  an  in- 
dication of  the  trend  of  the  Council's  de- 
liberations and  conclusions  up  to  the  pres- 
ent. Whatever  form  may  be  given  to  the 
legislation  which  the  Government  intends  to 
put  forward,  it  will  at  any  rate  be  such  as 
to  show  this  country  still  where  it  has  been 
so  long — in  the  leadership  of  the  world 
where  matters  of  public  health  are  con- 
cerned. 

SCIENCE  AND  COMMERCE 

London  Dai'y  Telegraph 

London  University  has  been  much  in  the 
public  eye  of  late,  and  we  welcome  every  in- 
dication of  belief  in  its  brilliant  future, 
worthy  of  the  capital  of  the  Empire.  Only 
a  few  days  ago  the  Government  made  its 
ruling  body  the  offer  of  a  magnificent  site 
near  the  British  Museum,  which,  we  hope, 
it  may  be  found  possible  to  accept,  so  that 
Bloomsbury  may  become  the  new  academic 
centre  of  London.  Yesterday  the  King  and 
Queen  laid  the  foundation-stone  of  an  exten- 
sion to  the  London  School  of  Economics. 
This  is  a  building  hidden  away  in  a  corner 


SOME  BRITISH  EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


349 


of  the  old  Clare  Market,  and  relatively  few 
Londoners  have  been  aware  of  its  existence. 
Yet  in  no  department  of  the  University  has 
there  been  a  keener  intellectual  activity  than 
in  this  quiet  backwater,  and  the  large  num- 
ber of  day  and  night  students  taking  its 
courses  is  the  best  tribute  at  once  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject  and  the  zeal — in 
some  cases,  perhaps,  the  proselytising  zeal 
for  advanced  State  Socialism — with  which  it 
is  taught.  The  Director  of  the  School,  Sir 
William  Beveridge,  the  author  of  a  treatise 
on  "Unemployment,"  which  at  once  became 
the  text-book  not  only  of  students,  but  of 
statesmen  and  trade-union  leaders,  has  an 
institution  under  his  care  which  is  obviously 
capable  of  wielding  very  great  influence 
upon  the  social  and  industrial  development 
of  the  times.  The  word  "Economics,"  it  must 
be  allowed,  has  rather  a  chilling  and  de- 
pressing sound,  so  closely  is  it  allied  in  the 
popular  mind  with  the  old  "dismal  science" 
of  abstract  Political  Economy,  and  with 
clouds  of  doubtful  statistics  which  effectu- 
ally darken  counsel.  The  nineteenth  cen- 
tury suffered  severely  from  the  pronounce- 
ments of  professors  who  preached  a  very 
one-sided  doctrine,  against  which  at  length 
the  conscience  of  humanity  revolted,  and  the 
scrapping  of  ancient  economic  shibboleths 
has  gone  on  so  vigorously  that  many  people 
have  rushed  to  the  equally  fatal  conclusion 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  truth  in  eco- 
nomics at  all,  and  that  skilful  politicians  will 
always  contrive  to  evade  the  painful  reck- 
oning for  the  broken  laws  of  political  eco- 
nomy. "We  should  like,  therefore,  to  empha- 
sise the  fact  that  the  revolt  from  the  older 
political  economy  does  not  mean  that  the 
science  is  valueless,  but  rather  that  its  prin- 
ciples must  always  be  subjected  to  the  new 
tests  which  experience  supplies,  and,  so  far 
from  its  being  an  unprofitable  study,  there 
is  none  which  is  more  imperatively  required. 
Moreover,  economics  has  a  much  wider  con- 
notation than  is  often  supposed.  There 
could  be  no  greater  mistake  than  to  sup- 
pose that  the  students  of  the  School  of 
Economics  spend  their  days  exclusively  in 
picking  to  pieces  the  theories  of  Adam 
Smith,  Ricardo,  Mill,  Marx,  and  all  the 
later  exponents  of  the  science.  Sociology, 
political  and  public  administration,  geogra- 
phy, commercial  law,  ethnology — all  these 
are  embraced  under  the  word  "Economics," 
which  thus  assumes  a  new  importance  and 
makes  a  wider  and  much  more  powerful 
appeal  to  those  who  hold  that  the  highest 
form  of  knowledge  is  the  knowledge  which 
bears  practical  application  to  the  every-day 
affairs  of  life. 

In  an  admirable  speech,  the  King  drew 


attention  to  the  part  which  the  School  of 
Economics  is  now  playing  in  relation  to  the 
new  Faculty  of  Commerce  in  London  Uni- 
versity. The  movement  for  this  was 
launched  about  two  years  ago  at  a  Mansion 
House  meeting,  and  the  building  of  which 
the  King  laid  the  foundation-stone  yester- 
day will  be  the  outcome  of  the  late  Sir 
Ernest  Cassel's  munificence  and  the  gen- 
erous response  which  was  made  by  the  busi- 
ness community  of  London.  A  Faculty  of 
Commerce,  of  course,  is  designed  to  teach 
the  science  of  commerce  and  to  give  degrees 
in  commerce.  Let  no  one  say  that  commerce 
cannot  be  taught,  or  that  classes  in  com- 
mercial subjects  are  useless!  It  would  be 
as  sensible  to  say  that  engineering  and 
surgery  cannot  be  taught.  The  commercial 
mind  needs  training  in  the  science  of  com- 
merce, and  the  London  School  of  Economics 
sets  out  to  supply  it  by  courses  of  study  in 
banking  and  currency,  foreign  trade,  trans- 
port, accountancy,  and  business  methods.  It 
is  perfectly  true  that  those  who  built  up  the 
magnificent  fabric  of  British  commerce  were 
not  learned  in  the  science  of  industry,  and 
that  their  vigorous  individualism  triumphed 
over  the  lack  of  scientific  training.  But 
that  is  nothing  to  the  point.  What  we  have 
to  remember  is  that  all  these  various  sub- 
jects have  been  investigated  scientifically, 
and  that  if  we  are  to  hold  our  own  against 
the  competition  of  the  future,  our  business 
men  must  be  business  scientists.  The  pres- 
ent situation  is  purely  temporary.  If  there 
is  little  or  no  competition,  it  is  because  our 
chief  Continental  rival  is  out  of  the  running 
and  the  demand  for  British  goods  is  world- 
wide. But  that  will  not  last  for  ever,  and 
when  competition  does  begin  again  in 
earnest  we  shall  hear  to  a  certainty  the  old 
complaint  that  the  British  manufacturer  is 
not  so  scientific  as  his  rivals,  and  did  not 
profit,  as  he  ought  to  have  done,  by  the 
opportunity  which  he  had  to  reconstruct  on 
the  latest  scientific  lines.  The  reports  issued 
a  year  or  two  ago  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
and  the  Ministry  of  Reconstruction  sounded 
a  note  of  warning  in  respect  of  the  conserva- 
tism of  many  employers,  the  antiquated  or- 
ganisation of  their  businesses,  and  the  poor- 
ness of  their  methods  of  production  and 
what  is  called  the  "economic  lay-out." 
America  has  led  the  world  in  mass-produc- 
tion. Here  in  England  observers  are  sur- 
prised at  the  very  large  number  of  rela- 
tively small  firms,  each  with  a  separate  or- 
ganisation, separate  establishment  charges 
and  arrangements  for  buying  and  selling, 
and  each  producing  an  enormous  multiplicity 
of  articles.  The  very  last  quality  which  we 
desire  to  disparage  is  our  British  individ- 


350 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


ualism;  but  the  fact  remains  that  for  the 
purposes  of  international  trade  mass  pro- 
duction holds  the  winning  cards,  because  its 
costs  are  lowest  and  least  energy  is  fruit- 
lessly expended.  The  British  trader  has 
still  to  accustom  himself  to  think  of  trading 
in  terms  of  science.  Take  Transport  for 
example.  There  is  already  a  whole  litera- 
ture on  the  theory  and  practice  of  Trans- 
port, mostly  American  in  origin.  That  is 
not  to  say  that  we  have  not  as  good  railway 
operators  here  as  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  war 
problem  was  handled  far  more  skilfully  here 
than  on  the  great  American  railroads,  which 
for  a  time  were  reduced  to  chaos.  But  we 
have  been  very  slow  to  realise  that  we  sim- 
ply cannot  afford  the  wasteful  luxury  of  a 
multiplicity  of  railway  companies  in  these 
small  islands,  each  going  its  own  way  and 
as  far  as  possible  ignoring  the  existence  of 
its  rivals.  Scientific  commercial  training 
ought  to  have  convinced  the  business  world 
of  this  long  before  the  war.  The  same  argu- 
ment applies  all  round.  Science — in  the 
widest  sense  of  the  term — must  be  wedded 
to  commerce.  There  is  no  danger  in  this 
country  of  the  theorist  spoiling  the  practical 
man.  The  trouble  is  that  our  strong  genius 
for  the  practical  has  led  us  to  disdain  the 
theoretical,  while  learning  has  disdained  the 
"common  touch"  of  trade.  The  King  con- 
gratulated London  University  on  the  ever- 
widening  basis  of  its  studies  and  on  having 
freed  itself  from  Bacon's  censure  of  the  uni- 
versities as  "the  homes  of  ignorant  dogma 
and  sterile  disputation."  There  is  no  true 
divorce  between  theory  and  practice,  and  we 
hope  it  will  be  one  of  the  ambitions  of  the 
University  of  London  to  make  its  Faculty  of 
Commerce  of  world-wide  reputation. 

IMAGINATION 

London    Daily   Express 

Imagination  belongs  chiefly  to  children 
and  poets. 

Both  of  them  refuse  to  accept  existence 
as  fi  dreary  round.  To  them  the  world  is 
full  of  mystery  and  delight;  the  western 
wind  is  Romance,  and  raindrops  the  grief 
of  fairies. 

The  rest  of  us  in  our  superiority  can 
smile  at  children  and  poets — ^but  not  with- 
out a  touch  of  envy. 

We  lose  the  Imaginativeness  of  childhood 
too  soon.  Life  is  stem  and  exacting,  but  it 
would  hold  much  more  charm  iiwe  could 
still  hear  the  "tongues  in  trees"  and  find 
the  "books  in  the  running  brooks." 

If  imagination  has  gone  it  is  worth  pur- 
suit.   If  books  or  music  do  not  bring  it  back, 


seek  out  some  blue-eyed  youngster  and  learn 
again  the  wonderful  wisdom  of  immaturity. 
Don't  be  ashamed  of  imagination.     It  is 
a  younger  brother  to  genius. 

A  LESSON  NEEDED 

London    Daily    Express 

A  wide  and  desperate  search  for  a  grey 
car  presents  many  of  the  excitements  of  a 
cinema  thriller  or  of  transpontine  melo- 
drama. It  also  presents  the  public  and  all 
good  motorists  with  excellent  reason  for  as- 
sisting the  police  in  any  possible  way.  This 
grey  car  has  been  responsible  for  the  death 
of  a  harmless  pedestrian.  Having  done  very 
evil  work,  it  has  vanished  into  the  night  out 
of  which  it  came.  It  is  not  the  first  car  to 
kill  and  run  away.  It  may  not  be  the  last. 
But  it  is  imperative  that  those  who  thus  dis- 
grace all  decent  law-abiding  motorists  should 
be  so  severely  punished  that  others  of  their 
kind  may  deem  it  safer  to  face  at  once  the 
music  of  their  own  mischances.  No  mo- 
torist, of  course,  deliberately  slaughters  a 
person  on  the  road,  and  some  accidents  are 
inevitable.  Those,  however,  who  drive  on 
after  racing  down  any  person  or  animal  add 
to  what  may  be  pure  mischance  a  cal- 
lous brutality  and  cowardice  that  deserve  a 
long  term  of  imprisonment.  It  is  for  the 
courts  to  strike  terror  into  these  particular 
bandits  of  the  road.  Every  honest  motorist 
will  applaud  the  sternest  action. 

TWOPENNY  POST 

London    Daily   Express 

On  Tuesday  we  go  back  to  twopenny 
postage,  and  it  is  impossible  to  regard  this 
retrogression  as  other  than  disastrous.  It 
may  be  an  inevitable  part  of  the  effort  to 
reduce  the  annual  loss  on  the  operations  of 
the  Post  Office.  It  should  have  been  a  last 
resource  when  all  other  means  of  keener 
business  management  had  been  exhausted. 
It  is  an  argument  against  any  further  ex- 
periments in  State  control  or  nationalisation 
of  essential  public  services. 

It  is  asserted  comfortably  that  the  public, 
growing  used  to  the  new  imposition,  will 
continue  to  write  as  many  letters  as  penny 
postage  induced.  That  seems  to  us  a  rash 
prophecy.  There  must  come  a  time  when 
higher  charges  compel  the  community  to 
scrutinise  very  jealously  all  those  petty 
luxuries  which  facility  has  persuaded  it  to 
rank  as  necessities.  But  if  the  volume  of 
public  and  private  correspondence  is  sensi- 
bly diminished  we  shall  have  sacrificed  great 
advantages  for  a  h3^othetical  return.  When 
Sir  J.  Henniker  Heaton  instituted  imperial 
penny  postage  he  forged  a  link  that  has 
bound  together  our  great  imperial  family  as 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


3S1 


firmly  as  it  has  cemented  the  sundered  lives 
of  households.  We  run  grave  risks  of  sep- 
aratist ignorance  in  adding  again  to  the  cost 
of  letter  postage.  We  take  a  line  of  least 
resistance  which  may  lead  to  much  mischief. 

LIFE  OF  THE  MAYFLY 

By  Guy  C.  Pollock 

London    Daily   Express 

The  mayfly  is  up.  That  is  a  fact  attested 
by  all  the  newspapers,  duly  recorded,  in- 
controvertible; an  excuse  for  much  wild  and 
ignorant  speculation  by  pseudo-entomolo- 
gists; a  cause  of  baseless  hopes  and  need- 
less regrets  to  many  honest  anglers. 

I  heard  of  the  mayfly  first  in  April  this 
year.  I  saw  him  and  her  ten  days  ago  on 
the  chalk  brook — a  few  perfect  specimens 
ignored  by  appetiteless  trout.  I  have  little 
doubt  that  as  I  write  every  pounder  of  the 
chalk  brook  is  feasting  madly  on  the  sub- 
imago.  I  fear  that  by  today  the  "carnival," 
as  it  is  called,  will  be  over.  This  year,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  the  great  mayfly  hatch, 
which  tempts  large  trout  to  surface  feeding 
on  any  stream  which  holds  trout  and  breeds 
mayflies,  may  be  rather  a  failure.  It  began 
prematurely,  aided  by  unseasonable  March. 
It  was  checked  by  the  monstrosities  of 
April.  It  will  peter  out  before  June  is  under 
way  in  sparse  and  spasmodic  efforts  instead 
of  arriving  with  a  Gargantuan  rush  to  fill 
with  excitement  the  period  May  25-June  6, 
to  cause  the  angler's  knees  and  heart  so  to 
shake  that  he  undergoes  a  series  of  tem- 
pestuous disasters. 

Dance  of  Death 

But  this  mayfly  is  surely  one  of  the  most 
enchanting  and  curious  of  God's  creatures. 
You  may  see  him  now  by  many  rivers — a 
creature  the  size  of  a  fair  moth,  with  large 
gossamer  wings  of  exquisite  colour,  green 
or  brown,  according  to  sex,  with  long  an- 
tennae; an  airy,  fairy  creature,  dancing  for 
ever  the  dance  of  love  and  death,  up  and 
down,  up  and  down,  over  every  riverside 
bush  and  tree;  hatching  on  the  water  in 
droves,  which  cover  the  surface  with  deli- 
cate boat-like  creatures  sailing  down,  till, 
with  dried  wings,  the  fly  may  haply  escape 
the  trout  and  take  flight  to  shore;  leaving 
a  scum  of  empty  shucks  behind  after  hatch- 
ing; returning  to  the  water  to  die  when  the 
new  generation  is  secure. 

Life  begins  when  the  female,  having 
danced  her  little  love  with  the  male,  makes, 
iying,  for  the  river,  drops  her  eggs — over 
3000  eggs  per  fly — on  its  surface  and  falls, 
spent,  exhausted,  to  be  gobbled  by  a  greedy 
sh  or  swept  up  by  a  hawking  swallow. 


River  Nymphs 

Some  of  the  eggs  live — a  strange  life  on 
the  bed  of  the  river's  underworld — and  by 
degrees  become  the  grubs,  the  nymphs  in 
their  case  which,  when  May  is  midmost,  be- 
gin to  struggle,  swimming,  towards  the 
surface. 

Then  pounce  the  trout,  boiling  and  bulging 
just  under  water,  devouring  what  they  may 
of  nymphs  before  the  surface  is  reached. 

Those  that  escape  shed  the  nymphal  case, 
unfold  the  lovely  wings,  and,  again  by 
chance  escaping  (in  the  early  days  the  trout 
are  still  scared  of  this  large  fly),  fly  ashore. 
There,  once  more,  they  shed  a  skin,  and, 
lightened,  perfect  the  imago  or  completed 
fly,  join  the  unceasing  dance  of  the  males, 
or,  being  females,  seek  their  partner  in  this 
airy  ballroom  of  the  courtship  which  spells 
death.  "La  vie  est  vaine;  un  peu  d'amour." 
Two  delirious,  dancing  minutes,  and  the  fe- 
male struggles  off  to  lay  her  eggs  and  die; 
the  male  dies  where  he  falls,  and  his  little 
death  enriches  the  dust  to  which  we  all 
return. 

Strange  life  history  of  one  of  Nature's 
most  perfect  triumphs  of  beauty!  So  much 
for  so  little.  A  very  microcosm  is  the  may- 
fly, and  I  think  of  that  tar  with  which  man 
smothers  roads  and,  as  they  run  too  close 
to  rivers,  thereby  destroys  for  ever  the 
mayfly  and  the  trout  and  all  that  lives  most 
lovely  and  desirable  beneath  the  once  pure 
waters,  as  I  think  of  the  wars  and  pes- 
tilences which  prey  on  man — himself  a 
mayfly,  ephemeral,  transient,  obedient  to 
laws  and  purposes  beyond  his  puny  range. 

ANOTHER  OIL  DISCOVERY 


The  Mexican  Eagle  Stripped  of  Its  Plumage 


Is  Britain  to  Be  Plucked  Next? 

London    Daily   Express 

The  "Daily  Express"  has  made  another 
significant  discovery  in  connection  with  the 
struggle,  now  reaching  a  climax,  for  the 
Mesopotamian  oilfields. 

Three  weeks  ago  we  first  exposed  the  na- 
ture of  the  negotiations  instituted  by  Lord 
Harcourt's  committee,  by  which  the  Royal 
Dutch-Shell  group  offered  to  place  a  large 
number  of  its  subsidiary  companies  under 
the  legal  control  of  the  British  Government 
in  return  for  equal  exploitation  rights  and 
complete  management  of  the  Mesopotamian 
oilfields.  In  our  almost  solitary  fight  against 
this  arrangement  we  showed  that  the  sub- 
sidiary companies  offered  by  the  combine 


352 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


were  either  those  within  the  Empire — and 
consequently  already  under  British  legal 
control — or  in  territories  susceptible  to  Brit- 
ish influence,  or  in  the  storm  centers  of  the 
world. 

Included  in  this  formidable  list  were  all 
the  Mexican  interests  of  the  Royal  Dutch- 
Shell  group  with  the  exception  of  the  val- 
uable Mexican  Eagle  Oil  Company.  The 
"Daily  Express"  has  been  investigating  the 
reason  for  this,  and  the  sensational  dis- 
covery made  adds  one  more  startling 
feature  in  the  extraordinary  world-wide 
struggle  now  going  on  for  the  Mosul  petro- 
leum fields. 

Three  Stages 

The  controlling  interest  in  the  Mexican 
Eagle  was  formerly  held  by  Lord  Cowdray. 
The  Royal  Dutch-Shell  Combine,  with  its 
eye  keenly  alert  to  any  competitive  organ- 
isation, purchased  Lord  Cowdray's  shares, 
thus  acquiring  ownership  of  the  company. 
Possessing  the  majority  of  the  stock,  it 
then  imposed  on  the  Mexican  Eagle  Com- 
pany a  binding  agreement  which  placed  the 
management  for  a  period  of  years  in  the 
hands  of  the  Royal  Dutch,  thus  assuring 
that  combine  that  it  would  have  the  physical 
control  of  the  company  and  the  disposition 
of  its  output. 

Having  thus  stripped  the  Eagle  of  its 
plumage,  the  Royal  Dutch-Shell  group  and 
its  associates  disponed  of  its  shares  through 
a  pool  in  which  Mr.  C.  S.  Gulbenkian,  the 
famous  Armenian  financial  associate  of  the 
combine,  was  actively  interested. 

The  Royal  Dutch-Shell  Combine  no  longer 
owned  the  Mexican  Eagle. 

But — without  any  financial  outlay  it  had 
fastened  the  firm  grip  of  the  trust  on  the 
only  thing  it  wanted,  the  company's  output. 
The  Mexican  Eagle  Company,  therefore,  was 
not  included  among  the  subsidiary  organisa- 
tions to  be  placed  under  British  legal  con- 
trol, for  the  very  good  reason  that  the  com- 
bine no  longer  owned  it,  although  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  present 
functionless  directors  would  be  very  glad  to 
secure  the  protection  of  the  British  Navy. 

In  a  bare  outline,  that  is  the  history  of 
a  financial  adventure  which  establishes  a 
new  and  most  efficacious  method  of  eradicat- 
ing opposition. 

A  Parallel 

There  is  a  close  parallel  between  the  Mex- 
ican Eagle  negotiations  and  those  now  under 
consideration  in  regard  to  the  Mesopotamian 
oilfields.  By  the  agreement  originating  with 
Lord  Harcourt's  committee  it  is  proposed: 


To  place  the  entire  Mesopotamian  ex- 
ploitation under  Royal  Dutch-Shell 
Management. 

To  place,  in  this  venture,  the  Anglo- 
Persian  Oil  Company,  in  which  the  Brit- 
ish Government  holds  two-thirds  of  the 
stock,  under  Royal  Dutch-Shell  Man- 
agement. 

Management  is  what  the  Royal  Dutch- 
Shell  group  principally  desires. 

With  Management  it  does  not  need  to  care 
how  much  stock  in  the  Shell  Company  is 
held  by  British  subjects.  Once  it  has  the 
Management  the  shareholders  in  the  Meso- 
potamia venture  would  have  neither  less  nor 
more  power  than  the  shareholders  of  the 
Mexican  Eagle  Company  today. 

With  Management  the  Royal  Dutch-Shell 
Combine  can  exploit  the  Mesopotamian 
petroleum  fields  just  as  much  or  as  little  as 
the  world  interests  of  the  combine  dictate. 

With  Management  the  Royal  Dutch-Shell 
group  can  direct  the  output  from  Mesopo- 
tamia to  any  market,  which  will  not  tend  to 
lower  petrol  prices  in  the  British  Empire. 

With  Management  the  Royal  Dutch-Shell 
group  has  its  hand  on  the  Mesopotamian  tap, 
to  shut  it  off  altogether  if  deeemd  desirable. 
With  Management  the  Royal  Dutch-Shell 
group  can  renew  its  grip  on  the  Anglo- 
Persian  Oil  Company,  a  private  organisation 
in  which  the  British  Government  holds  the 
majority  of  stock,  and  which  in  two  years' 
time  will  be  able  to  supply  the  petrol  needs 
of  the  British  Empire. 

Is  the  British  Government,  the  prin- 
cipal shareholder  of  the  Anglo-Persian 
Oil  Company,  to  be  reduced  to  the  im- 
potency  now  enjoyed  by  the  shareholders 
of  the  Mexican  Eagle  Company? 

Is  the  British  Government  to  surren- 
der our  one  chance  of  oil  independence? 

Previous  Attempt 

This  is  not  the  first  time  that  the  Royal' 
Dutch-Shell  group  of  international  financiers 
has  tried  to  strengthen  its  oil  monopoly  at 
the  expense  of  the  British  Empire.  Early 
in  1914,  when  a  Bill  was  brought  into  Parlia- 
ment for  acquiring  a  majority  interest  in  the 
Anglo-Persian  Oil  Company,  a  most  violent 
opposition  was  engineered  by  the  Shell 
Transport  and  Trading  Company,  junior 
partner  of  the  Royal  Dutch. 

Mr.  Winston  Churchill,  then  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  dealt  with  this  opposition  in 
the  House,  and  subsequent  events  offer  a 
remarkable  tribute  to  his  prescience  in  this 
matter.  His  clear  understanding  of  the  sit- 
uation at  that  time  gives  the  "Daily  Ex- 


SOME  BRITISH   EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


353 


press"  hope  that  he  can  now  be  counted  on 
the  side  of  those  who  are  opposed  to  the 
ill-advised  scheme  which  has  been  recom- 
mended by  Sir  John  Cadman,  Sir  Robert 
Home,  and  other  Government  advisers. 

"We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  'Shell'," 
said  Mr.  Churchill.  "We  have  always  found 
them  courteous,  considerate,  ready  to  oblige, 
anxious  to  serve  the  Admiralty  and  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  British  Navy  and 
the  British  Empire — at  a  price.  The  only 
difficulty  has  been  price.  On  that  point,  of 
course,  we  have  been  treated  with  the  full 
rigour  of  the  game.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  our  relations  might  become,  from  our 
point  of  view,  even  more  pleasant  if,  instead 
of  being  compelled,  as  we  might  easily  be, 
to  accept  whatever  price  they  might  think 
it  right  to  charge,  we  had  an  independent 
position." 

To  serve  the  British  Empire — at  a  price. 

The  "Daily  Express"  has  no  quarrel  with 
the  Royal  Dutch-Shell  group  for  such  tac- 
tics, but  is  the  British  Empire  to  have  noth- 
ing to  say  regarding  that  price? 

The  lesson  of  the  Mexican  Eagle,  stripped 
of  its  feathers,  is  now  revealed  to  the  people 
of  this  country. 

Are  we  to  submit  to  the  same  plucking 
process  ? 

CHURCH  UNION  COMING 

Weekly  Scotsman 

There  has  come  to  the  Churches  in  Scot- 
land a  day  of  great  opportunity,  and  on 
Tuesday  the  General  Assemblies  met  it  in  a 
great  spirit.  In  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  the  opposition  to 
Union  could  scarcely  muster  twenty  votes, 
and  in  the  United  Free  Assembly  the  minor- 
ity dwindled  to  fifty.  In  a  full  house,  the 
United  Free  Assembly,  in  a  scene  of  great 
enthusiasm,  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
passed  a  deliverance  "gladly  recognising  the 
importance  of  the  step"  taken  by  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  "as  a  real  and  generous  step 
towards  the  effective  removal  of  all  the  ob- 
stacles to  Union  by  the  withdrawal  by  Par- 
liament of  all  statutory  restraint  .  .  . 
of  the  liberties,  rights,  and  powers  of  the 
Church."  There  had  been  misunderstand- 
ing as  to  whether  the  United  Free  Church 
stood  behind  the  Church  of  Scotland  with 
moral  support  in  the  approach  of  the  latter 
to  Parliament.  To  those  who  knew  the 
spirit  of  the  United  Free  Church,  and  who 
are  familiar  with  the  wise  statesmanship 
that  guides  its  affars,  there  was  never  any 
ioubt  as  to  the  fact  that  it  would  give  every 
possible  support  to  the  Church  of  Scotland 
in  the  effort   to   remove   all   obstacles   to 


Union.  But  all  have  not  the  same  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  the  true  mind  of  Church 
leaders;  and  through  a  loose  use  of  words 
misconceptions  can  easily  arise.  But  Tues- 
day's gathering  declared  the  mind  and  spirit 
of  the  United  Free  Church  on  the  critical 
question  of  the  Church's  future.  "The  As- 
sembly hope  that  these  claims  will  be  recog- 
nised in  their  fulness  by  Parliament" — ^this 
is  the  declaration  of  the  United  Free  Church 
regarding  the  Church  of  Scotland's  ap- 
proach to  the  Legislature.  The  importance 
of  this  declaration  is  that  the  Government 
cannot  have  any  further  doubt  as  to  wheth- 
er the  United  Free  Church  will  accept  the 
Articles  as  a  basis  of  Union  for  the  future 
Church  of  Scotland,  cannot  doubt  that  the 
two  great  Scottish  Churches  are  at  one  in 
their  desire  and  eagerness  for  Union,  and 
cannot  but  realise  that  the  full  force  of 
public  opinion  in  Scotland  is  behind  the 
proposals  made  by  the  Church  of  Scotland 
asking  that  the  obstacles  to  Union  be  re- 
moved. When  one  remembers  the  years  of 
storm  and  stress  through  which  the  sun- 
dered Churches  have  come;  when  one  recalls 
the  bitterness  of  the  controversies  that 
raged  in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
and  the  devastating  blight  that  was  cast 
over  the  religious  life  of  the  nation,  then 
one  can  only  wonder  at  the  change  that 
has  been  wrought.  The  ancient  realm  of 
Knox  and  Melville  and  Henderson  bids  fair 
to  set  another  great  example  before  the 
world. 

RED-COATS 

Ijondon   Daily  Chronicle 

The  Army  Council  has  decided  that  though 
khaki  will  continue  to  be  the  working  dress 
of  the  Army,  there  is  to  be  a  return  to  pre- 
war uniforms  for  full-dress  occasions.  We 
hope  that  this  decision  will  be  revised  by  a 
higher  authority.  Khaki  is  now  the  colour 
which  the  whole  nation  associates  with  sol- 
diering. The  pre-war,  tin-soldier  uniform 
is  no  longer  calculated  to  appeal  even  to 
the  kitchen-maid,  for  whom  it  was  orig- 
inally designed.  The  Army  is  an  honourable 
service,  and  no  longer  needs  the  bait  of  a 
red  uniform.  Let  us  keep  the  "Beef-eaters," 
the  Chelsea  Pensioners,  and  if  necessary  the 
Horse  Guards,  as  decorative  souvenirs,  but 
spare  the  nation  the  expense  of  Sunday 
clothes  for  the  whole  Army. 

STRIKE  FAILURE  IN  FRANCE 

London    Daily    Chronicle 

For  nearly  three  weeks  the  General  Con- 
federation of  Labour  has  been  straining 
every  nerve  to  paralyse  industrial  life  in 
France  by  a  series  of  concerted  strikes,  and 
it  is  now  at  the  end  of  its  resources.    It  has 


354 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


yielded,  it  has  called  off  the  general  strike, 
it  has  suffered  a  crushing  defeat;  and  the 
programme  of  Direct  Action  in  France  has 
received  such  a  set-back  as  it  will  not  re- 
cover from  for  many  a  long  day.  The 
movement  started  among  a  small  number 
of  fanatics  on  the  executives  of  the  railway- 
men.  It  was  taken  up  by  the  General  Con- 
federation of  Labour,  who  at  once  ordered 
the  seamen,  the  dockers,  and  the  miners  to 
cease  work.  The  railwaymen  themselves 
responded  but  feebly  to  the  appeal;  most  of 
the  miners  refused  to  stir;  and  the  dockers 
and  seamen  came  out  in  some  ports  and  re- 
mained at  work  in  others. 

It  was  evident  from  the  first  that  this 
attempted  blow  at  the  life  of  the  State  was 
directed  by  a  group  of  men  who  were  fight- 
ing not  merely  for  improved  conditions  of 
work  or  more  pay,  but  who  desired  a  politi- 
cal revolution.  Some  of  them  have  been 
proved,  by  the  discovery  of  documents,  to 
be  in  touch  with  Communist  organisations 
in  Moscow.  All  of  them,  in  their  own  pro- 
grammes, demanded  a  political  revolution, 
which  they  wished  to  effect  by  force.  It  was 
here  that  they  completely  failed  to  carry 
with  them  the  rank  and  file  of  their  own 
men.  When  they  demanded  the  constitu- 
tion of  a  national  and  economic  committee 
to  reorganise  production,  and  an  interna- 
tional consortium  for  the  distribution  of  raw 
material,  they  were  using  language  which 
they  had  not  even  taught  trade  unionists  to 
understand. 

The  revolt  was  a  lamentable  failure  to 
make  the  strikes  effective.  The  men  as  a 
whole  would  not  come  out  for  these  political 
purposes.  When  this  first  failure  became  ap- 
parent the  Confederation  tried  to  extend 
the  war  by  calling  out  electricians,  under- 
ground workers,  motor-bus  drivers  and 
metal  workers.  But  here  again  their  suc- 
cess was  short-lived.  Public  opinion  was 
definitely  against  them.  Volunteers  rushed 
to  the  support  of  the  Government,  just  as 
they  did  in  England  at  the  time  of  the  rail- 
way strike.  The  Government  itself,  more- 
over, acted  with  commendable  firmness.  It 
realised  that  this  was  the  war  of  a  few 
upon  the  nation  as  a  whole.  It  refused  to 
negotiate  with  the  plotters,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  arrest  the  ringleaders;  and  it 
has  been  able  to  assert  once  and  for  all  in 
France  the  principle  that  the  State  will  not 
tolerate  movements  aimed  at  its  own  ex- 
istence. 

HOUSING 

London    Evening    Standard 

An  ounce  of  practical  work  is  worth  a  ton 
of  talk  and  criticism.    At  the  present  time 


there  is  far  too  great  a  tendency  for  those 

who  are  interested  in  housing  questions — 
and  who  is  not? — to  spend  their  energies  in 
criticism. 

Thus  we  read  that  "simultaneous  demon- 
strations throughout  the  country  are  pro- 
posed to  compel  the  Government"  to  put  an 
end  to  the  shortage  of  houses.  What  good 
could  such  demonstrations  possibly  do?  The 
Government  knows  existing  conditions  per- 
fectly well  and  is  at  its  wits'  end  to  over- 
come the  three  bunkers  of  bureaucratic 
inertia,  labour  inertia,  and  the  shyness  of 
capital.  This  is  not  the  time  for  mass  meet- 
ings of  protest;  it  is  the  time  for  work. 

Never  before  were  people  less  restricted 
in  their  ways  of  handling  a  difficult  situa- 
tion. In  regard  to  the  housing  shortage  the 
public,  regardless  of  political  convictions,  is 
ready  to  tolerate  for  the  time  being  any 
practical  suggestion  for  getting  houses 
built.  State  socialism,  municipal  socialism. 
State-aided  private  enterprise,  syndicalism, 
etc.,  are  all  being  tried.  There  is  room  for 
all,  and  there  is  absolutely  no  excuse  for 
those  whose  only  contribution  is  criticism 
and  abuse. 

Progress  in  house-building  has  admittedly 
been  slow,  and  the  three  difficulties  men- 
tioned above  are  still  serious.  The  Govern- 
ment has  relied  too  much  upon  bureaucratic 
action  and  municipal  bureaucracies  have 
been  cramped  by  Whitehall  bureaucracies. 
The  Maidstone  Rural  District  Council  has 
just  written  to  the  Ministry  of  Health  com- 
plaining that  "the  Council  has  from  the  be- 
ginning been  thwarted  in  every  possible 
way."  Whitehall  has  adopted  far  too  rigid 
a  standard,  and  far  too  little  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  fact  that,  after  all,  local 
authorities  are  elected  by  the  people. 

Labour  difficulties  are  as  great  as  ever, 
and  the  man  in  the  street  is  utterly  be- 
wildered by  the  contradictory  allegations 
that  (1)  there  is  unemployment  among 
builders,  and  (2)  insufficient  labour  is  avail- 
able. Moreover  at  the  moment  the  trade 
unions  are  meeting  accusations  about  "ca' 
canny"  by  cries  of  "You're  another"  to  the 
employers  and  merchants.  This  neither  ex- 
cuses nor  explains.  It  is  time  all  these 
controversies  were  ended  and  a  great  effort 
concentrated  on  this  vital  and  urgent  social 
problem. 

The  money  difficulty  is  being  tackled.  The 
loan  of  the  three  Home  Counties  has  been 
over-subscribed,  and  several  cities  show  a 
very  good  record  in  the  sale  of  housing 
bonds,  though  these  are  at  present  the  excep- 
tions. The  London  Housing  Committee  is 
ready  for  its  campaign,  and  attractive  ex- 


SOME  BRITISH  EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


355 


planatory  leaflets  are  being  issued.  Its 
•bonds  are  guaranteed  by  the  L.  C.  C,  but 
are  issued  on  behalf  of  the  metropolitan 
borough  councils.  It  is  hoped  to  raise 
£5,000,000,  and  the  facts  that  at  the  moment 
there  is  insufficient  money  even  for  the 
12,000  houses  which  are  in  hand,  and  that 
50,000  houses  are  wanted  at  once  as  a  mini- 
mum, should  be  sufficient  to  impress  upon 
the  Londoner  the  duty  of  investing  his 
money. 

These  are  the  main  difficulties.  It  is  very 
easy  to  say  that  this  or  that  trouble  would 
not  be  so  acute  if  the  authorities  had  not 
pursued  such  and  such  a  policy.  With  many 
such  critics  we  should  be  inclined  to  agree 
were  it  not  for  one  consideration,  namely, 
that  criticism  will  not  build  houses.  We 
have  all  to  pocket  our  pet  political  theories 
for  the  time  being  and  help  any  scheme 
that  is  going  to  produce  more  accommoda- 
tion. When  the  houses  are  built  we  can 
discuss  whose  method  was  best. 

LOVE'S  YOUNG  DREAM 

London    Daily   Mirror 

Poor  romance,  it  is  forever  suffering 
from  the  buffets  and  interferences  of  cold, 
passionless  men  of  science. 

The  latest  blow  has  fallen  from  a  lecturer 
before  the  Royal  Institution.  He  has  struck 
a  death  blow  at  lovers'  dreams.  He  was 
aware  of  no  evidence,  he  said  callously,  that 
lovers  frequently  dreamed  of  their  beloved. 
With  that  verdict  dies  one  of  young  love's 
prettiest  beliefs. 

It  will  be  useless  for  the  love-sick  swain 
to  protest  again  that  his  Chloe  is  ever  in 
his  thoughts,  day  and  night.  No  more  may 
she  part  from  him  avowmg  that  she  will 
dream  all  night  of  his  tender  care. 

According  to  science,  these  young  folk 
will  probably  dream  of  elephants  or  loco- 
motives or  of  incidents  that  happened  long 
before  they  met  one  another.  Dreams  are 
irrational,  fantastic,  and  the  dreamers,  so 
the  savants  tell  us,  are  as  irresponsible 
lunatics. 

All  this  is  very  sad.  We  feel  that  science 
might  at  least  leave  lovers'  dreams  alone. 
There  is  some  knowledge  that  is  better  sup- 
pressed. 

Who  will  care  now  to  place  a  piece  of 
wedding  cake  beneath  the  pillow  in  hopes  of 
a  flitting  vision  of  a  husband  to  be?  As 
like  as  not  if  she  dream  of  anybody  it  will 
be  a  deceased  great-uncle,  so  the  Royal  In- 
stitution will  have  us  believe.  C.  H. 
NO  STATE  DOCTORING! 

London    Daily    Mirror 

The  scheme  for  a  national  medical  service 
outlined    by    Dr.    Addison's     Consultative 


Council  on  Medical  Services  may  have  many 
attractive  features  about  it,  but  we  feel 
that  this  is  not  the  time  to  rush  heedlessly 
into  any  new  great  national  scheme  involv- 
ing, as  it  must,  very  great  expenditure  of 
public  funds. 

Before  such  a  national  organisation  be 
created  it  should  be  carefully  considered 
from  every  point  of  view.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  the  public  would  oppose  most 
strenuously  any  attempt  to  deprive  it  of 
complete  freedom  of  choice  in  taking  med- 
ical advice  of  any  kind. 

Our  experiences  of  the  panel  system  have 
not  proved  an  unqualified  success,  and  there 
is  a  general  feeling — and  one  not  unjusti- 
fied we  feel — that  where  the  State  steps  in 
the  doctor  deteriorates.  And  it  is  still  a 
debated  point  among  medical  men  whether 
research  work  is  not  better  carried  out  by 
individual  and  private  effort  than  unde!' 
Government  control. 

But  these  are  matters  that  must  be  most 
carefully  investigated. 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  promoters  of  the 
scheme  have  in  mind  a  gigantic  plan  to 
ensure  what  they  will  call  its  "effective 
functioning."  It  is  an  impossible  project 
just  now.  We  should  have  to  begin  by 
swelling  the  Ministry  of  Health  with  a  mass 
of  new  officials.  Where  that  would  end  no 
man  can  foretell. 

As  a  nation  we  cannot  afford  to  undertake 
any  more  huge  State  schemes.  We  must 
return  to  solvency  before  we  start  on  new 
ventures,  no  matter  how  attractive. 

We  must  not  be  stampeded  by  "idealists" 
in  so  expensive  and  important  a  matter. 

THE  GREAT  SLUMP  IN  THEATRELAND 


Degeneration  from  Art  to  Trade 

By  Martin  Webster 

London    Daily   Mirror 

In  this  article  our  expert  reviews  the  causes  of 
the  serious  falling  off  in  attendance  at  theatres 
and     music-halls. 

It  would  seem  that  the  nation  is  con- 
fronted with  the  immediate  prospect  of  a 
period  of  unctuous  and  flattering  civility  on 
the  part  of  managers,  proprietors  and 
"presenters"  in  the  theatrical  trade.  These 
gentlemen's  manners  are  invariably  a 
barometer  of  their  fortunes. 

In  fact,  the  slump  is  well  in  progress  at 
the  present  moment,  accompanied  by  the 
usual  signs  of  panic. 

On  Monday  last.  Bank  Holiday  Monday, 
half  the  theatres  and  variety  houses  in  the 


356 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


West  of  London  were  half  empty. 

On  Tuesday  one  theatre  with  an  estab- 
lished success  to  its  credit  played  to  a  few 
shillings  over  or  beneath  seventeen  pounds. 

One  fashionable  musical  comedy  that 
started  with  a  preliminary  blaze  of  trumpets 
has  never  paid  its  way  on  a  single  night's 
takings  since  the  theatre  opened  its  doors. 

The  plain  truth  is  that  the  London  theatre 
is  in  the  throes  of  one  of  the  most  pro- 
nounced slumps  of  modem  times,  and  the 
prospects  for  the  future  are  anything  but 
propitious. 

At  the  moment  the  general  managerial 
plea  is  to  blame  the  condition  of  things  or 
the  weather. 

But  the  weather  is  not  entirely  to  blame 
for  the  present  gloomy  state  of  the  box- 
offices. 

Several  things  have  contributed  to  the 
great  slump  in  theatreland. 

The  Public  Economising 

The  first  essential  contributor  to  the  sit- 
uation is  the  fact  that  at  last  the  pleasure- 
seeking  public  has  started  to  economise. 

The  money  that  was  made  so  easily  in  war 
days  was  spent  easily,  whilst  the  months 
that  followed  the  armistice  were  simply  a 
time  of  revel  in  which  people  pillaged  "nest 
eggs"  and  emptied  "long  stockings." 

The  magnates  of  the  theatrical  trade,  with 
their  usual  perspicacity  in  such  matters, 
took  in  the  situation  at  a  glance. 

As  one  of  them  remarked  to  the  present 
writer:  "You  have  only  to  open  the  doors  of 
a  theatre  in  these  days  to  fill  your  house," 
and  acting  on  this  assumption  all  manner 
of  cheap,  pretentious,  shoddy  and  futile  pro- 
ductions were  thrown  at  the  public  with  the 
"take  it  or  leave  it"  air  with  which  some 
people  throw  bones  to  the  dog. 

It  was  a  policy  that  paid. 

You  remember  what  the  old  aunt  in  "Mr. 
Britling  Sees  It  Through"  said  on  her  death- 
bed about  the  Kaiser.  "He  was  not  a  man 
who  ought  ever  to  be  allowed  to  make  a  war 
—not  even  a  little  one." 

In  the  same  way  theatrical  tradesmen  who 
ought  never  to  have  been  allowed  to  make  a 
fortune— not  even  a  little  one— amassed 
riches  and  emerged  into  the  magnates  of 
today. 

What  will  these  gentry  do  now  ? 

Many  of  them  never  worried  about  pro- 
ducing plays  at  all.  Why  should  they  when 
they  could  make  fortunes  by  letting  and 
sub-letting  theatres  at  gross  profiteering 
rentals  ? 


The  Outlook  for  Managers 

This  section  will  be  scampering  about  to 
dispose  of  their  sites  and  their  leases. 

Others  of  the  producing  class  without  the 
imagination  to  realise  that  the  public  brain 
is  clearing  now  that  the  fevers  of  war  have 
evaporated  will  continue  to  try  to  tempt  back 
their  patrons  with  old,  cheap  and  shoddy 
goods. 

It  would  not  surprise  me  if  the  present 
slump  is  not  the  first  sign  of  an  approaching 
dissolution  of  the  theatrical  trade  in  this 
country  as  it  stands  today  in  opposition  to 
that  other  all-conquering  trade,  the  cinema. 

And  really,  if  it  is  so  no  one  need  greatly 
worry,  except  the  poor  artists. 

Many  of  these  would,  of  course,  find 
cinema  work,  whilst  the  ladies  of  the  beauty 
chorus,  who  largely  regard  the  theatre  as 
a  place  in  which  to  exhibit  their  charms, 
could  invade  cabarets  or  promote  mannequin 
shows. 

With  the  clearing  out  of  the  profiteering 
renter  normal  plays  would  have  a  chance  in 
what  theatres  were  left. 

With  the  departure  of  the  present  army  of 
presenters  to  the  congenial  task  of  helping 
to  make  London  a  cinema  city,  we  might 
once  again  speak  of  the  "dramatic  profes- 
sion" without  having  our  tongue  in  our 
cheek. 

As  a  trade,  the  theatre  would  be  largely 
dead,  but  as  an  art  it  would  stand  the  chance 
of  a  new  lease  of  life.  In  which  case  the 
visions  of  so  shrewd  a  judge  as  Miss  Lena 
Ashwell  would  be  justified. 

A  HINT  TO  FRANCE 


Endangering  the  Entente 

Pail    Mall    Gazette 

The  querulous  tone  of  certain  French 
newspapers  towards  Great  Britain  does  not 
for  the  lime  being  receive  much  attention, 
and  so  far  no  harm  is  done.  But  since  a 
sharp  turn  of  events  might  alter  the  case, 
there  are  some  things  which  may  be  use- 
fully said  in  the  matter.  The  French  Press 
varies  in  status  and  character  in  a  fashion 
which  cannot  always  be  detected  from  a 
distance.  Certain  orgaiis  offer  a  trustworthy 
reflection  of  public  opinion,  while  others  are 
practically  at  the  disposal  of  anyone  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  secure  their  support. 
The  present  campaign  against  the  British 
Government  is  joined  in  by  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  the  latter  class  to  raise  the  suspicion 
that  mischievous  manipulation  is  being  car- 
ried on  by  the  enemies  of  the  Entente.  All 
the  same,  there  is  a  basis  of  spontaneous 


SOME  BRITISH  EDITORIAL-ARTICLES 


357 


discontent  in  France  for  such  organs  to 
exploit,  and  we  must  hope  that  the  French 
public  will  show  sufficient  discernment  to 
resist  having  its  feelings  made  the  tool  of 
interested  agitation.  The  Government  and 
people  of  this  country  have  during  and  since 
the  war  given  the  solidest  proofs  of  their 
regard  for  the  welfare  and  interests  of 
France.  Both  in  the  assistance  of  French 
economic  recovery  and  in  the  meeting  of 
French  political  views,  they  are  anxious  to 
give  whatever  token  is  possible  of  genuine 
national  friendship.  This  applies  to  the  set- 
tlement with  Germany,  to  the  handling  of 
the  Russian  question,  and  to  every  matter 
of  diplomacy  or  business.  The  only  influ- 
ence that  could  chill  this  attitude  would  be 
an  impression  that  France  felt  no  recogni- 
tion of  it  and  was  unable  to  realise  that 
every  Great  Power  has  interests  of  its  own 
and  international  settlements  can  only  be 
reached  by  a  spirit  of  give-and-take.  There 
is  a  genuine,  if  not  an  immediate,  danger 
of  this  asset  of  British  good  will  being  lost 
to  France  if  circumstances  should  play  into 
the  hands  of  those  who  pull  the  strings  of 
her  less  reputable  journalism.  It  is  a  warn- 
ing that  we  offer  on  solid  grounds  and  in  the 
friendliest  spirit. 

TINO  AGAIN 


The  Duty  of  the  Powers 

Pall  Mall  Gazette 
It  might  have  been  thought  that  the  talk 
of  a  possible  return  of  ex-King  Constantino 
to  the  throne  of  Greece  was  but  the  echo  of 
the  futile  and  febrile  intrigues  which  are 
always  carried  on  around  the  persons  of  re- 
jected Royalties.  It  would  seem,  however, 
it  is  more  sinister  than  that,  and  is  the 
echo  of  a  political  movement  in  Greece  it- 
self. M.  Venizelos  evidently  thinks  the 
tactics  of  the  discredited  Opposition,  who 
are  exploiting  the  personal  popularity  of 
the  ex-King,  are  dangerous  enough  to  war- 
rant the  re-establishment  of  martial  law,  at 
any  rate  until  peace  is  secured  in  the  Near 
East.  M.  Venizelos  must  not  be  allowed  to 
fight  this  battle  single-handed,  the  whole 
weight  of  the  Entente  must  be  thrown  into 
the  struggle  against  reaction  in  Greece. 
The  Powers  have  not  created  a  Greek  Em- 
pire to  see  it  fall  under  the  sway  of  the  ex- 
Kaiser's  sister;  the  mere  suggestion  of  such 
an  evil  contingency  should  invite  the  most 
emphatic  declaration  that  such  a  situation 
could  never  be  permitted.  Self-determina- 
tion of  peoples  cannot  be  allowed  to  go  the 
length  of  nullifying  all  that  we  have  fought 
for  during  the  past  years.  The  egregious 
Tino  may  or  may  not  still  have  friends  in 


Greece,  may  or  may  not  be  himself  the 
harmless  booby  he  seems.  The  fact  remains 
that  as  a  catspaw  of  his  wife  and  her  family 
he  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  most 
sinister  figures  in  Europe.  In  this  country 
the  blood  of  our  murdered  men  will  cry  for 
ever  against  him,  and  to  permit  him  to 
return  to  the  scene  of  his  mean  treachery 
to  the  Allies  and  his  base  flirtation  with  the 
enemies  of  mankind  would  be  a  crime  and  a 
folly  as  grave  as  it  should  be  unthinkable. 
We  hope  that  the  Supreme  Council  will  deal 
with  this  matter  at  once,  and  by  a  timely 
pronouncement  put  an  end  to  the  incipient 
conspiracy  which  that  great  patriot  and 
sincere  friend  of  the  Allies,  M.  Venizelos,  is 
now  combating. 

FOOD  CONTROL 


A  Reply  to  Mr.  McCurdy 

By  Harold  Cox 

Pall    Mall    Gazette 

A  week  or  so  ago  I  wrote  an  article  deal- 
ing with  the  contention  of  the  Food  Min- 
istry that  the  maintenance  of  food  control 
was  necessary  to  keep  down  prices.  I  point- 
ed out  that  prices  cannot  be  reduced  unless 
one  of  two  things  happens — either  supply 
must  be  increased  or  demand  must  be  dimin- 
ished. By  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  Food 
Ministry  can  do  nothing  to  increase  supply; 
that  is  the  work  of  capital  and  labour  in 
field  and  factory.  Nor  can  the  Food  Min- 
istry diminish  demand,  except  so  far  as  it 
enforces  a  strict  system  of  rationing.  But 
rationing  is  impracticable  as  regards  many 
commodities;  and,  even  in  cases  where  it  is 
practicable,  it  is  intensely  unpopular;  it 
involves  heavy  administrative  expenses  and 
provokes  corruption. 

To  this  article  Mr.  McCurdy,  M.  P.,  the 
Food  Minister,  wrote  a  reply  which  appeared 
in  certain  London  and  provincial  papers.  He 
opened  the  article  by  saying  that  the  work 
of  the  Ministry  of  Food  was  "a  pure  busi- 
ness proposition."  I  agree.  The  Food  Min- 
istry's work  is  the  business  proposition  of 
maintaining  its  own  existence.  And  it  de- 
votes itself  to  this  business  with  unfailing 
zeal.  It  has  gathered  round  itself  a  group 
of  Socialists,  humorously  called  a  Consum- 
ers' Council,  and  with  their  aid  it  is  inces- 
santly pulling  the  wires  of  public  opinion 
with  a  view  to  scaring  politicians  into  the 
belief  that  anarchy  would  ensue  if  the  em- 
ployees of  the  Ministry  had  to  earn  their 
living  as  private  citizens. 

Food  Ministry  Powerless 

Mr.  McCurdy *s  attempted  reply  to  the 
arguments  I  used  is  an  illustration  of  the 
pure  business  activities  of  the  Food  Min- 


898 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDirORIAL-WRITING 


istry.  With  an  air  of  philosophic  detach- 
ment, he  writes:  "When  supplies  are  for 
practical  purposes  sufficient  to  meet  the 
world's  demands,  it  will,  I  hope,  be  possible 
for  the  Food  Controller  to  retire."  But  the 
really  practical  question  is,  "What  can  the 
Food  Controller  do  now  or  at  any  time  to 
bring  down  prices?"  Mr.  McCurdy  does  not 
venture  to  challenge  the  proposition  that 
prices  cannot  be  brought  down  unless  either 
the  demand  is  reduced  or  supply  is  in- 
creased. He  implicitly  accepts  that  proposi- 
tion, and  proceeds  to  discuss  the  alternative 
possibilities  of  reducing  demand  or  increas- 
ing supply.  The  former  he  rejects  as  im- 
practicable, except  "within  narrow  limits," 
and  he  says  emphatically:  "I  repeat,  the 
remedy  for  the  present  plague  of  high  prices 
is  increased  supplies." 

I  am  not  concerned  to  dispute  these  con- 
clusions, for  they  only  strengthen  my  argu- 
ment that  the  Food  Ministry  is,  and  by  the 
nature  of  the  case  must  be,  powerless  to 
reduce  prices.  For  if  an  effective  reduction 
of  demand  is  impossible,  there  is  nothing 
left  for  the  Food  Ministry  to  do  but  in- 
crease supply.  It  would  be  interesting  if 
Mr.  McCurdy  in  his  next  communication  to 
the  Press  would  explain  in  what  way  his 
Department  has  increased,  or  can  increase, 
the  supply  of  a  single  commodity.  The  two 
thousand  men  and  women  in  the  Food  Min- 
istry are  neither  delvers  nor  spinners.  They 
add  nothing  whatever  to  the  world's  pro- 
duction of  wheat  or  cloth  or  iron  or  coal. 
Nor  do  they  or  he  in  the  least  degree  stim- 
ulate the  supply  to  the  public  of  commodi- 
ties already  produced. 

The  Public  Pays 
On  the  contrary,  all  the  operations  of  the 


Ministry  and  of  its  counterpart,  the  branch 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  which  till  recently 
was  dealing  with  imported  meat,  tend  to 
check  supply.  Not  only  do  these  Depart- 
ments discourage  producers  and  traders  by 
fixing  maximum  prices,  but  in  specific  in- 
stances the  Ministries  have  themselves 
diminished  supply  by  acquiring  control  over 
large  stocks  and  holding  up  those  stocks  in 
the  hope  of  some  day  selling  them  at  a 
profit. 

Mr.  McCurdy  may  reply  that  in  so  doing 
they  have  only  done  what  an  ordinary  busi- 
ness man  does.  The  answer  is  that  an  ordi- 
nary business  man  is  subject  to  two  restrain- 
ing forces  from  which  the  Food  Ministry  is 
exempt.  A  private  trader  who  holds  out 
for  a  higher  price  than  the  state  of  the 
market  justifies  quickly  finds  himself  under- 
cut by  a  rival.  Even  if  there  is  a  ring — 
as  Mr.  McCurdy  fairly  argues  may  occur — 
the  members  of  the  ring  have  to  fear  the 
risk  that  their  goods  may  remain  so  long 
unsold  that  the  final  sale  may  mean  a  heavy 
loss  to  them.  But  a  Government  Depart- 
ment runs  neither  risk.  It  has  no  competi- 
tion to  fear;  it  establishes  for  itself  an 
absolute  monopoly,  and  uses  the  whole 
power  of  the  State  to  shut  out  competitors 
who  might  undersell  it.  Nor  do  the  Minis- 
ters and  officials  who  compose  a  Government 
Department  run  the  slightest  financial  risk 
if,  by  refusing  to  cut  a  small  loss,  their  De- 
partment becomes  involved  in  a  greater 
loss.  They  will  have  succeeded  in  prolong- 
ing their  own  official  existence,  and  the 
whole  of  the  loss  will  fall  upon  the  shoulders 
of  the  taxpayers  or  will  be  added  to  the 
National  Debt  for  future  generations  to 
bear. 


Part  III. 

SUPPLEMENTARY  THEORY  AND  STUDY 


I.     IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


A  Jonrnalist's  Testament 


What  journalism  ought  to  be,  what 
it  can  be,  and  how  it  can  most  nearly 
become  what  it  should  be,  especially 
in  the  policy  and  practice  of  its  edi- 
torial page — these  perpetually  inter- 
esting and  commanding  problems 
constantly  re-present  themselves,  now 

Preserve  and  protect  with  steadfastness 
and  determination  the  record,  traditions  and 
achievements  of  The  Times,  and  continue 
its  fixed  and  leading  policies  and  methods; 
uphold  its  aims,  purposes  and  aspirations  in 
all  large  and  essential  particulars,  and 
throughout  the  varying  mutations  of  pres- 
ent-day journalism,  perpetuate  unimpaired 
its  independent  and  unfettered  course. 

Constantly,  consistently  and  loyally  up- 
hold and  defend  the  Constitution  and  the 
Flag,  the  Congress  and  the  courts,  the  ex- 
ecutive power  within  its  prescribed  and  law- 
ful limitations,  and  cherish  the  Army  and 
Navy,  those  bulwarks  and  strong  arms  of 
the  Government. 

Stand  undeviatingly  for  Liberty  under 
Law,  for  industrial  and  all  other  forms  of 
republican  freedom,  and  for  sound  govern- 
ment as  the  surest  safeguard  of  the  nation, 
the  state,  the  city  and  the  home.  Bravely 
face  in  their  defense,  whenever  the  need 
comes,  the  frenzied  mob  and  the  prescrip- 
tive madness  of  the  hour. 

Stand  for  honor,  honesty  and  order  in  the 
state,  the  nation  and  the  home,  and  for  that 
private  and  that  public  morality  which  are 
essential  to  the  perpetuity  of  sound,  human 
government.  While  courageously  support- 
ing these  virtuous  principles,  at  the  same 
time  opposf  with  all  your  might  their  op- 


in  new  and  now  in  old  guises.  In  the 
quotations  following,  the  student  will 
find  himself  brought  close  to  the  spirit 
of  twentieth-century  journalism,  ex- 
pressed and  interpreted  by  men  and 
women  to  whom  it  has  been  revealed 
through  service  and  experience ! 

posites  and  whatever  tends  to  the  demoral- 
ization of  human  society  or  jeopardizes  the 
safety  of  the  land  or  the  rights  and  lib- 
erties of  its  citizens.  Antagonize  unceas- 
ingly all  allied  private  or  semi-private 
industrial  combines  which  would  unlawfully 
wrest  from  the  free-bom  American  citizen 
his  guaranteed  constitutional  rights  to  in- 
dustrial, personal  or  political  freedom  and 
make  him  the  slave  of  an  arrogant  and 
monopolistic  trades  despotism.  While  strik- 
ing hard  and  deserved  blows  against  these 
and  other  intolerable  evils,  keep  in  mind 
that  better  state  when  there  shall  be  "peace 
upon  earth  and  good  will  among  men." 
Scourge  as  with  a  whip  of  scorpions  dis- 
honesty, pretense,  hypocrisy,  scoundrelism, 
treason  to  Truth  and  the  country  and  every 
form  of  evil  that  threatens  with  destruction 
the  home,  the  community  or  the  country,  or 
at  the  same  time  encouraging  every  sound 
tendency  and  condition  in  human  society 
that  makes  for  its  preservation,  stability 
and  endurance  on  high  and  right  lines. 

Stand  for  sound,  rational  and  tested  busi- 
ness methods  and  policies  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Times  newspaper,  as  well  as  in 
the  conduct  of  commercial  and  public 
business,  in  order  that  this  journal  and  all 
honest  people  may  "live  long  and  prosper," 
grow  in  grace  and  be  happy.    Hold  up  the 


360 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


hands  and  cheer  the  hearts  of  the  lowly  and 
deserving,  no  matter  how  humble  they  may 
be;  quail  not  before  the  aggressions  of  un- 
just power,  and  live  and  die  game  and  true. 
Fear  God  and  do  right. 

Encourage  all  free,  independent  and 
honest  labor,  no  matter  how  humble,  so  it 
be  honestly  conducted;  at  the  same  time 
not  hesitating  to  support  and  defend  power- 
ful financial,  commercial  and  industrial  al- 
liances, provided  they,  too,  operate  honestly 
and  legitimately,  when  organized  to  accom- 
plish mighty  and  worthy  tasks  too  formida- 
ble to  be  undertaken  by  single  individuals; 
for  true  it  is  that  it  is  not  the  size  of  the 
operation,  but  the  integrity  with  which  it  is 
conducted,  that  determines  its  legitimacy. 
Always  bear  in  mind  the  demonstrated  truth 
that  it  is,  after  all,  the  sane,  brave,  level- 
headed, self -restrained,  right-hearted,  honest 
men  and  women  of  the  land  upon  whom  rests 
and  will  always  rest,  the  responsibility  for 
holding  the  family,  society,  business,  govern- 
ment and  the  country  together. 

Continue  the  upstanding  and  long-pursued 
policy  of  this  journal  in  working,  day  in 
and  day  out,  for  the  upbuilding  on  sound 
lines  of  the  favored  and  favorite  city  and 
section  wherein  The  Times  and  its  makers 
have  their  homes;  and  continue  also  to  aid 
and  abet  the  unhalting  advance  of  all  Cal- 
ifornia, the  entire  Pacific  Coast  and  the 
"ultimate  West." 

Ever  place  patriotism,  duty  and  honor, 
public  and  private  morality  and  the  true 
interests  of  the  State  and  country  before 
mere  commercialism  or  material  success  in 
the  conduct  of  The  Times.  Thus  may  this 
journal  of  ours  be  caused  to  grow  in 
strength,  usefulness  and  power,  able  to 
plough  through  the  turbulent  sea  of  jour- 
nalism like  a  full-rigged  man-of-war. 

Harrison  Gray  Otis. 


A  forecast  fulfilled. — A  journal,  conducted 
as  a  newspaper,  being  a  fearless  purveyor, 
and,  when  needed,  equally  fearless  inter- 
preter, of  the  news,  is,  in  the  intelligent 
public  opinion,  the  newspaper  of  the  future. 
The  day  of  the  organ,  if  not  past,  is 
rapidly  passing.  The  people,  as  they  gain 
culture,  breadth  of  understanding,  and  in- 
dependence of  thought  .  .  .  more  and 
more  demand  the  paper  that  prints  the  his- 
tory of  each  day,  without  fear  of  conse- 
quences, the  favoring  of  special  theories,  or 
the  promotion  of  personal  interests. 

Adolph  Ochs,  in  1891. 

Editorials  of  a  past  generation. — I  have 


recently  had  occasion  to  examine  the  bound 
files  of  newspapers  of  twenty-five  years 
ago.  I  was  in  the  work  then,  but  I  want 
to  tell  you  of  the  amazement  I  felt  in  exam- 
ining the  editorial  pages  of  that  time. 

I  had  never  realized  the  extent  of  the 
process  by  which  the  editorial  has  been  broad- 
ened and  humanized.  The  leading,  almost 
the  only,  theme  then  was  politics,  and  par- 
tisan politics  at  that.  I  do  not  think  I 
exaggerate  when  I  say  that  90  per  cent 
of  the  editorial  space  was  given  to  our 
party's  success,  the  other  party's  failure, 
the  preferment  of  individuals  in  the  party 
organization,  praise  of  the  fellows  who  bear 
our  brand  and  ridicule  of  the  fellows  who 
bear  any  other  brand.  Everybody  on  our 
side  was  right,  and  everybody  on  the  other 
side  was  wrong,  and  the  editor  of  the  rival 
sheet  was  generally  an  intellectual  weakling 
or  a  moral  pervert.  There  was  no  recogni- 
tion of  merit  in  the  men  prominent  in  the 
opposite  party,  or  in  anything  that  they  did, 
and  in  a  paper  of  one  party  it  was  impos- 
sible to  find  even  a  fair  news  statement  of 
any  legislation  by  the  general  assembly  of 
the  other. 

Osman  C.  Hooper. 


Reaction  against  tainted  news. — There 
were  in  the  news  and  feature  columns  cer- 
tain elements  that  were  destined  to  make 
for  the  renaissance  of  the  editorial  columns. 
In  the  public  mind,  the  news  and  feature 
columns  are  dedicated  to  facts;  the  editorial 
columns,  to  the  newspaper's  opinions  and 
policies  as  an  institution.  Many  editors, 
noting  the  power  of  the  news  and  feature 
columns  and  the  impotency  of  the  editorial 
columns,  sought  to  convey  their  own  opin- 
ions, exert  their  own  influence,  subtly,  in- 
sinuatingly, and  reprehensibly,  through  the 
news  and  feature  stories.  The  result  is  the 
forcing  up  again  of  the  editorial  columns. 
The  public  is  awakening  to  the  fact  that  it 
has  been  getting  opinions  mixed  with  its 
facts,  and  it  is  demanding  that  the  two  be 
kept  separate;  the  facts  in  the  news  and 
feature  stories;  the  opinions  in  the  editorial 
columns. 

Again  certain  far-sighted  editors  and 
wise  newspapers  understand  the  public  at- 
titude in  this  regard.  These  editors  and 
these  newspapers  made  a  rigid  distinction 
between  that  which  is  impartial  news  and 
that  which  is  partial  editorial,  and  they 
compel  the  separation  of  the  two,  to  the 
advantage  of  their  readers,  the  promotion 
of  the  public  welfare,  and  the  eventual  profit 
of  their  newspapers. 

The   editorial   power    ...    is   coming 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


361 


back.  The  public  is  resenting  ideas  forced 
on  it  through  the  news  stories.  The  best 
newspapers  today  are  keeping  news  and 
opinion  separate,  strictly,  formally,  defi- 
nitely, always  and  utterly. 

Frank  S.  Baker. 


Reasons  for  past  eclipse  of  the  editorial. — 

A  national  tendency  also  interfered  to  put 
the  editorial  writer  in  the  background — the 
universal  American  mania  for  hurry.  As 
the  reader  no  longer  had  the  time  or  the 
inclination  to  study  out  the  shades  of  edi- 
torial thought,  so  the  editorial  writer  no 
longer  had  the  time  to  draw  long  and  fine 
distinctions  ...  As  the  newspaper  be- 
came more  and  more  a  news-gatherer  rather 
than  a  news-interpreter,  the  magazine  ap- 
proached more  closely  the  Greeley-Bennett 
ideal  of  the  newspaper  without  the  latter's 
unscientific  grossness.  Even  the  growth  of 
intelligence,  which  the  editorial  writer  had 
done  so  much  to  promote,  contributed  to  his 
downfall.  No  longer  did  the  news  reader 
cry,  "Tell  me  how  to  think,"  but  "Tell  me 
what  happened;  I  can  think  for  myself." 
The  writer  was  thrust  into  nothingness  by 
the  Frankenstein  he  had  created. 

Roy  M.  Crismas. 

Break-up  of  old  editorial  domination. — No 

man  and  no  one  set  of  men  can  run  a  nation 
of  intelligent  people.  The  break-up  of  per- 
sonal editorial  power  was  rapid  and  com- 
plete. The  master  journalists  who  came  to 
the  top  about  the  time  of  the  Spanish- Amer- 
ican war  were  sensitive  enough  to  realize 
that  the  old  personal  journalism  was  in  dis- 
pute. They  changed  the  front  of  American 
journalism  in  response  to  the  feeling  of 
resentment.  They  proposed  to  give  the 
readers  not  what  they  thought  the  readers 
ought  to  have,  but  what  they  thought  the 
readers  wanted. 

Frank  S.  Baker. 

Better  ed'torial  era.— The  lowest  point 
reached  by  the  editorial  page  may  be  placed 
at  about  twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago  (circ. 
1900).  Since  that  time  the  pendulum  has 
been  swinging  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Now  it  is  recognized  generally  that  the 
two  departments  are  equally  important. 
Neither  can  be  neglected.  The  successful 
newspaper  must  publish  comprehensive  and 
accurate  news;  it  also  must  entertain  intel- 
ligent opinions  and  be  courageous  enough  to 
express  them. 

H.  W.  Brundige. 

A  new   ethics   and  a  new  ioumalism. — 


Practically  every  newspaper  before  1900 
had  been,  as  Mr.  Watterson  asserted,  a  law 
unto  itself,  without  standards  of  either 
work  or  duty;  its  code  of  ethics,  not  yet 
codified  like  those  of  medicine  and  law,  had 
been,  like  its  stylebook,  individualistic  in 
character.  The  most  important  change  to 
leave  its  mark  upon  the  journalism  of  the 
period  was  not  in  the  gathering  of  news^ 
not  in  the  speed  with  which  it  could  be 
placed  before  the  public,  not  in  the  owner- 
ship and  control  of  the  journal  from  the 
individual  to  the  incorporated  company,  but 
in  the  ethical  advance  made  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  newspaper.  New  standards  of 
ethics  were  established,  not  only  for  the 
editorial,  but  also  for  the  advertising  and 
circulation  departments.  Yet  the  press  but 
reflected  again  the  trend  of  the  times,  for 
it  was  an  era  of  moral  awakening.  Collier's 
Weekly  in  "taking  stock"  asserted:  "Fifty 
years  from  now,  when  some  writer  brings 
Woodrow  Wilson's  "History  of  the  American 
People"  up  to  date,  we  think  he  will  say 
that  the  ten  years  ending  about  January  1, 
1914,  was  the  period  of  the  greatest  ethical 
advance  made  by  this  nation  in  any  decade." 
James  Melvin  Lee. 


Broadened    viewpoint   in   discussion. — On 

the  whole,  the  editorial  page  of  the  present 
is  less  mercenary,  less  partisan,  less  abusive 
than  that  of  a  generation  ago.  It  discusses 
issues  from  a  broader  viewpoint,  and  is 
fairer  to  individuals.  You  may  recall  that 
it  was  Horace  Greeley,  the  greatest  editor 
of  his  time,  who  in  an  outburst  of  narrow 
partisanship  declared:  "Not  all  Democrats 
are  horse-thieves,  but  all  horse-thieves  are 
Democrats."  The  editor  who  today  would 
indulge  in  such  silly  and  insulting  twaddle 
would  be  regarded  with  deserved  contempt. 
H.  W.  Brundige. 

World  war  and  editorial  page. — The  war 

from  the  start  did  much  to  revive  the  in- 
terest in  the  editorial  page.  Unfamiliar 
with  European-  geography,  unacquainted 
with  the  economic  and  political  situations 
in  the  warring  countries,  readers  found  they 
must  have  the  news  interpreted  through  the 
editorial.  The  war  made  readers  more 
thoughtful  and  the  thoughtful  reader  has 
always  been  a  reader  of  the  editorial  page. 
Once  again  American  journalism  found  it- 
self divided  into  two  groups,  one  of  which 
was  pro-Ally,  the  other,  pro-German,  in 
its  editorial  sympathies.  The  editorial  bat- 
tles between  the  two  developed  military 
critics  in  the  editorial  sanctum.  The  en- 
trance of  America  into  the  Great  European 
War  brought  these  two  factors  together  into 


362 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


practically  a  harmonious  press,  with  only 
here  and  there  an  exception  to  prove  the 
general  rule. 

James  Melvin  Lee. 

Reaction  of  controlled  opinion. — The  evil 

resulting  from  the  attempt  to  control  edi- 
torial opinion  through  patronage  has  not 
been  so  widespread  as  believed  by  many 
and,  while  still  existing,  is  rapidly  decreas- 
ing. The  more  intelligent  advertisers  do 
not  now  attempt,  nor  do  they  desire,  to 
control  editorial  policies.  They  have  found 
that  such  control  exercised  by  them  merely 
decreases  the  advertising  value  of  the  me- 
dium. Advertising  to  be  effective  must  com- 
mand the  confidence  of  the  readers. 

H.  W.  Brundige. 


Bay-tree  prosperity  that  passes. — Why  is 

it  that  newspapers  which  serve  private  in- 
terest, subordinate  the  newspaper's  quality 
as  a  public  trust  to  its  status  as  a  private 
enterprise,  taint  the  news  with  editorial  ex- 
pression ever  so  subtly  injected,  win  to  more 
financial  success  than  the  sort  of  newspaper 
which  I  believe  the  only  true  newspaper? 
If  you  will  examine  the  history  of  such  news- 
papers— and  they  are  one  and  all  survivals 
from  the  days  of  personal  journalism — you 
will  find  them  newspapers  unable  to  with- 
stand competition.  .  .  .  But  eventually 
the  personal  journals  lose  their  hold  and 
perish.  For  they  are  founded  on  the  wrong 
principles  of  an  outworn  journalism. 

Frank  S.  Baker. 

The  bought -and-paid-f or  press. — Men  who 

scent  wholesale  conspiracies  in  other  indi- 
viduals usually  wind  up  in  the  observation 
wards  in  our  hospitals,  but  your  next-door 
neighbor  is  privileged  to  believe  in  day-and- 
night  conspiracy  of  the  press  without  fear 
of  having  his  sanity  questioned.  Indeed, 
he  may  be  exalted  by  his  doubt.  And  so 
we  hear  of  agreements  among  newspapers 
to  ignore  this  happening,  to  suppress  that, 
and  to  vilify  this  or  that  defender  of  the 
rights  of  the  people.  In  New  York  City,  so 
deep  are  the  clefts  between  the  various 
newspapers,  that  you  could  never  possibly 
get  their  heads  to  sit  down  around  a  table, 
much  less  break  bread  together.  Yet  I  hear 
constantly  that  we  have  all  agreed  to  per- 
petuate this  outrage  or  that  wrong,  to  ac- 
cept bribes  aggregating  millions,  or  to  sit 
silent  in  the  sight  of  sin  for  our  own 
pocketbook  advantage.  I  was  myself  asked 
the  other  day  in  a  mass  meeting:  "Is  it 
not  true  that  you  are  owned  by  Wall 
Street?" 


Although  the  law  has  compelled  us  of  the 
metropolitan  press  to  print  the  names  of 
all  the  stockholders  and  bondholders  for  a 
year  past,  it  did  not  surprise  me  to  read 
an  article  in  a  current  magazine  by  a  dis- 
tinguished citizen  of  Indiana  to  the  effect 
that  newspapers  ought  to  be  compelled  to 
tell  the  influence  behind  them.  I  have  so 
often  heard  this  rumor,  that  I  have  mort- 
gaged myself  to  Wall  Street,  with  the  name 
and  address  of  the  banker,  that  I  am  sur- 
prised at  nothing.  Not  if  he  should  throw 
his  private  books  open  to  a  Bristow  or  a 
La  Follette,  could  a  New  York  editor  hope 
to  down  this  entertaining  fiction.  He  would 
only  hear  that  his  books  were  doctored,  or 
that  he  was  hiding  behind  somebody  else's 
skirt,  or  that  it  was  the  point  of  view  of 
the  men  he  associated  with  that  really  did 
the  mischief — so  discredited  are  newspaper 
managers  with  certain  sections  of  the  peo- 
ple and  certain  cross — very  cross — sections 
of  the  politicians.  If  you  think  I  exag- 
gerate, please  bear  in  mind  the  bitter  at- 
tacks on  the  Associated  Press  the  present 
winter  has  witnessed. — (1914). 

Oswald  Garrison  Villard. 


What  prevents  decadent  pages. — The  pe- 
riod of  the  greatest  decadence  in  the  edi- 
torial page  happily  is  passed.  During  this 
period  there  were  editors  who  contended 
that  the  editorial  page  was  of  less  conse- 
quence than  the  style  or  size  of  the  type 
used  on  the  first  page.  The  editor  today 
who  belittles  the  importance  of  the  editorial 
page  is  looked  upon  as  archaic  or  ignorant. 
The  decadence  of  the  editorial  page  was  co- 
incident with  the  ascendancy  of  the  business 
office  over  the  editorial  department.  The 
rehabilitation  of  the  editorial  page  began 
when  the  business  office  learned  that  the 
character  of  the  publication  and  the  quality 
of  its  circulation  were  factors  in  achieving 
success  too  important  to  be  neglected. 

H.  W.  Brundige. 

Dirty  dollars. — For  years  The  Chicago 
Tribune  has  declined  annually  $200,000  or 
more  which  it  could  have  if  it  would  print 
patent  medicine  and  disreputable  medical 
advertising.  This  was  a  matter  of  con- 
science— a  dislike  for  dirty  dollars. 

James  Keeley. 

Alleged    subserviency    to    advertisers. — 

Critics  [who  charge  that  big  advertisers  con- 
trol the  papers]  have  not  gone  to  department 
stores  for  information.  Department  stores 
feel  that  they  have  not  been  treated  squarely 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


363 


by  newspapers.  They  assert  that  a  man  can- 
not have  a  harmless  fit  in  their  buiJdings 
without  some  account  getting  into  the  news- 
papers, while  he  may  have  as  many  fits  as 
he  chooses  in  a  smaller  store  without  a 
single  liije  in  the  newspapers  to  record  the 
fact.  Department  stores  maintain  that 
every  time  th'eir  delivery  wagons  have  an 
accident  the  fact  is  made  known  in  the  press 
with  the  name  of  the  store  printed  conspicu- 
ously in  the  account,  while  hprses  attached 
to  wagons  of  smaller  stores  may  run  away 
and  do  considerable  damage  with  news- 
paper readers  none  the  wiser  about  the 
event.  Department  stores  feel  that  the 
newspapers  might  render  a  little  editorial 
assistance  in  matters  of  public  convenience 
and  public  safety,  such  as  a  bridge  joining 
two  buildings  occupied  by  the  same  store; 
they  assert  that  the  newspapers  are  un- 
willing to  endorse  such  enterprises  lest  the 
charge  be  brought  against  them  of  being 
influenced  by  advertising.  Almost  every  de- 
partment store  has  its  tale  of  woe  about  the 
lack  of  co-operation  from  newspapers  in  an- 
nouncing the  welfare  movements  started 
among  employees.  On  the  v/hole,  depart- 
ment stores  present  just  as  strong  a  case 
against  the  newspapers  as  do  the  critics. 
Did  not  this  condition  obtain,  there  would  be 
more  reason  to  suspect  truth  in  the  charge 
that  advertising  possibly  influences  the  news 
and  editorial  columns. 

James  Melvin  Lee. 

The  advertiser's  "pull." — If  the  advertiser 
makes  possible  the  newspaper,  what  becomes 
of  the  independence  of  the  editor?  The  an- 
swer is  plain  and  substantial.  The  indi- 
vidual advertiser  does  not  make  possible  the 
newspaper;  nor  does  a  sensible  advertiser 
attempt  to  control  an  editor.  It  is  the  bulk 
of  advertising  carried  in  a  newspaper  which 
makes  possible  the  publication  of  that 
paper;  and  the  very  fact  that  individual 
advertisers  contributing  the  bulk  are  com- 
petitors among  themselves  makes  each  one 
subject  to  the  general  conditions  created  by 
the  whole.  The  Seattle  Times  recently  lost 
from  its  columns  a  customer  who  has  for 
three  or  four  years  been  paying  that  paper 
$2000  a  month.  This  customer  would  not 
meet  the  conditions  created  by  the  adver- 
tising community;  and  the  management  of 
The  Times  would  not  make  an  exception  of 
its  rules  for  that  particular  case.  The  loss 
of  that  customer  has  strengthened  the  posi- 
tion of  The  Times  among  the  other  adver- 
tisers of  the  community.  It  has  in  an 
indirect  way  increased  the  income  of  the 
paper.  Now  certainly  that  one  advertiser 
was  unable  to  shake  the  independence  of 
the  editor,  or  turn  the  publisher  from  his 


judgment  as  to  what  constitutes  good  gov- 
ernment for  the  advertisers  in  The  Seattle 
Times. 

Joseph  Blethen. 

Being  right  or  being  popular. — Every 
editorial  page  must  have  a  "policy."  It 
must  stand  for  some  things  and  against 
some  things.  An  editor  may  prefer  being 
right  to  being  popular,  or  he  may  prefer 
being  popular  to  being  right.  ...  Of 
the  two,  it  is  easier  to  be  popular,  and  in 
the  majority  of  cases  it  is  more  profitable. 
The  easiest  thoroughfare  to  popularity  is 
via  the  obvious.  If  an  editorial  writer  will 
confine  himself  to  the  iteration  and  reitera- 
tion of  such  fundamental  truths  as  afford 
no  room  for  dispute,  he  will  make  few 
enemies.  One  may  denounce  a  wife-beater, 
or  a  sneak-thief,  in  the  most  emphatic 
terms,  with  absolute  impunity.  One  may 
call  loudly  for  the  suppression  of  tubercu- 
losis without  any  loss  of  subscriptions  or 
advertising  revenue.  But  the  editor  who 
is  not  afraid  to  take  the  unpopular  side  of 
the  argurnent,  who  puts  right  above  sub- 
scription lists  and  justice  above  advertising 
receipts,  is  the  editor  who  is  not  forgotten. 
This,  however,  is  more  a  matter  of  ethics 
than  of  journalism. 

Tom  Dillon. 

The  honest  editor. — It  is  the  honest  editor, 
however  small  the  circle  of  his  readers,  who 
reaps  the  greatest  rewards  intellectually  and 
spiritually.  What  financial  or  circulation 
success  could  compare  with  the  satisfaction 
which  came  to  a  New  York  editor  a  couple 
of  years  ago  who  felt  himself  compelled  to 
antagonize  an  obviously  unfit  candidate  for 
the  United  States  Senate,  a  mere  tool  of 
what  are  known  as  "the  interests."  The 
candidate  sent  word  that  there  was  locked 
up  in  his  safe  information  which  would 
drive  that  editor  out  of  town  and  put  his 
newspaper  out  of  business.  No  money,  I  am 
sure,  could  represent  to  that  editor  the  equiv- 
alent of  the  thrill  that  came  to  him  when 
he  received  this  message,  sent  for  his  man- 
aging editor,  whose  desk  was  loaded  with 
ammunition  with  which  to  oppose  this  po- 
litical tool,  and  to  say  to  that  managing 
editor  and  executive  officer:  "Mr.  Smith,  you 
may  fire  when  ready."  The  newspaper  is 
still  here,  and  so  is  the  editor,  but  the  can- 
didate is  still  a  candidate,  and  the  office  is 
filled  by  some  one  else. 

Oswald  Garrison  Willard. 

Honesty  of  the  press. — It  not  infrequently 
happens  that  public  men  are  able  to  ma- 
neuver themselves  into  public  favor  in  spite 


364 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


of  truthful  accusations  of  evil  doing  against 
them,  and  at  the  cost  of  newspaper  prestige. 
In  recent  years  many  instances  of  this  kind 
have  been  recorded.  Some  uplifters  attrib- 
uted this  to  the  belief  that  the  papers  are 
now  given  to  misrepresentation,  whereas  in 
former  days  the  press  was  more  truthful. 
One  has  only  to  read  the  papers  of  25  or  50 
or  75  years  ago,  in  the  light  of  established 
history,  to  prove  the  idleness  of  such  an 
allegation.  Not  in  many  years  has  a  man 
been  editorially  lied  about  so  maliciously  as 
Abraham  Lincoln  was.  Calumniation,  spe- 
cious reasoning  and  cold  disregard  of  fact 
are  not  now  vital  forces  in  newspaper  po- 
litical battling,  but  they  were,  50  years  ago. 
And  in  Washington's  time  printers'  ink  was 
employed  with  a  villainy  of  purpose  that 
would  paralyze  the  pen  of  a  modern  editor. 
Herbert  Hunter. 


The  right  sort  of  editor. — The  right  sort 
of  an  editor  is  one  of  the  most  useful  citizens 
of  the  Republic.  There  are  three  classes  of 
editors.  One  class  abuse  everything  and 
everybody  they  are  not  paid  to  let  alone. 
The  second  class  possess  a  great,  benevo- 
lent, humanitarian  point  of  view  of  things 
and  try  to  make  this  world  better  and  wiser. 
The  men  in  this  class  are  deserving  of  all 
praise  and  are  a  credit  to  their  profession. 
A  third  class  merely  record  facts  as  they 
appear;  and  these  cannot  properly  be  classed 
as  journalists.  ...  It  takes  more  cour- 
age, more  common  sense,  more  information, 
more  system  and  more  general  intelligence 
to  conduct  a  good  newspaper  than  any  other 
business  a  man  can  get  into  in  this  life. 
Hon.  Champ  Clark. 

Prostitutes  of  the  profession. — No  com- 
mercial returns,  however  great,  can  com- 
pare with  the  moral  satisfaction  attained 
by  the  editor  whose  lance  is  ever  ready  for 
the^  public  enemy,  however  armored.  No 
achievement  of  huge  circulations  can  com- 
pensate for  the  lack  or  loss  of  public  re- 
spect. To  sell  one's  self  and  one's  opinions 
either  for  hire  or  for  dividends  seems  to  me 
utterly  base  and  utterly  treasonable  to  one's 
country— far    more    despicable    than    what 

foes  by  the  name  of  treason  in  war-time, 
he  most  contemptible  figure  in  our  Amer- 
ican life  seems  to  me  the  editor  who  ac- 
cepts a  high  salary  as  a  retainer  cynically 
to  advance  the  fortunes,  political  or  other- 
wise, of  his  employer.  He  is  the  chief  pros- 
titute of  our  profession,  he  is  the  one  who 
injures  it  most,  however  great  the  audience 
to  which  he  boasts  his  daily  appeal.    At  his 


door  and  his  master's  lie  chiefly  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  lack  of  popular  confidence  in 
the   press    of   today.     You   cannot   deceive 
everybody  all  the  time.     Amuse  them  you    ( 
may;   sway  them   in  times   of  excitement; 
blind  even  the  altruistically  inclined  for  a   I 
while  when  they  try  to  believe  that  good  - 
may  come  out  of  evil;  to  win  their  respect 
is    impossible.       But     even     if     hypocrisy, 
cynicism,    and    corruption    combined    could 
achieve  all  they  set  out  to  do,  beyond  dol- 
lars it  has  no  rewards  and  no  satisfactions, 
certainly  none  that  are  lasting  and  worth 
while. 

Oswald  Garrison  Villard. 


Truthfulness. — The  whole  code  of  journal- 
istic ethics  may  be  summed  up  in  this 
little  word  of  five  letters,  TRUTH.  To 
pursue  the  truth  relentlessly,  and  having 
captured  it  to  publish  it  to  the  world  fear- 
lessly, is  certainly  as  worth  while  a  task  as 
any  man  may  undertake.  There  may  be  as 
many  honest  differences  of  opinion  as  there  ' 
are  newspaper  men,  about  the  details  of 
newspaper  making.  There  is  no  scientific 
formula,  and  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
there  cannot  be.  But  I  do  not  believe  that 
there  can  be  an  honest  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  ethical  standard  that  must  guide  a 
newspaper  man  if  he  has  the  slightest  con- 
ception ■  of  the  tremendous  effect  his  work 
is  bound  to  have  on  the  thought  of  those 
who  read  his  newspaper. 

H.  N.  Rickey. 

Adapting  the  page  to  the  times. — Times 

have  changed.  A  newspaper  still  has  a  won- 
derful directing  power  upon  its  readers,  but 
it  must  be  by  fairness  and  through  the 
newspaper's  leading  the  readers  to  think—  f 
to  generate  thought  and  not  by  strongly  ex-  I 
pressing  the  personal  opinions  of  the  editor. 
Conclusions  should  be  left  to  the  readers 
largely.  If  your  editorials  and  news  are 
written  so  as  only  to  lead  readers  to  reach 
the  reasonable  final  judgments  which  you 
desire,  your  paper's  influence  with  its  sub- 
scribers will  be  far  more  effective  than  if 
you  attempt  to  force  them  to  your  deter-  I 
minations.  Readers  like  to  reach  their  own 
decisive  opinions,  and  if  you  are  fair  and 
frank  in  placing  the  truthful  premises  be- 
fore them,  you  can  be  sure  that  in  most 
instances  they  will  reach  the  very  conclu- 
sions which  you  desire;  but  they  will  think 
that  it  is  the  result  of  their  own  reasoning, 
and  that  is  much  more  to  be  desired.  It, 
too,  greatly  pleases  the  reader  himself.  In 
my  serious  judgment,  a  column  of  brief 
editorials  is  sufficient  space  to  devote  to  this 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


365 


department  of  a  paper  in  the  average  city. 
This  is  about  all  one  writer  can  produce 
each  day  and  keep  up  to  high  quality;  and 
about  all  that  readers  want  to  digest. 

James  H.  Callanan. 

Business-journal  editorial  ideals.  —  The 

editor  of  a  successful  business  paper  must 
constantly  dwell  upon  the  heights — he  must 
be  a  seer  and  a  prophet.  It  is  his  duty  to 
blaze  new  trails,  to  dream  practical  dreams, 
to  lead  the  thought  of  his  trade.  What  is 
needed  most  today  in  the  trade  journal  field 
are  editorials  with  backbone;  editorials  that 
say  something  and  that  stop  when  they've 
said  it;  editorials  that  are  unafraid,  not 
dictated  by  manufacturers  seeking  special 
privilege;  editorials  that  call  a  spade  a 
spade,  that  cry  out  against  the  exploitation 
of  the  dealer,  or  against  anything  that  would 
close  the  door  of  opportunity  to  the  youth 
of  our  land;  editorials  that  attack  trade 
abuses,  unfair  practices,  misrepresentation 
and  all  the  various  tricks  and  devices  that 
still  persist  in  high  and  low  places;  edito- 
rials that  expose  the  charlatan  and  the 
bounder;  editorials  written  by  men  having 
warm,  rich  American  blood  in  their  veins, 
and  that  are  full  of  constructive  criticism; 
editorials  that  consider  first  the  interests  of 
the  general  public  and  the  dealer;  edito- 
rials that  never  cringe,  fawn,  ape,  behave 
like  lick-spittles  nor  truck  to  the  petty 
vanities  of  those  seeking  to  prostitute  the 
dealer  to  unworthy  ends;  editorials  that  our 
subscribers'  sons  ought  to  read  if  they  want 
their  boys  to  keep  up  the  best  traditions 
of  he  business;  not  the  jelly-fish  kind,  not 
the  spineless  variety  affected  by  some  papers 
that  are  afraid  to  call  their  souls  their 
own,  but  the  clean-cut,  wholesom.e  opinions 
of  the  leaders  of  the  best  thought  in  the 
world  of  business. 

W.  H.  Ukers. 


justice,    as    a    social    safety   valve,   as   the 
guardian  of  our  liberties. 

Oswald  Garrison  Villard. 


Exalted  purpose  of  journalism. — The  edi- 
tor who  is  true  to  himself  and  to  his  pro- 
fession and  to  his  clients,  who  are  all  man- 
kind, and  not  merely  the  few  who  buy  his 
wares,  is  sure  to  profit  by  that  nobility  of 
purpose  which  invariably  exalteth.  Let  me 
record  solemnly  my  inmost,  most  earnest 
belief  that  only  as  the  profession  to  which 
we  belong  lives  up  to  this  ideal,  shall  its 
influence  with  the  public  wax,  shall  it  regain 
its  lost  prestige,  shall  it  in  full  degree  exer- 
cise its  functions  of  serving  the  people,  of 
controlling  their  servants,  the  politicians,  of 
keeping  our  moral  and  our  national  life 
pure  by  bringing  forward  the  new,  modern- 
izing the  old,  by  giving  vent  to  every  appeal 
for   aid,  to   all   fault-finding,   to   every   in- 


Service  rendered  by  the  press. — The  great 

service  of  the  Press  is  that  it  promotes  free 
discussion — above  all,  that  it  disseminates 
information;  and  implicitly,  while  no  jot  of 
influence  is  disclaimed,  the  journalist  of  the 
present  day  confesses  that  his  first  function 
is  not  comment.  We  have  heard  a  hard- 
headed  Scot  sum  the  position  up  in  the 
words,  "Give  us  your  news,  not  your  opin- 
ions; we  can  form  our  opinions  for  our- 
selves, if  you  will  tell  us  accurately  what  is 
happening."  A  compatriot  of  that  speaker, 
a  famous  mathematical  coach,  celebrated  for 
his  wide  outlook  on  life  and  his  shrewd  wis- 
dom, once  said,  "I  find  nowadays  that  those 
who  read  leading  articles  are  either  the  very 
old  or  the  very  young."  It  is  to  a  public 
feeling  such  as  is  represented  by  these  words 
that  is  due  the  modern  curtailment  of  the 
merely  opinionative  part  of  newspapers,  or 
perhaps  its  transference  to  columns  where 
experts  write  under  their  own  names. 

James  D.  Symon. 

The  paper  is  an  institution. — "The  edito- 
rial is  only  one  man's  opinion  and  is  worth 
just  that  much."  That  is  not  true.  One 
editorial  writer,  in  answering  that  flippant 
estimate,  truthfully  declared  that  "the 
average  newspaper  editorial  discussing 
public  affairs  is  the  opinion  of  an  institu- 
tion. And  what  is  an  institution?  It  is  a 
great  idea  given  practical  expression,  an 
idea  that  has  lived  and  is  glorified  by  tradi- 
tion. The  newspapers  of  this  country — the 
reputable  newspapers — are  founded  on  cer- 
tain broad  principles,  which  are  funda- 
mental, clear  and  unmistakable.  The  men 
who  write  the  editorials  are  familiar  with 
the  newspaper's  principles,  its  traditions, 
and  its  aspirations;  and  when  they  write  an 
editorial  of  importance,  they  express  the 
views  of  the  institution."  Osman  C.  Hooper. 

The  editorial  is  its  paper. — An  editorial 
has  been  defined  as  the  expression  of  the 
views  of  an  editor.  This  definition  does  not 
take  into  account  the  personality  that  at- 
taches to  the  modern  newspaper,  and  the 
impersonality  that  attaches  to  the  editorship 
because  of  its  collective  character.  A  better 
definition  is  that  the  editorial  is  an  expres- 
sion of  the  views  of  the  newspaper  itself. 
In  its  larger  sense  the  editorial  is  an  inter- 
pretation of  events,  viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  certain  definite  principles  or  policies 
adopted  or  advocated  by  the  newspaper. 
H.  W.  Brundige, 


366 


EDITOKIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


The  paper  as  parish  priest. — The  big  de- 
velopment of  the  modern  newspaper  will  be 
along  lines  of  personal  service.  The  news- 
paper that  not  only  informs  and  instructs 
its  readers,  but  is  of  service,  is  the  one 
that  commands  attention,  gets  circulation, 
and  also  holds  its  readers  after  it  gets  them. 
The  newspaper  must  be  of  service  today, 
not  only  in  politics  and  morals — not  only  as 
it  has  been  in  the  past  in  fighting  the 
battles  of  the  people  against  tyrants  and  in 
holding  them  in  check  when  they  have  been 
tempted  to  revenge  outrages — but  it  must 
be  of  social  service.  It  must  not  only  plead 
with  people  to  swat  the  crook,  but  must  also 
urge  them  to  swat  the  fly.  It  must  not 
only  help  in  the  fighting  for  a  clean  city, 
but  must  aid  the  clergy  and  others  in  the 
fighting  for  a  clean  home.  It  must  not  only 
teach  patriotism,  but  must  show  the  folly  of 
the  annual  massacre  on  July  4.  ...  It 
must  enter  into  the  everyday  life  of  its 
readers  and,  like  the  parish  priest,  be  guide, 
counselor,  and  friend.  I  have  often  thought 
that  a  newspaper  can  most  closely  realize 
its  real  mission  the  nearer  it  comes  to  at- 
taining the  ideals  of  the  parish  priest  and 
the  clergyman  in  his  ministrations  to  his 
flock.  And  the  newspaper's  flock  is  often 
numbered  in  the  hundreds  of  thousands. 

James  Keeley. 


main  as  oracles  in  sole  possession  of  their 
fields.  .  .  .  When  all  men  think  alike 
the  spice  of  life  will  be  gone,  initiative  will 
be  smothered,  and  the  world  will  be  reduced 
to  a  dull  level  of  mediocrity. 

James  Keeley. 


Applying  the  advertiser's  money. — That 
publisher  succeeds  best  who  best  serves  his 
readers.  A  paper  which  would  suppress 
news  or  deceive  its  readers  at  the  command 
of  any  advertiser  or  group  of  advertisers, 
would  speedily  become  a  hand-bill.  It  is  the 
publisher's  business  to  take  the  advertiser's 
money  and  therewith  secure  the  best  editorial 
talent,  the  brightest  reporters,  the  cleverest 
artists,  the  most  modem  machinery,  the 
largest  force  of  carriers,  and  the  most  mod- 
em building,  with  which  to  produce  that 
manufactured  product  known  as  a  news- 
paper. 

Joseph  Blethen. 

Ideal  impossibilities. — An  ideal  paper, 
broadly  speaking,  is  impracticable.  The 
people  can  endow  a  newspaper.  No  one 
else  can.  There  are  too  many  men  of  many 
minds  ...  to  make  an  ideal  paper  pos- 
sible. Oatmeal  may  be  the  ideal  breakfast 
food,  ...  but  it  never  has  been  uni- 
versally adopted  and  never  will  be  until  all 
palates  are  set  in  the  same  gustatory  key. 
So  what  might  be  the  mental  oatmeal  to 
some  would  prove  caviar  to  the  general 
multitude.  Even  class  and  technical  papers, 
which  one  would  think  should  speak  with 
unanimity  and  authority,  do  not  long  re- 


Journalism  a  profession. — There  are  peo- 
ple who  will  still  believe  that  "anybody  can 
run  a  newspaper."  But  brains  and  educa- 
tion are  demanded  to  guide  newspapers, 
more  and  more  as  time  goes  on.  Some  years 
ago  the  printer  often  became  an  editor,  and 
this  v/as  all  very  well  for  those  times.  Some 
of  these  men  excelled.  Some  became  famous 
journalists  and  writers.  It  will  be  rare  from 
now  on  when  a  man  "at  the  case"  can  so 
develop.  A  higher  educational  standard 
among  readers  demands  better  equipped  men 
intellectually  as  newspaper  writers. 

Therefore  I  believe  in  schools  of  journal- 
ism; not  because  these  alone  will  make  for 
success,  any  more  than  a  college  diploma  in 
every  individual  case  will  be  a  passport  to 
a  successful  career,  but  because  better  equip- 
ment is  ever  necessary  in  the  newspaper 
field.  Our  vocation  is  no  longer  a  happen- 
so,  but  ...  a  profession,  honored  and 
respected  among  men,  demanding  equip- 
ment of  high  standard  and  with  opportuni- 
ties for  human  uplift  which  carry  tremen- 
dous responsibilities.  Capable  newspaper 
writers  are  in  greater  demand  each  year 
and  publishers  must  depend  more  and  more 
upon  these  schools  for  instructing  students 
in  newspaperdom  for  their  supply  of 
writers. 

James  H.  Callanan. 


The  "soul  department." — Back  of  all  and 

greater  than  all,  is  an  invisible  department 
which  I  would  call  the  spirit  of  the  paper. 
It  is  vested  in  the  controling  ownership.  It 
should  hold  itself  responsible  for  the  charac- 
ter and  honor  and  reputation  of  the  publica- 
tion. It  is  the  conscience  of  the  institution 
— that  one  thinking  mind  which  forever  asks 
itself,  "Is  this  right?"  The  management 
may  be  the  brains,  the  editorial  the  heart, 
the  advertising  department  the  digestion, 
and  all  the  minor  departments  the  arms  and 
legs  and  eyes  and  ears  of  that  peculiar  in- 
stitution, a  technical  paper;  but  that  in- 
visible, responsible,  controlling  conscience  is 
the  soul  of  the  whole  thing.  It  may  seem 
strange  to  you,  but  most  technical  news- 
paper diseases  originate  in,  and  concern,  this 
soul  department.  For  there  are  good,  bad 
and  indifferent  souls.  Most  of  the  weak- 
nesses, most  of  the  wrong  practices,  most 
of  the  crookedness,  meanness,  injustice,  ar- 
rogance and  fear  shown  by  any  paper  are 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


367 


caused  by  the  wabbly  soul  behind  all  the 
outward  show  of  what,  but  for  it,  might  be 
a  great  institution. 

John  A.  Hill. 

The  journalist  an  idealist. — It  is  a  pleas- 
ure to  welcome  to  Massachusetts  the  repre- 
sentatives of  a  profession  who  are  ever  so 
keen  to  detect  a  sham  and  so  ready  to  realize 
and  appreciate  a  reality.  There  never  was 
a  time  in  our  history  when  the  importance 
and  the  responsibility  of  the  press  were 
greater  than  at  the  present  day.  A  true 
journalist  is  not  a  realist,  but  an  idealist. 
Art  lies  in  depicting  the  character,  in  telling 
the  meaning  of  the  thing  that  is  either 
painted,  spoken  or  written  about,  and  so 
journalism  lies  in  telling  the  people  the 
character  of  the  news  of  the  day  and  inter- 
preting to  them  its  meaning,  in  order  that 
they  may  get  the  real  and  the  true  meaning 
of  the  things  that  are  passing  on  about 
them  from  day  to  day.  It  is  the  choice  of 
that  which  is  essential  and  the  rejection  of 
that  which  is  accidental,  and  there  never 
was  a  time  when  there  was  more  need,  more 
necessity  for  those  who  can  teach  the  people 
by  the  voice  of  the  word  and  through  the 
journals  of  our  country  than  the  present. 
Hon.  Calvin  Coolidge. 


with  the  practical  equipment  and  the  sin- 
cere and  vigilant  purpose  to  present  the 
news  honestly  and  without  prejudice,  and 
to  interpret  it  with  independence  and  fair- 


ness. 


Demands  of  American  journalism. — In  all 

its  angles  there  is  in  American  Journalism 
a  demand  and  an  urgent  need  for  men  of 
ability;  men  possessing  the  cardinal  virtues 
— prudence,  justice,  temperance,  and  forti- 
tude; faith,  hope  and  charity;  men  who  love 
their  country  and  their  fellowmen;  men  of 
courage  and  convictions;  men  with  vision 
and  imagination;  men  who  are  thorough  and 
painstaking — who  take  a  pride  in  their  work 
and  whose  heart  and  soul  are  in  it;  men 
who  do  not  think  they  know  it  all,  but  can 
learn  from  others;  men  who  are  constantly 
seeking  for  and  acquainting  themselves  with 
the  newest,  the  best,  and  the  most  effective 
work  done  by  others,  and  with  the  intelli- 
gence to  understand  what  they  learn  and 
to  apnly  the  knowledge  to  their  under- 
takings; men  who  are  thoroughly  grounded 
in  the  very  rudiments  of  newspaper-making; 
men  who  know  a  proof-press,  a  shooting 
stick,  a  quoin,  a  rotary  press,  linotype,  an 
autoplate;  a  monkey  dash  as  well  as  a 
column  rule;  with  not  only  a  nose  for  news, 
but  olfactories  to  scent  odors  and  detect 
rottenness;  men  with  a  sense  of  proportion 
and  of  values,  and  with  an  eye  for  impres- 
sive and  pleasing  typographical  display; 
men  who  in  circulation  know  the  real  from 
the  artificial,  and  in  advertising  know  the 
genuine  from  the  deceptive;  above  all,  men 


Adolph  S.  Ochs. 


Newspapers  as  a  constructive  force. — It 

is  well  to  note  how  greatly  the  teaching, 
the  "curriculum,"  of  the  newspaper  has  been 
enlarged.  No  longer  ...  is  the  news- 
paper devoted  alone  to  the  recording  of  cur- 
rent events  and  their  interpretation,  but  em- 
braces all  that  helps  "for  the  upbuilding 
physically,  commercially  and  morally"  as  a 
great  constructive  force.  The  newspaper 
teaches  ...  all  that  pertains  to  the  in- 
dustries or  manufactures,  to  agriculture, 
transportation,  commerce,  sanitation,  public 
improvements,  good  roads,  domestic  science 
and  economy;  efficiency  and  system  and  the 
relations  to  the  people  of  the  great  public 
utilities  and  corporations  that  have  grown 
up  within  fifty  years,  and  their  necessary 
and  just  regulation.  As  a  great  conserving 
and  constructive  force,  the  newspaper  has 
become  an  institution  and  has  gone  vastly 
beyond  the  confining  restrictions  of  its  name 
unless  it  be  conceded  that  all  that  is  inform- 
ing, in  a  broad  sense,  is  news. 

B.  B.  Herbert. 

The  potent  editorial  page. — There  are  two 
factors  in  the  making  of  a  newspaper  that 
have  to  do  peculiarly  with  the  interest  of 
the  public;  namely,  the  news  section  and  the 
editorial  page.  The  news  section  deals  with 
current  events;  it  recites  the  story  of  cur- 
rent happenings  of  the  world  and  deals 
especially  with  contemporaneous  local  af- 
fairs. The  newspaper's  mission  here  is  to 
present  impartially  and  fairly  to  its  readers 
what  the  public  desires  to  know,  and  should 
know,  of  current  events. 

The  editorial  page  of  a  newspaper  is  preg- 
nant with  a  greater  responsibility  and  is  a 
more  potent  force  for  good  or  evil  than  are 
the  news  columns,  and,  in  my  opinion,  is 
one  of  the  greatest  forces  for  the  good  or 
evil  in  the  world. 

A  newspaper  without  a  live  editorial  page 
is  like  a  ship  without  a  rudder;  it  may  be 
a  purveyor  of  news,  but  it  fails  in  its 
greater  mission  as  a  molder  of  public 
thought  and  opinion;  and  if  a  newspaper 
fails  in  this  respect,  it  is  a  failure  indeed. 
Charles  H.  O'Neil. 

Far-circling  influence  of  editor. — The  edi- 
torial writer  has  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
opportunities  of  service  that  are  given  to 
men.     He  may  do  several  very  important 


368 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


things.  He  may  teach,  attack,  defend, 
praise,  exhort,  inspire,  or  amuse.  All  that 
the  orator  in  pulpit  or  elsewhere  can  do, 
the  editorial  writer  can  do— if  he  have  the 
same  qualities — much  more  effectively.  An 
orator  is  fortunate  if  he  is  able  to  speak  to 
2500  persons,  but  an  editorial  writer  on  a 
paper  with  no  more  than  1000  circulation, 
may  speak,  at  a  conservative  estimate,  to 
4000  persons.  What  wonders,  then,  may  an 
editorial  writer  do  if  his  thought  goes  into 
a  paper  with  100,000  circulation! 

Osman  C.  Hooper. 

Good  character  indispensable. — I  wish  to 
assure  you  that  character  is  absolutely  es- 
sential to  the  success  of  any  newspaper  man 
or  woman.  It  is  a  fallacious  idea  that  a 
newspaper  can  be  corrupt  editorially  and  can 
succeed  financially.  Perhaps  this  is  a  de- 
batable assertion,  but  I  am  confident  that 
the  day  is  rapidly  coming  when  the  un- 
scrupulous newspaper  will  have  to  heed  the 
warnings  of  public  opinion. 

Charles  B.  Welch. 


The  motto  of  "I  serve." — Editorial  utter- 
ances must  be  verified  and  guarded  with 
eternal  vigilance — all  the  readers  are  on  the 
jury.  If  you  do  not  think  they  are  awake 
make  a  mistake  or  a  misstatement  and  see 
how  quick  and  sharp  you  get  called.  An 
unjust  insinuation,  a  criticism  from  a  writer 
without  full  information,  may  do  great  in- 
jury. Prejudice,  narrowness,  indigestion, 
cocksureness,  conceit  and  ingrowing  disposi- 
tions should  not  be  allowed  in  editorial 
chairs.  If  you  aspire  to  editorial  honors — 
and  no  man  should  be,  or  generally  is, 
honored  more  than  the  conscientious  editor 
of  a  technical  paper — saturate  your  soul 
with  the  meaning  of  the  word  "helpfulness." 
Like  the  Soldier  King  of  France,  inscribe 
upon  your  banner,  "I  serve." 

John  A.  Hill. 

No  service,  no  success. — To  achieve  en- 
during success,  the  full  measure  of  success 
(the  paper)  must  be  something  more  than  a 
business  proposition — much  more  than  a 
money-making  chronicler  of  fact  and  dis- 
seminator of  news.  It  must  conserve  and 
promote  the  community  welfare.  A  news- 
paper whose  interest  extends  not  beyond  its 
circulation  and  advertising  revenues — a 
paper  of  sordid  aim  and  endeavor  only — 
builds  itself  upon  an  insecure  foundation. 
It  cannot  last.  .  .  .  Journalism  of  the 
twentieth  century  furnishes  abundant  proof 
that  real  success  is  achieved  along  broader 
and  better  lines.  Infinitely  more  difficult  is 
it  for  a  newspaper  to  succeed  without  char- 


acter than  for  a  man  without  character  to 
achieve  anything  really  worth  while  in  life. 

Scott  C.  Bone. 

The  "if"  that  explains  influence. — If  fun- 
damental honesty  and  sincerity  is  the 
watchword  of  the  editorial  department  of  a 
newspaper,  I  assure  you  that  that  news- 
paper will  be  a  powerful  factor  in  the  life 
and  thought  of  its  community — a  power  that 
will  be  greater  than  the  pulpit,  stage  or 
forum  for  the  betterment  and  elevation  of 
mankind.  Charles  H.  O'Neil. 


The  way  to  dusty  death. — No  paper  that 
permits  its  advertisers  or  the  personal,  so- 
cial, and  financial  friends  of  its  editor  to 
control  or  taint  its  news  and  editorial  col- 
umns ever  has  become  a  big  newspaper,  a 
successful  newspaper,  or  a  newspaper  that 
is  respected  by  the  people. 

James  Keeley. 

The  papers  that  fail. — ^You,  as  editors, 
have  in  very  large  measure,  the  public  in- 
terest in  your  keeping.  It  is  a  sacred  trust 
and  grave  responsibility.  You  cannot  prop- 
erly lightly  consider  it.  To  serve  it  you 
must  cast  aside  self  and  apparent  selfish  in- 
terests. If  you  serve  the  public  interest  well, 
if  you  are  faithful  to  your  responsibilities, 
you  need  have  no  fear  of  your  ultimate 
personal  business  success.  The  news- 
papers that  fail  financially,  it  will  be  ob- 
served, are  not  those  that  "snuggle"  close 
to  the  hearts  of  their  constituency  by  rea- 
son of  their  splendid  integrity  and  their 
broadness  of  spirit,  that  endeavor  to  bring 
out  the  best  in  man  rather  than  the  worst. 
On  the  contrary,  it  will  be  observed,  that 
the  newspapers  that  have  to  struggle  and 
most  frequently  fail,  are  those  that  forget 
their  bounden,  natural  duty,  and  try  to  put 
self  ahead  of  the  public  interest;  news- 
papers, whose  editors,  lacking  in  apprecia- 
tion and  the  quality  of  divine-human-senti- 
ment that  makes  for  the  broad-gauged  man 
and  the  ideal  editor,  cannot  hope  to  gain 
human  sympathy,  love  and  support  when 
they  themselves  breed  discord  hate,  dis- 
sension and  selfishness. 

Charles  H.  O'Neil. 


Convictions  in  country  editing. — Personal 
convictions  are  valuable  in  editing.  The 
profession  of  editing  demands  these  con- 
victions, plenty  of  them,  and  a  strong,  in- 
sistent type,  too.  The  country  newspaper 
cannot  be  dissociated  from  its  editorship, 
and  since  it  must  take  its  stands  and  make 
its  pronouncements  on  matters  of  public 
concern  in  the  community,  the  editor  miist 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


369 


be  prepared  for  responsibility.  Most  coun- 
try editors  are  so  prepared,  and  express 
their  convictions.  But  they  are  not  truly 
appreciative  of  the  worth  of  their  convic- 
tions. Country  editors  generally  hold  them- 
selves too  cheaply. 

F.  A.  Hazeltine. 

Honor  of  the  press. — I  have  never  seen  a 
man  wise  enough  to  be  a  censor.  You  would 
need  censors  for  censors,  and  the  proud 
thing  about  our  profession,  and  the  thing 
about  it  that  made  me  more  than  ever  proud 
to  belong  to  it,  was  that  during  this  great 
war,  in  which  we  had  to  request  members 
of  the  press  not  to  print  news  that  might 
give  information  to  the  enemy,  I  do  not 
recall  a  single  instance,  in  which  members 
of  my  profession  were  asked  not  to  print 
thenews,  that  they  violated  the  request  of 
their  government. 

Josephus  Daniels. 
Reported  in  The  Fourth  Estate  (1920). 


Adherence  to  ideals. — I  would  be  among 
the  last  to  believe  that  an  editorial  writer, 
an  editor,  or  anybody  else  should  be  merely 
a  social  retainer  and  should  sacrifice  his 
ideals.  I  spoke  of  idealism.  Well,  it  is 
the  great,  big  fact  in  the  new  editorial  page. 
More  crimes  than  have  been  committed  in 
the  name  of  Liberty  have  been  committed 
in  the  name  of  "The  public  wants  it."  Con- 
sider it.  That's  what  every  disreputable 
salesman  of  a  bad  thing  says. 

Dante  Barton. 

The  class  newspaper. — You  can  address 
yourself  to  a  small  select  class  or  you  can 
appeal  to  the  whole  community.  If  you 
print  a  class  newspaper  your  task  is  easy. 
An  afternoon  paper  in  New  York  and  an- 
other in  Boston  are  specimens  of  this  kind. 
Their  circulations  are  not  large,  neither  are 
they  subject  to  violent  fluctuations.  They 
are,  so  to  speak,  habits — and  hereditary 
habits,  too.  When  an  old  resident  dies,  they 
lose  a  subscriber,  and  when  a  son  comes  of 
age  they  get  one, 

James  Keeley. 


Gospel  of  editorial  optimism. — Show  me 
a  town  in  which  the  people  look  on  the 
bright  side  of  life,  are  progressive  and 
thrifty,  and  I  will  show  you  that  its  leading 
newspaper  is  edited  by  a  man  who  is  an 
optimist.  The  newspaper  editor,  even  more 
than  the  clergyman  in  his  pulpit,  should 
preach  cheerfulness  to  the  sorrowing,  pa- 
tience to  the  headstrong,  hope  to  the  dis- 
couraged, and  the  ultimate  triumph  of  truth 


to  those  who   have  been   ground   into  the 
dust  by  circumstances  or  their  own  folly. 
Frank  LeRoy  Blanchard. 

Influence  of  press  toward  betterment. — 

It  was  the  newspapers  that  brought  about 
child  labor  reform.  Newspapers  have  dealt 
with  one  great  evil  after  another.  Slowly 
the  individual  responds  to  the  newspaper's 
information  and  reforms  come  about.  News- 
papers have  established  the  fact  that  it  is 
in  the  existence  of  evil  and  not  the  pub- 
lication thereof  that  the  wrong  exists.  We 
cannot  exclude  the  foul  air  of  the  sewer 
from  our  house  unless  we  clean  the  sewer. 
Talcott  Williams. 

The  editor  and  public  spirit. — The  editor 
with  a  grouch,  or  a  mean  disposition,  can 
do  more  to  upset  a  community  than  half 
a  dozen  agile-tongued  gossips.  Have  you 
ever  visited  a  city  or  village  where  the 
inhabitants  seemed  to  spend  the  most  of 
their  leisure  time  in  saying  disreputable 
things  about  their  neighbors,  or  in  running 
down  the  town,  and  whose  every  remark 
was  characterized  by  the  tang  of  ill  feeling  ? 
If  you  have,  you  may  depend  upon  it  that 
they  only  reflect  the  views  and  the  spirit  ex- 
pressed by  the  editor  in  the  columns  of  the 
local  newspaper. 

Frank  LeRoy  Blanchard. 

The     public's     vicarious     thinking. — The 

press  has  no  soul,  never  had  and  never  will 
have;  the  press  is  simply  one  man  or  a 
number  of  men  speaking  to  the  community. 
The  people  of  this  country  are  too  busy  or 
too  lazy  to  think  for  themselves.  They 
would  rather  pay  someone  else  to  think  for 
them.  The  newspaper  man  is  paid  to  think 
for  the  public.  He  must  think  loud  enough 
to  be  heard  by  all  his  subscribers.  We  don't 
want  a  saint  at  the  head  of  a  paper,  but  we 
want  a  man  of  the  people.  He  mustn't  be 
more  learned  than  the  public,  but  what  he 
knows  he  must  know  better. 

Rev.  Father  David  S.  Phelan. 

The  vast  majority  of  people  do  not  think 
deeply.  Just  as  most  people  prefer  to  have 
their  religion  thought  out  for  them,  so  are 
they  willing  to  let  others  do  most  of  their 
serious  thinking  of  all  kinds  for  them, 
whether  they  are  willing  to  consent  to  it 
before  it  is  done  or  are  willing  to  admit  it 
after  it  has  been  done  for  them. 

F.  G.  Cooper. 

Giving  words  to  the  reader's  thought. — 

The  view  of  the  newspaper  is  really  a  re- 


370 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL^WRITING 


flection  of  what  men  are  thinking  at  the 
moment.  The  plain  man,  however,  thinks  a 
great  deal  more  than  he  can  express.  He 
is  not  a  philosopher,  and  he  cannot  discover 
the  reasons  for  his  opinions,  or  more  ac- 
curately, he  cannot  express  his  reasons  in 
a  philosophic  way.  This  is  what  the  "able 
editor"  has  to  do  for  him,  and  the  moment 
he  sees  it  in  print  he  hits  the  sheets  with 
his  hand,  and  exclaims  to  his  neighbor  in 
the  railway  carriage:  "That's  exactly  what 
I've  been  thinking  all  along."  At  the  same 
time,  it  never  occurs  to  him  that  the  philo- 
sophic statement  of  the  case  is  due  to  the 
skill  of  the  editor,  and  that  he  himself  would 
never  have  arrived  at  it  without  the  help 
of  his  newspaper. 

James  D.  Symon. 

The  public  is  ethical. — The  majority  of 
subscribers  are  ethical.  They  accept  a  news- 
paper and  its  efforts  at  face  value.  The 
paper  becomes  a  part  of  their  home  or  busi- 
ness life.  Its  presence  each  week  or  each 
day  is  looked  for  eagerly.  If  it  fails  to 
reach  them  regularly  they  are  disappointed. 
They  read  and  enjoy  what  it  contains.  They 
accept  the  news  of  the  world,  and  the 
stories,  as  facts.  If  they  do  not  agree  with 
an  occasional  editorial  they  are  fair  enough 
to  concede  the  editor  the  right  to  his  opin- 
ion, for  after  all  the  paper  is  his.  They 
have  no  axes  to  grind. 

A.  R.  Fenwick. 


Identity  with  the  community. — To  help  it- 
self attain  the  maximum  of  success,  the 
country  newspaper  must  be  thoroughly  rep- 
resentative of  its  community.  To  represent 
properly  its  community,  to  do  credit  to  its 
editor  and  publisher,  to  achieve  the  desired 
financial  success,  it  must  be  more  than  a 
mere  compendium  of  the  community  hap- 
penings. Fully  one-half  of  the  newspaper 
failures  that  occur  are  failures  only  because 
the  editors  and  publishers  have  failed  to 
grasp  the  opportunities  their  fields  offered. 
In  making  the  kind  of  a  newspaper  that 
will  win,  in  almost  any  town  or  city,  it  is 
not  so  much  money  that  is  needed  as  energy 
and  initiative. 

Wright  A.  Patterson. 

The  paper  that  represents  its  people. — The 

requirements  of  a  small  community  are 
greater  than  those  of  a  large  city.  In  a 
small  town,  an  all-round  newspaper  man  is 
needed;  no  sailing  under  false  colors;  what 
is  in  him  is  soon  known.  The  editors  and 
publishers  of  the  great  daily  newspapers 
are  removed  from  the  people,  they  occupy  a 
lofty   place    from    which    they    gaze    with 


cynical  eyes  upon  the  transactions  of  the 
world.  Their  personality  is  unknown  to  the 
people.  Not  so  with  those  occupying  sim- 
ilar positions  on  the  smaller  daily  news- 
paper; they  are  in  the  same  atmosphere  of 
ideas  and  sympathies  with  the  people;  they 
reflect  the  sentiments  of  their  communities, 
for  they  come  daily  in  contact  with  almost 
every  element  of  their  constituency.  Briefly 
stated,  the  small  daily  newspaper  is  repre- 
sentative of  the  people,  the  metropolitan 
daily  seeking  to  be. 

Adolph  S.  Ochs. 

Country  editors  and  their  folk. — ^The 
writer  on  a  country  paper  is  in  much  closer 
touch  with  the  subscribers  than  a  city  writer 
can  be.  She  knows  full  well  the  little  prej- 
udices and  jealousies  existing  between  town 
folks  and  the  farmer  population,  and  must 
use  tact  in  dealing  with  them.  A  news- 
paper should  be  the  medium  by  which  trade 
is  attracted  from  the  surrounding  country 
to  that  town,  and  it  should  be  the  constant 
study  of  the  country  editor  to  interest  the 
country  population,  not  only  in  the  paper, 
but  in  the  town,  and  to  interest  the  town 
people  in  the  surrounding  country. 

Mrs.  T.  E.  Dotter. 


The  journalist  as  community  interpreter. 

— The  journalist  walks  between  the  living 
masses  and  dead  knowledge.  The  true  jour- 
nalist's life  is  builded  into  the  structure  of 
society.  His  first  duty  is  not  to  the  indi- 
vidual, not  to  class,  not  to  party;  it  is  to 
his  community,  whether  it  is  a  small  town 
or  a  great  city. 

Talcott  Williams. 


Human  nature  and  its  mirror. — Human 
nature  is  about  the  same  everywhere,  and 
in  every  village  of  a  thousand  people  may 
be  found  about  all  the  varieties  of  life  and 
character  and  all  the  elements  of  human  in- 
terest, its  joys  and  sorrows,  ambitions,  and 
tragedies.  It  is  the  office  of  the  journalist, 
whether  in  town  or  city,  "to  hold  the  mirror 
up  to  nature"  and  reflect  in  the  pages  of 
his  paper  the  life  of  the  community  in 
which  he  lives.  The  way  in  which  he  does 
this  reflects  his  genius  or  lack  of  genius. 
Mrs.  T.  B.  Dotter. 

Growing  into  one's  public. — My  advice  to 
the  young  editor  is,  to  get  a  grip  on  the 
community  which  he  enters.  That  advice 
does  not  contemplate  any  policy  of  rushing 
in  to  have  the  town  in  your  possession  with- 
in a  week.  In  fact,  that  is  the  opposite  of 
the  advice  I  mean  to  give.  The  country 
town  is  peculiar.    It  cannot  be  seized  of  a 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


371 


sudden.  Rather,  it  is  to  be  taken  by  careful 
advances,  with  many  a  quiet  exhibition  of 
depth  and  information  and  good  sense. 

F.  A.  Hazeltine. 

Friendly  country  contact. — The  country 
newspaper  is  published  and  edited  and  writ- 
ten a  whole  lot  nearer  to  its  clientele  than 
the  city  newspaper  is,  and  has  much  more 
of  a  personal  touch  than  the  city  newspaper 
has.  The  farther  you  get  away  from  your 
people  the  more  coldly  and  impersonally 
you  deal  with  them,  and  so  it  is  with  the 
great  metropolitan  journals.  You  have  not 
arrived  at  that  stage. 

In  any  city  you  realize  that  in  the  columns 
of  your  newspapers  every  day  the  editor 
does  much  as  the  scientist  does  when  he 
comes  out  here  before  the  class  and  analyzes 
the  contents  of  a  compound.  He  states, 
often  mercilessly,  the  facts  about  events, 
whether  or  not  they  injure  the  people  that 
are  concerned.  But  in  the  country  press, 
while  we  must  give  the  facts  to  do  justice 
to  our  readers,  to  do  justice  to  ourselves  it 
is  necessary  to  use  a  little  diplomacy,  and 
a  little  discrimination;  because  we  are  closer 
to  the  people. 

Frederick  Ornes. 


The  editor  as  "folks."— The  reason  for  the 
country  newspaper's  influence — and  its  in- 
fluence is  much  deeper  and  of  a  more  con- 
tinuing nature  than  that  of  the  metropolitan 
newspaper — is  that  it  remains  closer  to  the 
people.  The  real  life  of  the  people  of  his 
community  is  the  life  of  the  editor.  He 
shares  personally  their  triumphs  and  their 
defeats,  their  joys  and  their  sorrows.  With 
this  the  fact,  it  must  be  apparent  that  the 
country  editor,  to  be  successful,  must  be 
adaptable,  of  winning  personality,  a  "mixer." 
F.  A.  Hazeltine. 

Readers  who  trust  the  paper. — The  feeling 
of  trust  that  subscribers  have  toward  a 
newspaper  they  believe  to  be  honest,  cannot 
be  overestimated.  Many  remarkable  exam- 
ples are  on  file  to  that  effect.  It  is  said  that 
citizens  of  Kansas  City  spending  the  sum- 
mer at  Eastern  summer  resorts  do  not  read 
the  local  newspapers,  but  wait  to  see  what 
their  own  Star  says,  although  it  comes  to 
them  several  days  late.  A  whole  volume 
could  be  written  of  experiences  in  the  office 
of  the  Kansas  City  Star  to  this  effect.  The 
close  personal  feeling  of  subscribers  for  the 
Star  is  shown  in  the  numerous  small  items 
that  constantly  appear  in  its  columns  asking 
the  whereabouts  of  relatives  that  have 
moved  away.  This  personal  feeling  of  con- 
fidence in  their  favorite  newspaper  is  well 


shown  in  many  country  newspaper  offices, 
where  the  editor  will  show  you  dozens  and 
dozens  of  subscribers  who  have  moved  away 
to  distant  communities,  but  still  take  the 
"old  home  newspaper." 

J.  B.  Powell. 

The  subscriber  who  whispers  "paid  for." — 

Were  I  asked  to  make  a  list,  I  would  place 
at  the  head  of  the  unethical  public  the  man 
who  believes  that  money  enters  into  every 
policy,  interest  and  act  of  a  publisher.  Every 
time  any  newspaper  in  any  community  takes 
a  stand  on  any  moot  question,  this  man's 
first  effort  is  to  discount  the  influence  of 
the  publication  by  whispered  insinuation 
that  the  action  is  the  result  of  pay.  If  a 
paper  sides  with  a  public  utility  corpora- 
tion on  any  question  he  is  quick  to  insinuate 
that  the  corporation  controls  the  publica- 
tion. If  it  takes  the  opposite  view,  then 
its  action  is  because  the  corporation  would 
not  agree  to  pay  the  price  of  support. 
Price,  that's  it.  Price  is  the  first  and  last 
word  he  knows. 

A.  R.  Fenwick. 

The  No-Man*s-Land  of  journalism. — The 

editorial  page  is  the  debatable  ground  of 
journalism.  It  is  the  vague  and  nebulous 
page,  which  affords  more  room  for  contro- 
versy and  less  room  for  agreement  than 
any  other  page  in  the  paper.  All  other 
pages  of  the  newspaper  are  based  on  fact; 
the  recital  of  facts.  The  editorial  page  is 
based  on  opinion  concerning  facts,  and 
there  are  as  many  opinions  as  there  are 
men. 

Tom  Dillon. 

Supremacy  of  editorial  direction. — Our  ex- 
perience has  taught  us  that  there  is  just 
one  way  to  get  and  hold  the  confidence  of 
enough  readers  to  make  our  newspapers 
successful.  That  is  for  the  editorial  end 
to  control. 

Broadly  speaking,  we  know  that  an  intel- 
ligent and  unfettered  editorial  department 
will  create  a  newspaper  that  enough  people 
will  buy  to  make  an  advertising  commodity 
that  an  intelligent  and  energetic  business 
office  can  sell  to  advertisers. 

We  make  editorial  control  in  our  concern 
automatic  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so, 
by  putting  the  composing  room  under  the 
control  of  the  editor.  The  composing  room 
foreman  gets  his  orders  from  the  editor. 
The  composing  room  foreman  sets  such  type 
and  only  such  type  as  the  editor  orders  set. 
The  editor  determines  absolutely  what  goes 
into  the  forms. 

H.  N.  Rickey. 


372 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Advertising  value  hangs  on  editorial  page. 

—The  only  gpod  way  to  sell  advertising  now 
is  through  the  editorial  page.  An  editor 
must  know  of  what  he  speaks.  Confidence 
in  his  paper  follows,  and  public  confidence 
in  a  newspaper  gives  it  its  greatest  value 
as  an  advertising  medium. 

A.  C.  Boughton. 

Equal  yoke-fellows. — I  have  been  in  both 
departments  [business;  news],  and  if  any- 
one should  ask  me  to  decide  [which  is  the 
more  important],  I  would  simply  say  that 
the  answer  is  identical  with  the  answer  to 
the  ancient  query,  "Which  came  first,  the 
hen  or  the  egg"!" 

James  Keeley. 

Good  editing  and  good  business. — The  first 
essential  in  making  the  newspaper  a  busi- 
ness proposition  is  to  make  it  a  good  news- 
paper from  the  editorial  standpoint.  If  you 
don't  have  good  editing  you  can't  have  a 
good  business  proposition.  In  order  to  give 
the  subscribers  their  money's  worth,  the 
country  newspaper  must  approach  the  merit 
of  the  city  newspaper. 

H.  F.  McDougal. 

The  newspaper  as  a  personality. — While 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  news  comes  first, 
so  many  other  features  have  been  added  that 
it  is  at  least  approximately  accurate  to 
describe  the  newspaper  as  a  personality. 
.  .  .  The  newspaper  becomes  endowed 
with  human  traits.  It  succeeds  or  fails,  is 
liked  or  detested,  as  a  personality.  You 
buy  a  certam  make  of  slioes  because  they 
are  comfortable  and  look  well.  You  pat- 
ronize a  particular  butcher  because  you 
think  he  gives  you  good  meat.  But  a 
newspaper  or  periodical  is  on  a  different 
level.  You  like  Collier's,  for  instance,  be- 
cause of  its  independence,  its  audacity,  its 
ideals,  its  background  of  wide  reading  and 
careful  thinking,  its  bearing  as  a  gentleman. 
Or  you  detest  it  as  brash,  headstrong, 
crackbrained.  So  with  the  New  York  Times 
or  Evening  Post,  the  Philadelphia  North 
American,  the  Chicago  Tribune,  the  Los 
Angeles  Times  or  Express.  Each  one  of 
these  periodicals  has  acquired  a  personality 
all  its  own. 

H.  J.  Haskell. 

Putting  in  individuality. — We  cannot  all 
be  editors  of  metropolitan  dailies,  but  all 
of  us  can  take  something  that  is  in  us  and 
with  our  hands  transfer  it  into  our  news- 
papers so  as  to  give  them  what  I  choose  to 
call  a  personality.  That  is,  make  them  so 
different  from  other  papers,  that  in  distin- 


guished company,  like  city  dailies,  or  high- 
class  country  weeklies,  they  will  stand  out 
and  reflect  an  individuality  all  their  own. 
Let  me  illustrate:  We  heard  much  yesterday 
about  the  Christian  Science  Monitor.  It  is 
characterized,  and  perhaps  justly  so,  as  the 
best  daily  paper  in  the  United  States.  It 
must  be,  or  the  propaganda  for  which  it 
stands  would  not  be  benefited  by  it.  The 
Monitor  is  different  from  any  other  daily 
paper  in  the  country  that  I  know  anything 
about,  and  it  is  just  that  which  makes  it 
popular. 

T.  J.  O'Day. 

The  impersonal  idea. — As  every  one 
knows,  the  large  majority  of  editors  and 
editorial  writers  do  their  work  anonymously. 
This  anonymity  gives  to  the  editorial  the 
impersonal  weight  of  the  newspaper  itself. 
Indeed,  the  newspaper  editorial  is  the  prod- 
uct of  many  minds.  One  man  may  write 
it,  but  he  is  speaking  not  alone  his  own 
belief,  but  the  belief  of  those  with  whom 
he  is  associated,  the  belief  of  the  one  who 
in  the  end  must  take  responsibility  for  the 
utterance,  if  there  is  to  be  any  liability  for 
it.  There,  again,  is  exemplified  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  say  that  an  idea  belongs  to 
any  one  person.  The  anonymous  article 
will,  in  the  long  run,  be  far  more  effective 
than  an  article  which  carries  some  unJcnown 
man's  name.  The  privilege  of  writing  as  if 
one  were  speaking  for  the  public  gives  the 
writer  far  greater  freedom  and  far  greater 
confidence  in  the  effectiveness  of  what  he  is 
writing  than  if  he  simply  stood  up  in  meet- 
ing and  said  his  say. 

Dante  Barton. 

Old  times,  new  times,  and  personality. — 

What  place  does  the  personality  of  the 
newspaper  editor  and  the  editorial-writer 
have  in  the  new  editorial  page?  There 
never  was  a  time  when  there  wasn't  "a  last 
of  the  old-time  editors."  Colonel  Henry 
Watterson  is  one  of  the  several  of  these 
that  are  now  in  captivity;  yet  forty  years 
ago  Mr.  Watterson  lamented  the  passing 
of  his  editorial  predecessor  George  D.  Pren- 
tiss— lamented  it  as  if  we  ne'er  should  see 
his  like  again.  Personality  has  as  good  a 
show  now  as  it  ever  had.  I  haven't  any 
doubt  that  I  am  talking  now  to  at  least 
three  men,  who,  in  the  course  of  fifty  years 
or  so,  will  figure  in  the  annals  of  their  time 
as  the  last  of  the  old-time  editors. 

Dante  Barton. 

Unknown  editors  and  well-known  papers. 

— The  modern  newspaper  has  become  im- 
personal. Today  there  are  few  great  editors, 
but  many  great  newspapers.    The  identity 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


373 


of  the  editor  has  been  largely  merged  and 
often  completely  sunk  in  that  of  the  news- 
paper itself.  I  doubt  if  the  average  citizen 
today  can  call  the  names  of  the  editors  of 
six  of  the  most  influential  and  widely  read 
newspapers  in  America.  What  the  editor 
has  lost  in  reputation  the  newspaper  itself 
has  gained.  The  impersonal  publication  has 
acquired  personality  and  individuality.  The 
newspaper  has  come  to  have  a  defined  char- 
acter and  reputation.  This  character  is 
moulded  and  shaped  by  adherence  to  well- 
iefmed  principles,  which  in  turn  confer  char- 
acter and  reputation  upon  the  newspaper 
tself,  rather  than  on  any  one  of  the  large 
?roup  of  men  who  are  concerned  in  its 
Dreparation  and  publication. 

H.  W.  Brundige. 


The  mystery   of  editorial  survival. — The 

nost  unaccountable  ready  writer  of  all  is 
probably  the  common  editor  of  a  daily 
japer.  Consider  his  leading  articles;  what 
;hey  treat  of,  how  passably  they  are  done. 
3traw  that  has  been  thrashed  a  hundred 
;imes  without  wheat;  ephemeral  sound  of  a 
;ound;  such  portent  of  the  hour  as  all  men 
lave  seen  a  hundred  times  turn  out  inane; 
low  a  man  with  merely  human  faculty 
)uckles  himself  nightly  with  new  vigor  and 
nterest  to  this  thrashed  straw,  nightly 
;hrashes  it  anew,  nightly  gets  up  new  thun- 
ier  about  it;  and  so  goes  on  thrashing  and 
;hundering  for  a  considerable  series  of 
rears;  this  is  a  fact  remaining  still  to  be 
iccounted  for  in  human  physiology.  The 
itality  of  man  is  great. 

Thomas  Carlyle. 


New  editing,  new  life. — The  editorial  view- 
point is  nine-tenths  of  the  newspaper.  There 
was  a  period  in  the  history  of  American 
journalism  when  the  expression  of  any  such 
belief  would  have  been  out  of  joint  with  the 
times,  if  not  unwarranted.  Nevertheless, 
the  importance  of  the  editorial  viewpoint 
persisted,  and  once  more  the  editorial  is  re- 
asserting itself,  coming  again  into  its  own. 
Of  course,  there  was  a  reason  for  the  tem- 
porary eclipse,  and  that  reason  overlaid  yet 
another  reason.  The  reason  for  the  eclipse 
was  that  the  reader  resented  domination  by 
the  editor,  and  that  domination  by  the 
editor  sprang  from  a  mistaken  view  of  the 
editor's  intellectual  importance. 

Frank  S.  Baker. 

The  editorial  page  and  the  paper's  tone. — 

To  most  publishers  and  to  many  editors 
there  came  with  something  like  a  rude 
awakening  a  realization  of  the  fact  that 
the  public  forms  its  opinion  of  a  newspaper 
more  upon  the  merits  of  its  editorial  page 
than  upon  the  quantity  of  the  news  pub- 
lished. It  is  the  opinions  expressed  on  the 
editorial  page  that  win  the  respect  and 
regard  of  readers  or  incite  their  disapproval 
or  displeasure. 

The  spirit  of  the  publication  finds  ex- 
pression in  the  editorial  page.  By  this  ex- 
pression of  opinion  the  reader  judges  the 
publication.  He  finds  it  either  broad  or  nar- 
row, prejudiced  or  unprejudiced,  fair  or  un- 
fair, tolerant  or  intolerant,  sympathetic  or 
unsympathetic,  kind  or  brutal,  clean  or 
vulgar,  sincere  or  tricky,  truthful  or  un- 
truthful. 

The  character  of  the  paper  as  expressed 
in  its  editorial  page  gives  tone  to  the  whole 
publication  and  lends  credibility  to  or  casts 
suspicion  over  the  news  columns. 

H.  W.  Brundige. 

Editor  precedes  the  preacher. — A  news- 
paper editor  and  publisher  who  comprehends 
the  drift  of  the  times  and  who  is  intellec- 
tual, keen  and  well-poised  enough  to  sug- 
gest sane  sociological  remedies  and  help  to 
lead  the  people  into  the  right  solution  of 
our  pressing  problems,  has  the  greatest  pro- 
fession of  all,  even  greater  than  the 
preacher's,  who  has  stood  first,  generally, 
but  who  must  now,  in  the  opinion  of  most 
observers,  take  second  place.  A  daily  news- 
paper's audience  or  congregation  is  greater, 
and  its  discourses  far  more  frequent,  than 
those  of  the  pulpit  teacher.  The  human 
interest  pervades  all  fields  of  business  and 
professional  activity  to-day.  A  wholesome 
newspaper  is  the  greatest  instrumentality 
for  good  that  we  now  have,  in  a  sociological 


874 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


sense,  and  certainly  this  field  is  one  which 
demands  greater  attention  today  as  exem- 
plifying among  men  that  admonition  of  the 
Master,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
James  H.  Callanan. 

Dual    function    of    the    newspaper. — The 

honest  newspaper  prints  the  news  from  day 
to  day,  trying  hard  to  be  accurate,  rigidly 
excluding  its  own  opinions  and  wishes  from 
the  facts.  The  honest  editorial  writer  en- 
deavors to  interpret  the  significance  of  the 
news.  There  is  a  dual  function  present:  to 
print  the  news  and  to  interpret  it. 

Frank  S.  Baker. 

Good  and   evil  in  proportion. — I   do  not 

wish  any  newspaper  to  tell  me  that  the 
world  is  all  very  good  and  try  to  convey 
the  impression  that  there  is  no  evil  and 
wrong  to  be  righted.  If  that  impression 
went  out,  the  great  forces  of  moral  reform 
would  stay  their  hands.  There  would  be  no 
incentive  to  sacrifice  for  a  better  land.  I 
want  no  newspaper  to  tell  me  that  every- 
thing is  bad,  everything  is  wicked.  If  so, 
there  would  be  no  hope  nor  call  to  labor. 

I  want  no  expurgated  newspaper.  It  is 
our  duty  to  give  "a  map  of  busy  life,"  to 
tell  to  our  readers  the  truth  and  all  the 
truth,  sometimes  in  its  hideousness,  that  the 
conscience  of  men  may  be  aroused  and  evils 
righted.  But  let  us  put  also  in  it  these 
lines  of  light  and  beauty  which  illumine  our 
race  and  make  this  generation  stand  out  in 
the  history  of  the  world  as  doing  more  noble 
and  unselfish  deeds  than  any  decade  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 

Josephus  Daniels, 
as  reported  in  The  Fourth  Estate. 

The  editor's  unknown  readers. — There  is 
no  editorial-page  class,  as  there  is  a  sport- 
ing-page class,  marine-page  class,  market- 
page  class,  or  society-page  class.  We  can- 
not designate  any  certain  proportion  of  our 
readers  as  readers  of  the  editorial  page. 
The  reader  whose  first  interest  may  be  in 
the  condition  of  Jack  Johnson  may,  as  soon 
as  he  has  finished  the  sporting  page,  turn  to 
the  editorial  page,  and  it  is  equally  likely 
that  he  never  reads  the  editorial  page  at 
all.  We  do  not  know  who  reads  our  editorial 
page,  or  why  he  reads  it.  We  do  not  know 
the  sort  of  editorial  he  likes  or  dislikes,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  we  are  not  asking 
him  his  opinion,  or  seeking  his  conven- 
ience, but  quite  to  the  contrary  we  are  try- 
ing to  impress  our  opinions  on  him.  And 
every  discreet  person  has  learned  that  this 
is  a  difficult  and  dangerous  thing  to  do. 

Tom  Dillon. 


Cartoon  or  editorial. — The  attitude  taken 
by  all  the  commentators,  strange  to  say,  has 
been  that  of  archeologists  rather  than  his- 
torians, they  having  adopted  the  view  that 
the  editorial  has  gone  and  gone  for  good, 
that  nothing  has  succeeded  it,  and  (some- 
times) that  it  is  a  very  grievous  but  inevita- 
ble thing.  So  general  is  this  view  and  so 
slight  its  foundation  that  it  is  surprising 
that  it  should  be  accepted  so  unquestion- 
ingly.  Granted  that  the  editorial  has  gone 
and  gone  for  good,  is  it  necessarily  true 
that  it  has  had  or  will  have  no  successor? 
I  think  not.  .  .  .  The  editorial  has  had 
an  able  successor  in  the  cartoon,  but  the 
reasons  for  this  succession  have  been  due 
wholly  to  psychological  principles  and  not  to 
accident. 

Roy  M.  Crismas. 

The  popular  and  the  academic  compromise. 

— In  the  [British]  leaderwriting  of  the  day, 
however,  there  is  just  compromise.  .  .  . 
We  may  take  it  that  the  best  newspaper- 
writing  is,  on  the  whole,  a  little  more  pop- 
ular and  unrestrained  than  the  general  level 
of  Parliamentary  speaking,  which,  as  we 
have  pointed  out  elsewhere,  is  severely  un- 
adorned. In  the  weekly  reviews,  even  to  a 
greater  extent  than  in  the  daily  Press,  the 
academic  touch  is  manifest  and  paramount; 
but  this  is  no  new  tradition,  for  from  the 
first  the  style  and  tone  of  these  reviews  has 
been  more  distinctly  the  expression  of  aca- 
demic minds,  and  the  appeal  of  these  papers 
is  in  the  first  instance  to  the  so-called  edu- 
cated classes.  To  quote  Mr.  Escott,  "Never 
certainly  was  higher  intellectual  qualifica- 
tion and  better  social  antecedents  possessed 
by  newspaper  writers  of  every  kind  than 
they  are  today." 

James  D.  Symon. 

Public  blended  into  editorial-writer. — As 

many  considerations  enter  into  the  making 
of  an  editorial  policy,  so  many  things  enter 
into  the  make-up  of  an  editorial  writer,  and 
the  great  reading  public  is  one  of  those  fac- 
tors. The  influences  are  sometimes  subtle 
and  hardly  discernible,  but  they  are  none 
the  less  potent.  They  blend  in  making  him 
useful,  in  proportion  as  he  has  sought  to  be 
of  real  service  in  the  community,  the  re- 
sult varying  of  course  according  to  the  part 
of  the  community  he  has  sought  most  to 
serve.  I  take  it,  however,  that  newspapers 
would  rather  serve  the  good  than  the  evil 
and  constantly  exert  themselves  to  that 
end.  That  is  my  experience  and  my  observa- 
tion. If  there  are  newspapers  of  another 
purpose,  they  are  the  exceptions. 

Osman  C.  Hooper. 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


375 


I  Thought  before  words. — Anybody  can  get 
a  vocabulary  by  reading — or  by  a  little 
study,  certainly.  The  words  are  in  the 
dictionary,  and  printed  in  other  books,  and 
you  can  see  what  they  mean.  But  the  vo- 
cabulary doesn't  do  you  any  good  unless  you 
have  something  to  say.  You  should  acquire 
the  ability  to  write  snappy  sentences,  the 
long  paragraph  or  the  short  paragraph;  but 
your  real  attempt  should  be  spent  on  finding 
something  interesting  enough  to  make  it 
worth  while  telling.  The  use  of  a  great 
many  tricks  of  style  is  the  poorest  part  of 
ill  poor  forms  of  writing. 

Jack  Bechdolt. 


Second-hand    thought    not    wanted. — The 

nen  and  women  to  whom  the  country  editor 
iddresses  himself  are  men  and  women  en- 
aged  in  the  most  important  work  of  the 
vorld,  the  work  of  producing  the  things 
leedful  for  life.  They  daily  hold  communion 
vith  nature  in  its  visible  forms.  They  are 
earned  men  and  women,  schooled  in  the 
Teat  University  of  Nature.  They  have 
beyed  the  command  of  Solomon;  they  have 
:one  to  the  ant,  considered  its  ways,  and 
lave  grown  wise.  But  they  are  not  book- 
vorms;  they  are  not  political  economists; 
hey  are  not  tariff  experts  in  the  sense  that 
he  late  Senator  Aldrich  was  a  tariff  expert, 
he  country  editor  owes  in  common  honesty 
0  these  people  that  he  shall  not  pass  on 
0  them  the  second-hand  opinions  of  some 
ther  person  as  his  own  personal  opinion, 
'hey  know  him  and  presumably  they  have 
orne  confidenxie  in  him,  else  they  would  not 
e  subscribers  to  his  paper. 

Bernard  Finn. 


Modern  editorial  style. — Another  thing 
lat  may  be  said  for  the  modern  editorial 
age  is  that  it  is  better  written  than  ever 
sfore.  In  the  period  of  experimentation 
)me  things  were  learned.  One  was  that 
ords  were  intended  to  convey  thought.  The 
2ople  are  too  busy  with  their  own  affairs 
»  waste  time  on  superfluous  verbiage.  The 
d  florid  style  of  editorial  writing,  abound- 
g  in  rounded  sentences  interspersed  with 
lotations  and  classical  allusions,  has  given 
vay  to  the  direct  method  of  expression. 
H.  W.  Brundige. 


Neither  dull  nor  machine-made. — More 
id  more,  newspapers  are  coming  to  print 
ort,  sparkling  editorials  about  things  of 
eryday  life.  Arthur  Brisbane,  chief  edi- 
rial-writer  for  the  Hearst  newspapers, 
akes  a  powerful  appeal  to  thousands  of 
aders  every  day  because  he  writes  in  a 
raight-from-the-shoulder  style  on  topics  of 


universal  interest.  The  political  editorial 
has  its  place,  but  it  should  not  be  allowed 
to  overwhelm  all  other  topics.  Nor  should 
the  editorial  columns  be  machine-made,  cut 
and  hewn  to  fill  in  every  issue  a  certain 
definite  space,  regardless  of  the  importance 
of  the  subject  matter.  Better  far  to  print 
light  miscellany  to  fill  up  the  page  than  a 
lot  of, ponderous,  perfunctory  editorials. 
Charles  G.  Ross. 

The  editor's  universal  contacts. — ^You  can 

get  a  great  deal  of  the  joy  of  creation  in 
writing  for  the  editorial  page.  You  come 
in  contact  with  life  at  more  points  than  is 
permitted  to  most  other  men.  You  get  the 
contact,  whether  your  work  is  called  re- 
porting or  is  called  editing  or  is  called 
editorial  writing.  Your  range  of  reading 
takes  in  politics,  social  service,  art,  science, 
fiction,  poetry,  law,  history,  and  all  that 
makes  the  world  go  round.  Your  expe- 
rience makes  you  a  spectator  of  the  human 
comedy.  Your  writing  will  take  you  also 
into  the  domain  of  memory;  back  to  the 
old  home  town.  It  will  give  you  touch  with 
all  creative  forms  of  literature,  and  will 
take  you  as  far  into  the  future  by  the 
power  of  imagination  as  your  memory  car- 
ries you  into  the  past. 

Dante  Barton. 

Writing  against  one's  conscience. — An- 
other so-called  weakness  of  modern  jour- 
nalism is  that  editorial  writers  must  on 
special  occasions  write  opinions  not  believed 
to  be  just  and  right  because  the  chief-of- 
staff  insists  that  their  policies  are  those  of 
the  newspaper.  Tiffany  Blake,  chief  edi- 
torial writer  of  The  Chicago  Tribune,  put 
the  case  in  its  proper  light  when  he  gave 
this  justification  of  such  work.  He  thought, 
when  a  writer  was,  on  the  whole,  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  editorial  policies,  he  might, 
in  minor  cases,  support  certain  measures 
with  which  he  did  not  agree.  A  man  in 
joining  a  political  party  does  not  necessarily 
imply  that  he  supports  every  plank  of  the 
platform,  but  that  he  thinks  that  his  party 
comes  the  nearest  to  agreeing  with  his  views 
about  the  questions  of  the  day.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  practice,  however,  an  editorial  writer 
on  the  larger  dailies  seldom  has  the  dis- 
agreeable task  of  writing  what  he  does  not 
believe.  A  question  is  thrashed  out  at  the 
editorial  council,  and  after  a  decision  has 
been  reached  as  to  where  the  paper  shall 
stand,  the  writing  of  the  editorial  is  given 
to  the  man  to  whom  the  subject  most  ap- 
peals, because  experience  has  shown  that 
he  can  generally  produce  the  most  forcible 
and  convincing  appeal  on  the  subject. 

James  Melvin  Lee. 


376 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


The  writer  a  composite. — The  editorial 
writer,  if  his  service  has  been  considerable 
in  any  one  place,  is  not  simply  himself.  He 
is  a  composite,  in  which  are  to  be  found 
elements  of  himself,  the  owner  of  the  paper, 
the  director  of  its  policy,  the  great  public 
he  addresses,  the  public  enemies  he  is  priv- 
ileged to  fight,  the  weak  and  the  oppressed 
he  is  able  to  fight  for,  "Old  Subscriber"  who 
writes  for  the  Mail  Bag,  and  the  poet  who, 
in  excusing  her  effort,  offers  the  informa- 
tion that  she  "sometimes  has  feelings  and 
thoughts  which  to  express  in  words  a  sac- 
rilege would  be." 

Osman  C.  Hooper. 


The  four  essentials.— In  his  editorial  work 
each  apprentice  should  be  drilled  on  the  four 
essentials  of  technical  journalism,  namely: 
accuracy,  tim.eliness,  clarity,  and  brevity. 
Accuracy  of  course  comes  first,  because  if 
an  article  or  statement  is  inaccurate  it 
would  have  been  better  if  it  had  not  been 
published,  but  the  other  qualities  follow 
closely.  Timeliness  means  imagination  on 
the  part  of  the  author,  that  is,  the  concept 
of  what  the  reader  wants,  when  he  wants 
it,  andi  the  way  he  wants  it.  Imagination 
of  this  kind,  or  the  "sense  of  news,"  can 
be  cultivated  in  most  apprentices  and  is 
greatly  stimulated  by  plenty  of  time  spent 
in  editorial  field  work.  Timeliness  means 
also  the  expansion  of  those  parts  of  an  ar- 
ticle, whether  it  is  a  news  event  or  a  de- 
scription of  a  machine  tool,  which  the 
average  reader  wants  expanded,  and  con- 
densation of  the  rest.  Clarity  and  brevity 
mean  not  only  clear,  concise  writing,  but 
such  a  knowledge  of  the  trade  that  the 
article  is  expressed  in  language  understood 
by  the  industry.  The  apprentice  should  be 
taught  that  if  each  of  the  10,000  readers 
wastes  a  minute  in  learning  the  meaning  of 
an  article  because  it  is  not  clear  or  in  read- 
ing it  because  it  is  not  concise,  the  time  thus 
wasted  amounts  to  twenty-one  days  of  eight 
hours  each.  Hence,  half  a  day  on  the  part 
of  the  man  who  wrote  the  article  is  well 
spent  if  by  so  doing  this  minute  on  the  part 
of  each  reader  can  be  saved.  The  true 
editor,  to  paraphrase  the  definition  of  the 
true  engineer,  is  he  who  makes  one  word  do 
where  otherwise  two  or  more  would  be 
employed. 

Henry  W.  Blake. 

The    "musts"    of    editorial-writing. — The 

editorial  writer  must  know  what  he  is  writ- 
ing about;  he  must  write  truthfully,  he 
must  write  entertainingly  and  well.  His 
workmanship  must  justify  his  authority, 
and  the  measure  of  his   success   and  the 


success  of  the  editorial  page  will  be  the  jus- 
tification of  the  assumption  that  he  and  his 
page  have  the  right  to  express  opinion.  The 
reader  must  be  made  to  feel  that,  whether 
he  agrees  with  the  conclusion  of  the  edi- 
torial or  not,  it  was  worth  his  while  to 
read  the  editorial.  If  he  cannot  think  the' 
same  as  the  editorial,  he  must  feel  that  the 
difference  of  opinion  is  not  one  of  honesty 
or  fairness,  but  rather  a  fundamental  dif- 
ference which  lies  back  of  and  beyond  argu- 
ment or  logic.  In  other  words,  the  antago- 
nistic reader  of  an  editorial  must  be  made 
to  admit  at  least  that  there  are  two  sidesi 
to  the  question.  J 

Tom  Dillon.    | 

The  obligation   to   be   interesting. — It  is 

the  business  of  an  editorial  writer  to  make 
himself  read,  and  it  may  be  set  down  at 
once  that,  if  he  is  not  read,  he  is  a  failure. 
Several  things  are  necessary  to  his  success.' 
He  must,  of  course,  have  knowledge;  but  aj 
man  might  be  a  walking  encyclopedia,  anc? 
still  not  be  a  success.  To  knowledge,  he] 
must  add  the  right  spirit,  a  spirit  of  opti-l 
mism  and  human  sympathy,  and  a  will  to 
know  and  a  power  to  discriminate  among 
the  projects  of  progress.  But  even  that  is 
not  enough.  To  knowledge  and  spirit,  he 
must  add  a  certain  literary  skill.  He  must 
have  the  ability  to  present  a  matter  in  at-j 
tractive  guise,  for  it  is  no  less  the  business 
of  the  editorial  than  it  is  of  the  news  story 
to   be  interesting. 

Osman  C.  Hooper. 


Happy  phrase,  unhappy  thought. — Inac/ 
curacies  in  editorial  columns  are  not  at  all\ 
rare.  Conclusions  often  are  jumped  at,  W 
be  regretted  after  inquiry.  But  one  of  thq 
commonest  causes  of  error  is  the  desire  t& 
turn  a  happy  phrase,  rather  than  a  happjl 
thought.  "j 

Herbert  Hunter,  j 

The    word-dumb    and    the,  word-blind.- 

Word-dumbness  and  word-blindness  ar( 
disabilities  frequently  found.  The  sentenci 
that  is  clear  to  "A"  is  not  clear  to  "B."  h 
word  which  "A"  accepts  in  the  sense  iij 
which  it  is  used  is  received  by  "B"  in  a  difl 
ferent  sense.  The  dictionaries  have  prettW 
well  defined,  differentiated  and  classifieij 
our  words,  but  word-dumb  writers  we  alv 
ways  shall  have  with  us,  just  as  we  alwayl 
shall  have  word-blind  readers.  It  is  nor 
much  of  a  task  to  describe  a  fire  in  law 
guage  that  will  not  be  misunderstood,  bu| 
it  may  be  quite  difficult  to  write  an  imporj 
tant  editorial  so  that  the  public  will  per 
ceive  its  real  meaning  and  motive.  Pen 
haps  we  should  remind  ourselves  frequently 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


377 


that  the  great  mass  of  newspaper  readers 
have  limited  vocabularies.  They  are  not 
students  of  word-shadings.  Simplicity  and 
directness  of  expression  are  newspaper 
necessaries.  Herbert  Hunter. 

The  bases  of  good  writing. — In  remark- 
ing that  you  had  all  passed  the  office  boy 
stage, .  I  naturally  assumed  that  you  had 
mastered,  to  a  reasonable  degree,  the  art  of 
writing  good  English;  that  you  had  given 
enough  hours  to  arithmetic  to  get  at  least 
part  way  through  the  higher  mathematics. 
These  two  things,  especially  the  former, 
are  basic.  At  any  rate,  whether  or  not  I 
was  too  hasty,  try  to  perfect  your  writing 
by  using,  in  so  far  as  one  can,  good  old 
Anglo-Saxon  words — words  of  one  syllable. 
How  much  sweeter  is  "build,"  than  "con- 
struct" or  "manufacture."  And  why  say 
"donate"  or  "tender,"  when  you  mean 
"give"?  Colonel  Prout,  the  greatest  tech- 
nical paper  editor  of  his  day,  always  car- 
ried in  his  pocket  a  nrayer-book  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church;  not  that  he 
was  a  churchman,  but  because  he  was  a  con- 
stant reader  of  the  "Book  of  Common 
Prayer,"  a  model  for  simple  language. 

E.  A.  Simmons. 

The  lazy  man's  editorial — We  are  all  fa- 
miliar with  the  type  of  editorial  which 
says:  "The  board  of  health  has  framed 
an  ordinance  which  is  to  be  introduced  into 
the  council,  making  vaccination  of  school 
children  compulsory.  This  is  a  good  thing. 
Vaccination  certainly  ought  to  be  com- 
pulsory. Smallpox  is  a  loathsome  dis- 
ease. It  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to 
get  a  foothold  in  this  community.  The 
ordinance  should  be  passed."  That  is  the 
perfunctory  or  lazy  type.  It  helps  alienate 
people  from  the  editorial  page.  .  .  In 
the  case  of  the  vaccination  editorial  it  does 
not  require  an  expert  to  go  to  some  common 
reference  book  and  learn  what  effect  com- 
pulsory vaccination  has  had  in  various 
countries  in  Europe  and  to  present  some 
really  inf  ormatory  material. 

H.  J.  Haskell. 

Technical   writing   and   literary   finish. — 

The  apprentice  should  also  be  encouraged 
to  develop  a  style,  for  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  term  "literature"  should  not  be  ap- 
plied to  technical  as  well  as  to  other  writ- 
ing. He  should  not  be  satisfied  with  the 
first  draft  or  the  second  draft  of  what  he 
prepares,  but  he  should  be  urged  to  go  over 
and  over  the  articles  again,  considering  it  in 
the  light  of  the  four  essentials  already  men- 
tioned, until  it  has  a  piano  finish  in  every 


particular.  Much  good  will  be  gained,  of 
course,  if  he  will  read  the  works  of  standard 
authors,  both  of  poetry  and  prose,  during 
part  of  his  non-working  hours.  He  need 
not  imitate  their  construction,  but  he  will 
unconsciously  gain  facility  of  expression 
and  will  enlarge  his  vocabulary  by  so  do- 
ing. Nor  should  he  neglect  the  reading 
and  study  of  present-day  newspaper  writ- 
ing of  the  best  kind,  particularly  as  shown 
in  the  editorials. 

Henry  W.  Blake. 

Danger   of   entertaining   editorials. — The 

danger  of  the  entertaining  editorial  is  that 
it  often  degenerates  into  drivel.  A  humor- 
ous editorial,  unskillfully  handled,  becomes 
nonsense,  and  a  pathetic  editorial,  written 
without  restraint,  becomes  bathos.  There  is, 
of  course,  no  rule  for  the  maintenance  of 
good  taste.  Taste  is  a  part  of  the  inherent 
equipment  of  the  individual,  and  one  of  the 
most  interesting  phenomena  of  taste  is  the 
fact  that  he  who  lacks  it  can  never  be 
made  to  see  his  deficiency.  He  who  at- 
tempts to  write  entertainingly  without  the 
savi'rto-  p-race  of  taste  will  rarely  know  why 
he  failed.  Tom  Dillon. 

The  "makings"  of  the  technical  editor. — 

Where  is  the  future  technical  editor  to 
come  from  ?  There  are  three  qualifications, 
as  I  see  it,  which  we  look  for,  besides  the 
personal  attributes  of  intelligence,  probity, 
accuracy,  personality,  industry,  ambition, 
enterprise,  etc.,  which  are  needed  in  any 
business.  These  three  necessary  editorial 
qualifications  are:  (a)  Ability  to  write 
well,  that  is,  a  good  knowledge  of  English 
and  facility  of  expression;  (b)  a  technical 
knowledge  of  the  trade  or  industry  to  which 
we  cater,  and  (c)  a  special  quality  of  know- 
ing when  an  event  or  article  is  "news";  in 
other  words,  journalism. 

Unfortunately,  there  is  no  school  of  tech- 
nical journalism.  Hence,  when  we  want  a 
man  for  the  editorial  staff,  we  either  have 
to  take  him  from  the  field  and  teach  him 
the  newspaper  business,  or  else  we  have  to 
take  some  young  man  and  train  him  in  both 
newspaper  work  and  the  technique  of  the 
field  to  which  we  cater. 

If  the  former  plan  is  followed  and  we 
take  a  man  from  the  field,  we  should  re- 
member that  it  is  unsafe  to  add  a  man  to 
the  staff  simply  because  he  is  an  expert  in 
our  particular  industry.  No  one  will  make 
a  good  editor  who  is  not  really  fond  of 
writing,  and  while  this  quality  can  be  ac- 
quired, a  man  will  make  a  better  editor 
where  it  is  innate.  It  will  generally  be 
found,  I  think,  that  most  men  in  the  in- 
dustry who  are  fond  of  writing  have  con- 


378 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


tributed  either  papers  to  the  association  m 
that  industry  or  articles  to  the  technical 
paper  in  the  field.  For  this  reason  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  most  likely  source  of 
recruits  to  the  editorial  staff  of  a  paper 
is  among:  those  who  have  contributed  to  it 
during:  the  previous  two  or  three  years.  In 
fact,  I  think  that  if  a  census  was  taken  of 
the  members  of  the  editorial  departments 
of  our  diflFerent  technical  papers  who  have 
entered  journalistic  work  from  the  field,  it 
will  be  found  that  most  of  them  beg-an 
newspaper  work  as  occasional  contributors 
to  the  paper  whose  force  they  afterwards 
joined. 

Henry  W.  Blake. 

Varied  and  literary  quality. — The  problem 
of  newspaper  editorial  English  is,  to  pre- 
serve a  good  style  and  yet  reach  the  large 
class  of  persons  who  do  not  consciously  go 
in  for  style.  .  .  .  There  are  varieties 
in  style  on  the  editorial  page,  and  each 
writer  will  try  to  write  himself  in  various 
moods  into  his  work.  One  would  get  very 
tired  of  meat  and  potatoes  as  a  constant 
diet,  and  would  get  equally  tired  of  salads 
and  soups  and  relishes.  A  good  meal  has 
some  of  various  foods.  .  .  .  So,  styles 
should  vary  as  tastes  vary.  Who  would 
have  English  literature  be  all  Shakespeare 
or  all  Walter  Pater  or  all  Kipling  or  all 
Emerson?  Who  would  want  a  newspaper 
to  be  all  of  any  one  man  or  any  one  school 
of  writers?  And  here  let  it  be  said  that 
the  great  mass  of  newspaper  readers  do, 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  like  a  liter- 
ary quality  in  their  editorial  pages,  just  as 
they  like  sincerity  and  a  square  deal  in 
their  editorial  pages. 

Dante  Barton. 

Leading  by  human  interest. — It  is  won- 
derful what  a  power  a  "human  interest"  edi- 
torial page  can  become.  It  doesn't  drive, 
but  leads.  People  take  its  precepts  and 
teaching  unconsciously. 

Charles  H.  O'Neil. 

Apprentice  training  of  the  technical- 
paper  editor. — Aside  from  those  at  the  head 
•of  the  editorial  staff  of  a  few  large  daily 
newspapers,  no  editors  are  more  highly 
paid  than  are  those  connected  with  the  im- 
portant technical  journals  of  this  country. 
But  the  schooling  of  the  technical  editor  is 
harder;  and  the  first  part  of  the  road  over 
which  he  must  travel  is  as  rough  as  with 
either  the  trade  or  class  journal.  Usually, 
he  must  have  graduated  from  some  col- 
lege with  an  engineering  course — ^mechani- 
cal, civil,  electrical  or  mining.  Sometimes 
he  is  then  put  at  work  in  the  editorial  de- 


partment at  twelve  or  fifteen  dollars  a 
week;  but  frequently,  perhaps  more  fre- 
quently, he  must  serve  an  apprenticeship 
at  the  bench;  or  in  building  bridges  and 
tunnels,  or  laying  track;  or  in  getting  out 
coal  and  other  products  of  the  mine.  Thus 
equipped,  he  is  much  better  fitted  to  dis- 
cuss, with  authority,  the  exacting  subjects 
with  which  the  highly  specialized  technical 
paper  must  deal;  and  his  progress  is  usual- 
ly faster,  and  greater,  than  that  of  the  col- 
lege man  who  went  straight  to  a  desk.  Only 
in  the  hard  school  of  actual  experience,  there- 
fore, is  it  possible  for  some  men  to  fit  them- 
selves for  the  editorial  chair. 

E.  A.  Simmons. 

Danger  of  the  instructive  editorial. — The 

great  danger  in  the  instructive  editorial  is 
the  assumption  that  the  readers  of  edi- 
torials are  interested  in  the  things  that  the 
editorial  writer  thinks  they  should  be  inter- 
ested in.  Our  slack  government,  our  high 
taxes,  our  general  public  inefficiency,  con- 
stitute abundant  proof  to  the  contrary.  A 
question  up  for  editorial  discussion  may 
be  of  tremendous  political  or  economic  im- 
portance, but  of  decidedly  minor  interest. 
How  far  the  editorial  page  should  burden 
itself  with  the  education  of  the  people  to 
an  ideal  sense  of  their  duties,  is  a  matter 
for  individual  judgment.  On  an  ideal  edi- 
torial page,  perhaps  this  would  be  the  first 
and  last  consideration,  but  in  the  practical 
world,  the  editorial  page  that  doesn't  pay 
its  own  way  is  a  poor  editorial  page,  no 
matter  how  high  its  ambitions  or  how  noble 
its  mission. 

Tom  Dillon. 

Take  time  to  be  brief. — Study  to  be  con- 
cise in  editorial  writing,  as  in  news.  Other 
things  being  equal,  the  200-word  article  is 
more  effective  than  one  of  twice  that  length. 
E.  W.  Stephens,  formerly  editor  of  the 
Columbia  Herald,  used  to  say  that  he  never 
wrote  an  editorial  that  would  fill  in  tjrpe 
more  than  the  length  of  his  pencil.  As  his 
pencil  wore  down,  his  editorials  got  shorter 
— and,  he  said,  better.  The  long  editorial 
is  often  the  lazy  editorial. 

Charles  G.  RoSs. 

Newspapers  and  better  literary  standards. 

— All  signs  point  toward  the  newspapers* 
becoming  more  and  more  the  great  demo- 
cratic purveyors  of  literature  to  the  mass 
of  readers  of  this  country.  And  here  is 
the  hopeful  thing  about  it  all:  Human  na- 
ture is  so  constructed  as  to  have  an  enor- 
mous capacity  for  development.  At  the 
same  time  it  responds  to  ideals.  Give  it 
something   good  and  it   straightway  calls 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


379 


0.  something  better.  Audiences  are  con- 
it^ntly  being  educated  to  more  exacting 
■equirements.  So  we  may  confidently  look 
brward  to  a  demand  for  better  and  better 
'cading  from  the  newspapers. 

H.  J.  Haskell. 


Putting  life  into  country  editing. — To  be 

n  editor  of  a  country  weekly  a  man  must 
)e  possessed  of  an  over-abundance  of  en- 
rgy,  grit,  and  stick-to-it-ive-ness,  and  as 
or  patience,  he  should  be  endowed  with  all 
he  patience  of  Job  and  all  the  other  great 
)atriarchs  combined.  What  we  need  in  the 
ountry  weeklies  to  put  them  on  a  better 
)aying  basis  is  more  life.  We  want  to 
et  out  of  the  old  ruts  and  put  our  paper 
n  a  higher  plane.  We  have  been  down  on 
he  bottom  rung  of  the  ladder  long  enough. 
R  B.  Caldwell. 

A    brightened   country   editorial   page. — 

i'he  editorial  page  of  a  country  weekly  may 
>e  made  an  attractive  magazine  page. 
brightness  is  as  important  here  as  in  the 
ews  columns.  The  editor  will  do  well  to 
tudy  other  papers  for  ideas.  To  lighten 
ts  editorial  page  the  Kansas  City  Star, 
or  example,  prints,  among  other  features 
department  of  "Starbeams,"  consisting 
f  jokes,  brief  paragraphs^  on  current 
vents,  and  jingles.  The  Chicago  Record- 
lerald  has  a  column  of  humor  called  "Al- 
ernating  Currents."  "A  Line-o'-Type  or 
wo"  is  a  much-quoted  feature  of  the  Chi- 
ago  Tribune.  Poems  and  light  comment 
nake  up  the  "Just-a-Minute"  department 
f  the  St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch.  But  the 
ountry  editor  is  not  dependent  upon  jokes 
,nd  jingles  to  make  an  attractive  page, 
lany  papers  print  a  column  of  news  from 
eighboring  counties,  culled  from  exchanges. 
Itate  and  world  news  of  the  week  may  be 
ummarized,  with  brief  comment.  Letters 
rom  the  people  and  the  news  of  former 
ears  have  already  been  mentioned  as  pos- 
ible  features.  Perhaps  a  column  might  be 
lade  of  anecdotes  about  people  in  the  town 
nd  the  county.  Other  special  features 
dll  be  suggested  by  local  conditions. 

Charles  G.  Ross. 


Newspapers  to  be. — The  time  has  come 
when  the  country  publisher  can  devote  a 
little  more  thought  to  getting  out  a  paper 
that  will  interest  and  entertain  his  read- 
ers. .  .  .  The  taste  of  the  reading  pub- 
lic has  undergone  a  change  in  recent  years. 
Light  and  trivial  matter  that  would  have 
been  customary  a  while  back  will  not  do 
now.  .  .  .  The  new  order  of  things  will 
be  reached  largely  by  elimination  or  short- 
ening.    .    .    . 

On  the  ideal  newspaper,  people  will  be 
employed  who  write  tersely  and  gracefully, 
and  whose  ability  will  be  measured  by  their 
judgment  in  weighing  items,  rather  than 
their  ability  to  fill  space. 

The  extensive  circulation  of  city  news- 
papers and  handsomely  printed  magazines 
throughout  the  rural  section  has  caused  a 
demand  for  better  service  among  country 
papers.  The  poorly  printed  paper  with  slip- 
shod typography  will  no  longer  meet  a 
friendly  constituency.  The  people  have 
become  astute  judges.  They  are  not  going 
to  demand  the  impossible,  but  they  will 
ask  for  the  development  of  their  country 
paper  in  harmony  with  the  general  im- 
provement in  publishing  and  in  other  call- 
ings. .  .  .  The  paper  that  interests  its 
subscribers,  that  makes  them  reach  eagerly 
for  it,  is  the  ideal  newspaper,  the  naper 
that  grows  in  circulation  without  contests 
or  schemes.^  When  people  say  they  read 
such  an  article  in  their  paper,  and  speak 
of  it  with  animation,  it  makes  others  wish 
to  take  that  paper  to  enjoy  the  same  enter- 
tainment. 

Edgar  White. 

Homely  human  honesty. — An  editorial 
page  must  necessarily  reflect  the  individ- 
uality of  the  person  who  presides  over  it. 
I  am  strong  for  the  "human-interest"  edi- 
torial, ■  for  the  homely  subjects  of  com- 
munity life,  rather  than  "high  brow"  pro- 
ductions of  abstract  interest.  The  editorial 
page,  if  it  fulfills  its  idealistic  mission, 
must  occupy  a  plane  so  narrow  that  fanati- 
cism, puny  prejudices,  and  selfish  duplicity, 
shall  be  crowded  out  by  the  simple,  homely 
honesty  of  its  printed  word. 

Charles  H.  O'Neil. 


High  treason  in  journalism. — I  believe 
uppression  of  news  is  more  of  a  wrong 
han  the  printing  of  a  piece  of  news  that 
lossibly  might  better  not  have  been  writ- 
en.  By  improper  suppression  a  newspa- 
)er  sells  its  soul  and  betrays  its  readers, 
'o  my  mind  it  is  the  high  treason  of  jour- 
ilism. 
\  James  Keeley. 


Why  Brisbane  is  Brisbane. — Arthur  Bris- 
bane, who  is  possibly  the  most  widely 
known  editorial  writer  of  the  younger  gen- 
eration, is  really  not  an  editorial  writer  at 
all.  He  is  an  editorial  reporter,  and  the 
qualities  that  make  him  a  great  reporter 
have  made  him  great  in  his  present  posi- 
tion. 

W.  E.  Nelson. 


38a 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Promoting  home  progress. — The  editorial 
in  the  country  newspaper  has  as  its 
first  care  the  promotion  of  those  things 
which,  though  relatively  small  compared  to 
some  other  things,  are  in  the  aggregate  of 
such  vast  importance  to  the  country  as  a 
whole.  No  great  city  paper  can.  effectual- 
ly promote  the  little  things  that  need  to  be 
encouraged  in  every  rural  community.  The 
big  papers  have  problems  of  their  own  that 
they  consider  big.  Greater  than  the  prob- 
lems of  the  city,  however,  is  the  problem 
of  progression  in  the  rural  districts,  and 
it  is  to  this  greater  problem  that  the  edi- 
torial soace  in  the  country  papers  should 
be  devoted,  in  the  main,  so  that  the  country 
papers  may  reach  standards  of  service  that 
will  give  them  a  cause  and  a  reason  for 
existence. 

Bernard  Finn. 

Flea  minds  in  editing. — Accuracy  fades 
in  the  militant  presence  of  an  obsession. 
A  man  of  one  idea  usually  is  a  poor  judge 
of  fact.  A  zealot  usually  sees  red  no  mat- 
ter how  often  the  prism  of  knowlege  may 
be  held  before  him.  A  man  of  this  type 
may  cling  to  one  notion  all  his  life,  or  he 
may  change  with  the  moon,  baying  in  love 
at  the  quickly  shifting  objects  of  his  adora- 
tion. This  month  he  may  be  convinced  that 
all  the  woes  of  the  world  can  be  extirpated 
by  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic;  next 
month  he  flenses  laboi^  unionism  as  the 
arch  enemy  of  civilization.  Then  he  rages 
at  the  cigarette  or  the  pulpit  as  a  dominat- 
ing evil,  and  from  one  fad  to  another  he 
stretches  himself,  seeing  only  the  front  of 
one,  the  top  of  a  second,  the  side  of  a  third, 
but  the  bottom  of  none.  Over-zeal  often 
exalteth  superficiality.  When  the  great 
European  war  broke  out  many  editors  im- 
mediately wrote  blistering  editorials  con- 
demning one  or  another  of  the  nations  in- 
volved, pointing  to  this  episode  or  that  as 
elemental  causes  of  belligerency.  Many  of 
them  were  not  awake  to  the  fact  for  some 
60  days  that  the  war  was,  in  reality,  1,000 
years  in  the  making. 

Herbert  Hunter. 

The  party  paper. — The  party  newspaper 
is  subject  to  incessant  demand  for  publicity 
from  the  men  of  its  own  political  persua- 
sion. Members  of  a  party  seem  to  feel  a 
sense  of  proprietorship  of  such  a  newspaper, 
and  assume  the  right  to  demand  that  pub- 
lication of  benefit  to  candidates  be  made 
without  regard  to  the  effect  upon  it.  It  is 
for  this  reason,  I  believe,  that  newspapers 
generally  are  taking  on  a  more  independent 
tone  in  politics, 

A.   R.   Fenwick. 


Two  types  of  editorial  page. — Today 
there  is  no  recognized  editorial  page  stand- 
ard, but  there  are  two  distinct  types.  Of 
each  type  the  pages  are  of  varying  merit 
and  quality.  The  editorial  page  in  each 
of  these  groups  is  written  from  entirely 
different  conceptions  of  the  objects  and 
purposes  of  a  newspaper. 

One  of  these  groups  holds  that  the  news- 
paper is  a  mirror  in  which  should  be  re- 
flected events  of  interest.  The  mirror 
should  be  perfect  and  the  reflection  true.  It 
should  reflect  human  life  as  it  is:  the  good, 
the  evil;  the  joys,  the  sorrows;  the  hopes, 
the  disappointments. 

But  after  all  the  mirror  is  only  a  mirror. 
It  is  a  passive  thing,  lacking  in  understand- 
ing, in  force,  and  in  human  sympathy. 

The  other  group  holds  that  a  newspaper 
should  not  only  truthfully  portray  the 
events  of  the  day,  but  it  should  do  more. 
It  also  should  interpret  these  events  and 
show  their  relation  to  other  similar  oc- 
currences. They  hold  that  the  purpose  of  a 
newspaper  is  to  be  helpful  and  educational 
in  an  active  way;  that  it  should  discuss  vi- 
tal public  questions,  stimulate  interest  in 
them,  and  lead  intelligent  public  opinion. 

Each  of  these  groups  finds  expression  on 
the  editorial  page. 

The  one  is  active,  sometimes  militant. 

The  other  is  passive,  sometimes  cow- 
ardly. 

Each  frequently  is  carried  to  extremes. 
When  the  active  or  militant  exceeds  the 
bounds  and  becomes  unfair  and  abusive,  it 
is  hated.  When  the  passive  becomes  supine 
and  vapid,  its  cowardliness  is  reflected  in  the 
news  columns  and  the  publication  is  re- 
ceived with  contempt. 

H.  W.  Brundige. 


Building    industry    through    the   press. — 

Greater  in  value  than  any  other  one  me- 
dium is  the  newspaper  in  the  industrial  de- 
velopment of  a  community  of  section.  Not 
only  is  the  newspaper  the  greatest  force  in 
the  upbuilding  of  the  community  from  a 
soc^'al  standpoint,  influencing  as  it  does  the 
energies  and  character  of  its  citizens,  but 
it  is^  also  a  great  factor  in  guiding  public 
opinion  in  its  relation  to  the  encouragement 
of  all  lines  of  industry.  As  an  exploitation 
medium,  the  newspaper  is  recognized  peer 
and,  through  its  circulation,  is  one  of  the 
strono-est  pullers  for  population  in  the  com- 
munity. .  .  .  The  general  character  of 
a  newspaper,  when  considered  as  indicating 
the  character  of  the  city  in  which  it  is  pub- 
lished, is  of  great  importance  to  a  com- 
munity. The  first  thing  a  prospective  in- 
vestor does  is  study  the  newspapers  pub- 
lished  in  the   locality   where   he   plans   to 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


381 


place  his  funds.  Often  it  is  the  newspaper 
which  first  arouses  the  investor's  interest 
in  that  particular  section. 

R.  H.  Mattison. 

Editorial  self-defeat. — I  am  constrained 
to  believe  that  we  newspaper  publishers  on 
the  average  are  prone  to  ignore  the  power 
for  good  or  evil  that  lies  in  our  editorial 
page,  and  lack  in  appreciation  of  our  re- 
sponsibility. We  r.re  often  tempted  to  in- 
ject false  doctrines  into  our  editorials,  in 
the  hope  of  serving  some  selfish  purpose. 
This  temptation  is  ours  only  when  we  lack 
understanding  of  our  power;  for  if  we  un- 
derstand that  our  written  word  must  stand 
sis  be  weighed  in  that  most  delicate  and 
out  before  the  world,  and,  in  the  final  analy- 
sensitive  of  all  scales,  the  public  conscience, 
we  shall  appreciate  that  insincerity,  dishon- 
esty, hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  in  the  edi- 
torial page  will  betray  and  condemn  them- 
selves in  spite  of  all  the  sophistry  that  we 
can  bring  to  bear. 

Charles  H.  O'Neil. 


"You  yourself  are  the  masses." — I  am  not 

going  to  remind  you  that  you  are  about  to 
start  into  a  work  which  will  "uplift  the 
masses."  You  may  uplift  the  masses — I 
hope  you  will — ^but  keep  in  mind  first  of 
all  that  you  yourself  are  the  masses. 
Clara  Chapline  Thomas. 

Teaching  the  people  finance. — One  of  the 

greatest  needs  of  this  nation  to-day  is  a 
clearer  conception,  a  better  understanding, 
a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  eco- 
nomic and  financial  problems  of  its  people 
in  both  their  communal  and  individual 
affairs.  It  is  to  the  newspaper  that  the 
great  mass  of  people  look  for  guidance. 
Upon  the  financial  editor,  therefore,  de- 
volve a  duty  and  a  responsibility  in  the 
moulding  of  public  opinion  on  those  ques- 
tions so  vital  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
people.  To  this  work  he  must  bring  abil- 
ity, experience  and  understanding;  and  to 
the  extent  that  the  financial  editor  is  able 
to  think  clearly  and  write  convincingly — 
with  accuracy  at  all  times — will  his  value 
to  his  paper  and  his  service  to  the  com- 
munity be  measured. 

Edwin  Selvin. 


has  ever  before  had  the  chance  that  it  now 
faces,  to  become  the  great  hub  on  which 
the  spokes  of  the  world's  commerce  will 
center  when  the  awful  war  is  over.  And  if 
the  business  department  will  continue  to 
make  the  progress  that  it  is  now  making, 
and  fasten  "Truth"  to  its  masthead  so 
firmly  that  nothing  will  ever  dislodge  it, 
only  the  final  bugle  call  will  stop  the  on- 
ward march  of  the  business  press. 

E.  A.  Simmons. 

Editing  a  financial  page. — The  success- 
ful financial  editor  of  a  big  daily  newspaper 
who  sets  out  to  gain  recognition  for  his 
paper  as  a  financial  authority  has  of  ne- 
cessity devoted  years  of  preparation  to  the 
work,  probably  commencing  in  his  college 
days  when,  studying  economic  and  kindred 
subjects.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  finance, 
investments,  business,  commerce,  industry 
and  transportation  is  essential,  this  being 
supplemented  by  constant  reading  and  study. 

As  the  financial  editor  develops  his  de- 
partment so  that  by  editorial  excellence  he 
can  attract  an  ever  increasing  volume  of 
financial  advertising,  his  remuneration  in- 
creases in  direct  ratio  to  the  added  prestige 
and  advertising  he  is  able  to  bring  to  his 
paper. 

He  must  at  once  be  a  writer,  a  business 
getter,  a  teacher,  an  authority  on  financial 
and  business  matters.  The  day  is  past 
when  the  mere  editing  of  routina  financial 
news  is  all  that  is  required,  to  the  handling 
of  which  he  need  bring  newspaper  train- 
ing alone. 

Edwin  Selvin. 

Change  in  the  country  field. — The  country 
editor  should  keep  in  mind  that  communi- 
ties shift  and  change.  They  do  not  main- 
tain the  same  characteristics  for  long 
periods.  This  is  especially  true  of  course 
in  any  part  of  the  country  that  is  new  or 
undergoing  development.  People  move 
about.  Ideas  change,  and  so  do  ideals.  The 
profession  of  editing  is  something  like  talk- 
ing to  a  procession. 

F.  A.  Hazeltine. 


Signed  editorials. — In  thrashing  out  a 
problem  at  the  editorial  council  different 
phases  of  a  subject  are  presented  by  vari- 
ous members  of  the  staff.  The  man  who 
writes  the  editorial  frequently  accepts 
ideas  from  every  member  of  the  staff  in 
his  presentation  of  the  subject,  and  he 
would  be  guilty  of  plagiarism  if  he  should 
attach  his  name  to  the  editorial.  The  edi- 
torial "we"  is  the  real  author  of  the  edi- 


382 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


torial:  the  staff,  through  an  individual 
writer,  has  spoken  for  the  paper.  Only 
where  the  editorial  staff  consists  of  a  sin- 
gle member  would  there  be  justification  for 
using  Mr.  Bryan's  suggestion  of  signed 
editorials.  James  Melvin  Lee. 

The  unavailing  feud.— The  man  who  suc- 
ceeds in  lifting  himself  intellectually  or 
financially  above  the  general  level  becomes 
an  object  of  envy  and  hatred.  The  demagogy 
of  weaker  contemporaries  is  responsible 
for  many  fallacious  charges  of  untruth 
against  the  successful  newspapers,  but  these 
usually  are  transparent  and  harmless,^  and 
react  like  boomerangs.  It  is  doubtful  if  an 
editor  ever  gains  anything  by  attacking  his 
successful  contemporary.  Newspaper  fights 
are  of  very  little  interest  to  the  public. 
Herbert  Hunter. 

Technical-paper     editorial     matter. — The 

text  pages  of  practically  all  modern  techni- 
cal journals  may  be  divided  into  the  edi- 
torial, the  descriptive,  the  general  news 
and  the  current  news  sections.  These  may 
be  considered  separately,  although  two  or 
more  of  them  are  closely  allied  in  the 
handling  of  many  subjects. 

The  outstanding  developments  and  news 
features  of  the  profession  or  industry  are 
interpreted  and  discussed  in  the  editorial 
pages  of  the  technical  periodical.  A  great 
variety  of  subjects  is  considered,  even  when 
a  technical  paper  covers  quite  a  restricted 
field.  One  editorial  may  have  to  do  with  a 
feature  of  general  interest  to  many  other 
branches  of  industry;  another  may  be  de- 
voted to  a  highly  technical  subject  of  imme- 
diate interest  to  a  compartively  small  num- 
ber of  its  own  readers,  while  the  next  may 
have  to  do  with  the  ethics  of  the  profes- 
sion as  a  whole.  In  some  cases  the  editor 
or  his  advisers  merely  interpret  the  bear- 
ing of  the  subject  discussed  on  the  affairs 
of  the  readers  of  the  paper.  In  other  in- 
stances there  are  interpretation  and  dis- 
cussion, while  many  editorials  contain 
strong  and  authoritative  arguments  for  or 
against  certain  practices  or  methods.  With- 
out exception  the  editorial  pages  are  de- 
voted to  the  betterment  of  the  profession 
or  industry,  either  from  a  technical  or  a 
financial  point  of  view,  and  frequently  from 
both,  since  the  two  go  hand  in  hand. 

The  descriptive  pages  of  a  technical  jour- 
nal contain  articles  on  an  even  greater 
variety  of  subjects  than  are  interpreted  or 
discussed  in  the  editorial  pages.  These 
are  written  with  the  idea  of  giving  in  the 
best  form  the  information  of  most  interest 
to  those  concerned.    They  are  prepared  by 


members  of  the  editorial  staff  from  data 
obtained  in  the  field,  or  by  men  engaged 
directly  in  the  work  described.  Expres- 
sions of  opinion  are  eliminated  from  the 
descriptive  articles  and  reserved  entirely 
for  the  editorial  pages." 

James  H.  McGraw. 


Organization  of  the  technical  staff. — The 

editorial  ladder  is  straight.  That  is,  if 
you  start  at  the  bottom,  the  climb  to  the 
top  is  steady;  and,  because  it  is  funnel- 
shaped,  there  is  usually  a  scramble  at  the 
base  and  intense  rivalry  as  the  mass  nears 
the  mouth.  Fitness  determines  the  win- 
ner; and  the  rest  continue  to  march  for- 
ward, either  singly,  in  pairs,  or  three  or 
more  abreast,  according  to  the  size  of  the 
staff.  In  other  words,  in  a  small  organiza- 
tion the  column  soon  narrows  down  to 
single  file;  whereas  with  the  larger  papers, 
especially  those  classed  as  technical,  the 
single  file  represents  specialists,  any  one 
of  whom  might  be  editorship  timber;  while 
the  rank  and  file  work  together  in  com- 
pound units,  a  given  number  to  each  sub- 
division. For  instance,  of  the  fourteen 
members  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Rail- 
way Age  Gazette  with  the  title  of  associate 
editor,  or  higher,  there  is  one  editor,  him- 
self a  specialist,  as  I  have  already  indi- 
cated; and  one  managing  editor  who  was, 
prior  to  his  promotion,  chief  mechanicsj 
department  editor.  The  other  twelve 
are  divided  as  follows:  Finance,  one;  traf- 
fic, one;  mechanical  engineering,  three; 
civil  engineering,  three;  news  and  miscel- 
laneous, four.  Of  the  fourteen,  at  least 
six  know  how  to  make  up  the  editorial 
pages  of  the  paper.  Except  in  the  news 
department,  few  of  them  stay  at  their 
desks  for  any  considerable  time  at  a 
stretch.  We  believe  in  the  policy  of  keep- 
ing our  editors  out  in  the  field  where  they 
can  see  things  at  first  hand;  and  in  the 
railway  work  this  means  that  they  must 
travel  from  coast  to  coast.  The  day  has 
long  since  passed  when  the  editors  of  a 
high-class  technical  journal  can  sit  on  their 
chairs  and  turn  out  a  paper  that  will  prop- 
erly fill  the  field. 

E.  A.  Simmons. 

Three  technical-journal  aims. — Most  of 
us  work  under  the  handicap  that  our  pub- 
lications partake  in  a  certain  sense  of  the 
characters  of  both  a  magazine  and  a  news- 
paper. We  have  feature  articles  like  the 
magazine,  yet  we  carry  to  most  of  our 
readers  the  first  news  which  they  have 
about  a  great  many  events  in  the  field,  so 
in  this  respect  we  have  the  characteristics 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


383 


of  a  newspaper.  In  a  sense,  our  technical 
papers  are  a  composite  of  Newton's  Prin- 
cipia,  the  New  York  Times  and  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Post.  Let  us  then  strive  to 
emulate  the  scientific  character  of  the  first, 
the  newsiness  of  the  second  and  the  typo- 
graphical features  of  the  third.  The  fact 
that  correct  make-up  is  so  much  more  a 
matter  of  taste  than  of  mechanical  rule 
makes  this  question  of  especial  importance. 
Henry  W.  Blake. 


The  futile  "big  stick." — In  the  average 
community  there  will  be  found  some  sort 
of  schism  existing  among  the  people.  Some- 
times it  is  religious,  sometimes  political, 
sometimes  commercial,  sometimes  just  pure 
human  cussedness.  Too  often  we  see  the 
newspaper  of  the  town  handling  the  situa- 
tion with  a  big  stick — trying  to  drive  the 
opinionated  prejudices  of  the  editor  down 
the  unwilling  throats  of  the  opposition.  It 
never  works.  The  trouble  is  but  accentu- 
ated and  perpetuated.  This  is  an  opportunity 
for  broad,  wise  and  kindly  leadership  of  the 
editorial  page,  rather  than  a  superheated, 
rash,  narrow  and  prejudical  editorial  policy. 
Charles  H.  O'Neil. 


Country  editor,  new  style. — No  more  is 
the  country  editor  poverty-stricken.  He 
runs  his  paper  on  a  business  basis,  doesn't 
dun  his  subscribers  through  the  columns  of 
his  paper,  but  sends  his  bills  through  the 
mails,  collects  promptly  for  his  "ads,"  and 
cuts  off  subscriptions  the  minute  they  are 
not  renewed.  He  doesn't  feel  the  town 
owes  him  a  living;  he  makes  one. 

F.  A.  Hazeltine. 


Joys  of  country  editing. — The  first  joy  of 
a  country  editor's  life  is  the  independence 
of  it.  He  writes  what  he  thinks.  He  has 
a  lifelong  job.  He  stores  up  competence. 
He  has  the  opportunity  to  lend  to  his  news 
that  personal  color  which  makes  it  liked 
by  his  readers.  .  .  .  Then  there  is  the 
joy  of  exercising  power.  The  editor  ex- 
ercises the  power,  though  credit  for  wield- 
ing it  must  often  be  foregone.  One  must 
be  content  with  doing  things  and  letting 
others  take  the  credit,  for  it  is  only  by 
playing  on  some  persons'  vanity  that  we 
are  able  to  get  them  to  do  any  work.  Yet 
when  we  hear  the  new  bell  in  the  school- 
house  tower,  or  see  the  new  town  foun- 
tain, or  walk  through  the  new  park,  we 
know,  just  the  same,  who  got  those  things. 
.  .  .  Next,  there  is  the  joy  of  acquaint- 
anceship. The  editor  must  fight  against 
the  natural  temptation  to  stay  in  his  of- 


fice and  have  the  people  come  to  see  him. 
The  man  just  from  college  may  be  tempted 
to  stay  inside  with  his  books.  But  the 
successful  editor  goes  out  among  his  read- 
ers. Each  year  I  look  forward  to  my  grand 
annual  tour  through  the  county,  to  renew 
acquaintanceships  and  subscriptions.  In 
that  tour,  I  have  to  use  sailboat,  bicycle, 
railroad,  and  even  to  tramp. 

But  the  greatest  joy  is  the  joy  of  serv- 
ice to  your  fellow  men.  The  minister  may 
be  called  on  often  for  help,  but  you  are 
called  on  more.  And  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  ring  up  the  mill  boss  and  get  a 
job  for  some  man  who's  down  on  his 
luck,  or  get  him  a  place  in  a  lumber  camp. 
It  is  gratifying  to  be  in  a  position  to  sym- 
pathize with  your  friends,  to  praise  them 
when  they  do  good,  to  encourage  them  in 
their  enterprises,  to  share  their  joys,  and 
to  mourn  with  them  in  their  sorrows. 

F.  A.  Hazeltine. 

The  small-town  Scylla  and  Charybdis. — 

The  policy  of  the  paper  is  important.  While 
it  should  always  stand  for  all  that  is  good 
and  progressive,  whether  it  should  take  up 
the  cudgels  for  a  political  party  or  not  is 
a  delicate  matter.  Yet  it  is  one  you  may 
have  to  face  and  upon  which  you  may  be 
forced  to  take  a  stand.  If  the  two  domi- 
nant political  parties  are  about  evenly  di- 
vided as  to  political  strength,  the  first 
thing  you  know  you  will  have  an  opposition 
newspaper  started  by  some  political  bucca- 
neer looking  for  office  or  political  spoils.  If 
you  can  run  an  independent  newspaper 
without  taking  sides  you  are  fortunate.  If 
you  take  up  the  cudgels  for  one  party  or 
the  other,  you  are  bound  to  lose  subscribers 
who  are  members  of  the  opposition.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  you  represent  the  suc- 
cessful political  faction  you  are  in  line  for 
political  spoils.  By  spoils  I  mean  printing 
of  various  kinds,  both  job  printing  and 
legal  publications,  which  are  legitimate 
sources  of  revenue.  No  matter  which  side 
you  espouse  you  cannot  afford  to  be  too 
radical  in  your  editorial  column,  because  it 
virtually  amounts  to  stirring  up  a  family 
row.  Your  intimate  acquaintance  in  the 
community  will  not  permit  you  to  roast 
the  everlasting  stuffing  out  of  some  neigh- 
bor because  he  differs  with  you  politically. 

0.  A.  Ruffner. 

The  editor  and  the  weather. — A  subject 
to  be  almost  daily  treated  is  the  weather. 
More  people  talk  about  the  weather  than 
any  other  one  thing,  and  yet  the  average 
editor  neglects  to  discuss  it  in  the  public 
prints.    There  isn't  anything  of  such  com- 


384 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


mon  interest  as  the  meteorological  changes. 
There  are  few  editors  who  appreciate  this 
fact. 

It  is  the  human  interest  again,  you  see. 
The  shift  from  hot  to  cold,  or  vice  versa, 
the  snow-falls,  the  rain-falls,  the  high 
winds,  the  excessive  heat  and  cold,  the 
frosts,  the  thaws,  the  swollen  streams — 
these  all  are  constantly  attractive  subjects 
for  discussion  in  almost  every  issue  of  a 
paper,  and  yet  how  few  publishers  avail 
themselves  of  it  ?  .  .  .  It  is  the  appeal 
of  the  human  interest.  Heed  it,  my  young 
friends,  when  you  are  in  control  of  the  edi- 
torial department. 

James  H.  Callanan. 


Three  steps:  preparation,  duplication, 
and  circulation. — The  two  ground  divisions 
of  newspaper  work  are  editorial  manage- 
ment and  business  management.  You 
have  profits,  if  you  have  any,  and  chari- 
ties and  gifts.  The  editorial  department 
of  a  newspaper  doesn't  directly  earn  any- 
thing. It  provides  the  paper  which  I  must 
sell  before  I  can  sell  any  advertising.  The 
men  and  women  producing  a  newspaper 
are  not  directly  producing  an  income  for 
the  paper.  Assuming  that  the  editorial 
side  of  a  newspaper  is  entirely  one  of  ex- 
pense, the  little  diagram  follows.  First,  we 
get  all  of  the  news  we  can  get,  all  the  good 
service  we  can  get;  all  the  pictures,  all  the 
good  features  and  prepare  it  for  printing, 
and  we  have — ^what?  We  have  the  origi- 
nal of  the  newspaper  of  that  one  day.  Pro- 
ducing that  is  our  first  business.  Our  next 
step  is  producing  by  mechanical  means 
many  copies  of  that  first  newspaper.  The 
original  is  produced  in  type  and  metal.  No 
man  outside  of  the  mechanical  department 
ever  sees  it.  But  our  third  piece  of  enter- 
prise is  to  sell  those  copies  and  sell  the 
right  to  go  in  those  copies  to  the  people 
who  read  them.  I  count  those  first  three 
steps  the  main  essentials  of  a  newspaper. 
Joseph  Blethen. 

Thirty   editorials  and  three  cotton-mills. 

— In  Columbia,  S.  C,  there  is  a  daily  news- 
paper. The  State,  regarded  in  the  South  as 
one  of  its  best  newspapers.  A  few  years 
ago  a  mechanical  engineer,  who  had  pro- 
moted the  establishment  of  cotton  mills  in 
several  communities,  was  desirous  of  see- 
ing a  cotton-mill  erected  in  Columbia,  his 
home  town.  After  months  of  hard  work, 
he  had  accomplished  so  little  that  he  de- 
cided to  give  up  and  move.  .  .  .  He 
told  the  editor  of  "The  State".  The  lat- 
ter asked  him  to  wait  thirty  days. 


The  next  day  "The  State"  published  the 
first  of  a  series  of  thirty  articles,  one  each 
day  for  a  month,  on  the  desirability  of  a 
cotton-mill  in  Columbia.  Enough  cotton 
was  grown  in  South  Carolina  and  neigh- 
boring states  to  keep  the  looms  of  such  a 
mill  humming  the  year  round.  Cotton 
goods  were  in  demand  all  over  the  world. 
Labor  was  abundant,  the  market  would 
absorb  the  product  as  fast  as  it  could  be 
manufactured.  The  mill  could  not  fail  to 
return  substantial  dividends. 

Before  the  end  of  the  thirty  days  a  brick 
manufacturer  said  he  would  furnish  the 
brick  for  the  factory  and  take  his  pay  in 
the  stock  of  the  company.  A  lumber  dealer 
agreed  to  furnish  the  lumber,  a  manufac- 
turer of  cast-iron  and  steel  promised  to 
supply  these  materials,  and  a  contractor 
guaranteed  to  put  in  the  foundation — all 
taking  their  pay  in  stock.  Such  was  the 
public  interest  that  before  the  mill  was 
completed  a  second  mill  was  under  way; 
and  at  the  end  of  another  year,  a  third, 
having  the  largest  floor  area  of  any  cotton- 
mill  in  the  world,  was  erected. 

Cited  by  Frank  LeRoy  Blanchard. 


The  neighborhood's  full  of  subjects. — The 

newspaper  should  stand  for  the  material  as 
well  as  the  moral  and  mental  betterment  of 
its  community.  Hence  it  should  keep  in 
touch  with  the  work  of  the  commercial 
club  and  the  other  organizations  devoted  to 
the  civic  welfare. 

The  work  of  the  charitable  organizations 
is  filled  with  possibilties  of  human-interest 
news.  Extreme  care  should  be  used,  how- 
ever, in  presenting  information  about  char- 
ity, lest  the  aim  of  organized  charity — 
helping  men  to  help  themselves — be  de- 
feated. 

Frequent  news  notes  of  interest  may  be 
obtained,  too,  from  the  schools.  New 
methods  of  teaching,  improvements  in 
school  buildings,  changes  in  the  teaching 
staff,  and  all  such  matters  relating  to  the 
work  of  the  schools,  are  of  interest  to 
every  parent.  It  is  not  enough  to  report 
the  routine  meetings  of  the  school  board: 
the  editor  should  strive  to  keep  his  readers 
informed  of  actual  class-room  conditions  as 
far  as  these  are  of  public  interest.  .  .  . 
Church  news  may  also  be  developed  into  a 
valuable  feature.  Stories  may  be  made 
from  time  to  time  of  the  activities  of  vari- 
ous church  organizations,  such  as  the 
woman's  missionary  societies  and  the  young 
people's  unions.  In  the  churches  as  in  the 
schools  new  methods  and  ideas  are  steadily 
gaining  ground.  Not  long  ago,  in  a  Cen- 
tral   Missouri   town,   a   pastor   established 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


385 


the  first  church  nursery  in  the  United 
States.  .  .  .  During  the  service  the 
pastor's  study  is  coverted  into  a  play-room, 
where  young  women  from  one  of  the  Sun- 
day school  classes  entertain  the  children 
with  stories  and  games.  That  was  an  ex- 
cellent story,  widely  reprinted  throughout 
the  country.  In  another  church  the  pastor 
compiled  data  showing  the  relative  attend- 
ance of  men  and  women  at  church  services. 
On  his  statistics  he  based  a  sermon.  Here 
was  another  good  news  and  editorial  story 
of  almost  universal  appeal. 

Charles  G.  Ross. 


Window-seat  editorials. — The  editorials 
of  my  paper  were  run  double  column  under 
a  heading  that  I  called  my  "Window  Seat." 
To  accomplish  this  I  had  my  typewriter  in 
the  front  window,  and  I  sat  there  and 
wrote.  Under  this  head  was  this:  "Un- 
der this  head  the  editor  wishes  to  write 
upon  subjects  that  appeal  to  him.  It  may 
be  politics,  it  may  be  religion,  and  it  may 
be  about  just  things.  If  you  like  it,  read 
it;  if  not,  pass  it  up  and  we  will  not  feel 
bad.  This  space  is  our  playground — it  be- 
longs to  us  and  no  one  else."  It  was  very 
gratifying  indeed  on  each  Friday  morning, 
as  my  paper  appeared,  to  hear  people  say- 
ing: "Well,  let's  see  what  O'Day  has  to 
say  in  his  windy  seat,"  and  they  would 
read  this  part  of  the  paper  first.  I  put 
some  good  stuff  in  that  column,  much  of 
what  you  would  call  human-interest  stuff. 
Most  of  it  was  very  ordinary,  but  I  treated 
it  in  a  very  extraordinary  way. 

T.  J.  O'Day. 

1/  Effective   principle   of  the  cartoon. — The 

direct  more  than  the  indirect  appeal  holds 
sway  with  the  ignorant,  and  hence  the 
simple  pre-digested  editorials  in  the  Hearst 
papers  are  more  influential  with  the  multi- 
tude than  the  more  complex  ones  in  the 
Evening  Post  and  the  Sun.  For  the  same 
reason  pictures,  illustrations,  large  type, 
plans  and  drawings,  have  swayed  the  great 
untutored  part  of  the  community.  And  as 
the  simple  editorial  is  more  direct  in  its 
influence  than  the  scholarly  one,  so  is  the 
cartoon  still  more  effective.  It  appeals  to 
the  primal  sense  of  man,  the  sense  of 
sight.  And  it  is  more  potent  than  the  edi- 
torial in  that  it  can  reach  all  classes  of  the 
community.  The  man  in  the  office  can  see 
and  appreciate  the  fine  artistic  touches  that 
are  beyond  the  vision  of  his  cruder  fellow. 
The  cartoon,  while  preserving  its  unity,  can 
appeal  to  more  men  of  widely  differing  in- 


stinct and  education  than  can  the  editorial, 
and  its  growth  has  been  in  proportion  to 
the  decline  of  the  latter. 

Roy  M.  Crismas. 

Cartoons  as  editorials. — What  is  the  pres- 
ent ideal  of  the  cartoon.  "The  best  and 
most  telling  cartoons,"  says  one  authority, 
".  .  .  are  those  which  do  not  merely  re- 
flect public  opinion,  but  guide  it.  .  .  .  In 
order  to  influence  public  opinion  caricature 
must  contain  a  certain  element  of  prophecy. 
It  must  suggest  a  danger  or  point  an  inter- 
rogation." La  Touche  Hancock  says,  "I  look 
upon  the  cartoon  as  an  editorial;  to  be  a 
success  it  should  point  a  moral."  Charles 
L.  Bartholomew,  the  cartoonist  of  the  Min- 
neapolis Journal,  calls  cartoons  "editorials 
in  outline,"  and  asserts  that  the  drawings 
of  an  artist  must  "present  an  argument, 
elucidate  the  news,  or  humorously  hit  off  a 
current  event,"  thus  leaving  out  of  account 
the  power  for  the  terrible  and  the  sublime 
which  many  of  the  cartoons  of  recent  date 
have  shown  their  power  to  depict.  Bar- 
tholomew, however,  believes  implicitly  in  the 
power  of  the  cartoon. 

Roy  M.  Crismas. 

The  transformed  cartoon. — The  cartoon 
has  not  only  undergone  a  transformation 
in  technique;  it  has  changed  in  content  and 
purpose.  It  still  retains,  of  course,  its  pri- 
mary character  of  a  political  satire,  but  has 
extended  its  function  to  the  censorship  of 
moral  and  social  conditions  and  the  diffu- 
sion of  a  broader,  more  philosophical,  more 
historical  view  of  current  events.  Its  pres- 
ent aim  is  not  the  gratification  of  the  pas- 
sions of  the  moment,  but  the  concrete  ex- 
pression in  black  and  white  of  the  great 
unseen  forces  that  move  races  and  mould 
their  institutions.  It  seeks  not  to  pander 
to  the  partisan,  but  to  give  to  the  man  of 
the  street  the  real  inwardness  of  the  day's 
events  in  capsule  form. 

Roy  M.  Crismas. 

A  people's  extension-institute. — Duty 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  it  was  not  only 
right  to  stop  people  from  spending  money 
for  nostrums  generally  useless  and  often- 
times dangerous,  but  it  was  essential  that 
we  do  what  we  could  to  keep  them  in 
health.  So  we  engaged  Dr.  Evans,  for- 
merly Health  Commissioner  of  the  City  of 
Chicago,  and  President  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  to  act  as  Health  Edi- 
tor. He  does  not  prescribe,  but  daily  he 
talks  on  the  text  "How  to  Keep  Well." 
This  was  an  innovation  which  has  been 
followed   by   several    metropolitan    papers 


S86 


EDITORULS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


and  to-day  the  medical  papers  of  the  coiin- 
-^- —  '~~  "Medical  Editors"  in 


try  are  crusading  for 
daily  newspapers, 


James  Keeley. 


All  the  arts  and  sciences  are  progressing 
so  fast  that  the  weekly  papers  can  scarcely 
keep  up  with  them— they  can  only  give  a 
moving  picture  summary  of  important 
events.  Nothing  stays  put.  The  editorial 
mind  must  be  open,  it  must  love  the  truth, 
seek  the  new  and  be  willing  to  forget  the 
old  when  it  is  superseded. 

Being  an  editor  of  a  technical  paper  tor 
a  year  will  drown  a  man  in  his  own  conceit 
—or  take  it  all  out  of  him. 

No  man  can  be  a  successful  editor  who 
has  not  something  of  the  schoolmarm  in  his 
blood.  Teachers  and  editors  often  forget, 
however,  that  the  pupils  to  whom  they  can 
do  the  most  good  are  always  coming  to  them 
and  leaving  when  they  have  been  helped  a 
little. 

Many  editors  educate  themselves  beyond 
the  capabilities  of  their  readers  to  under- 
stand; they  forget  that  they  themselves  are 
the  only  ones  continuously  in  school.  Keep 
in  touch  with  the  work  in  your  field. 

No  editor  who  sticks  to  his  desk  can  hope 
to  be  a  success;  he  must  go  after  things  as 
well  as  sift  the  voluntary  contributors. 

An  established  paper  with  a  reputation  is 
an  engine  which  can  do  much  good  and  much 
harm.  Maybe  editors  ought  to  be  licensed 
like  other  engineers. 

John  A.  Hill. 


Editors  should  be  selected  from  direct  de- 
scendants of  King  Solomon  and  his  first  wife 
— experience  is  invaluable. 

A  small  paper  may  have  just  as  high 
ideals  as  a  big  one,  but  it  is  more  liable  to 
be  fighting  for  the  right  to  live,  and  often 
obliged  to  do  things  the  easiest  way  or 
starve.  Such  conditions  generally  mean  the 
starting  and  developing  of  pernicious  prac- 
tices which,  like  other  bad  habits,  are  hard 
to  get  rid  of  later  on,  either  for  the  papers 
or  the  men  who  have  been  trained  there. 

If  you  aspire  to  an  editorial  position,  write 
something  that  an  editor  will  want  to  pub- 
lish, and  present  it;  it  won't  be  long  before 
the  editor  and  the  proprietor  will  be  watch- 
ing you,  and  making  noises  like  a  salary. 
^  The  editorial  is  the  life  blood  of  the  pub- 
lication. Its  conduct  is  as  important  to  the 
paper  as  a  well-behaved  heart  to  an  athlete. 

John  A.  Hill. 

Technical  papers  must  aim  at  the  men 
who   do   things — men  who   are  responsible 


for  results;  they  need  and  seek  informa- 
tion, and  use  it  and  appreciate  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  technical  papers  must  be  edited 
with  the  assumption  that  the  audience 
knows  the  fundamentals  of  the  business. 
Kindergarten  papers  cannot  accomplish 
much.  The  readers  are  not  in  responsible 
positions,  they  do  not  buy  things  nor  in- 
fluence buying,  the  advertiser  will  not  pay 
for  them,  and  they  themselves  cannot  sup- 
port a  paper  without  advertising. 

An  editor  must  not  be  above  his  business, 
and  the  readers  and  advertisers  are  part  of 
the  business.  He  must  give  the  news— that 
which  originates  with  the  advertiser  just  as 
much  as  that  originating  with  the  reader. 
Let  him,  however,  use  a  little  of  that  blood 
inherited  from  Solomon  to  pick  and  choose, 
select  news  and  avoid  the  concealed  advertis- 
ing which  the  advertising  manager  offers 
him— syndicated  from  Dan  to  Beersheba. 

John  A.  Hill. 

Personal  journalism  is  gone  in  the  cities. 
There,  newspapers  are  institutions,  with  in- 
stitutional characteristics.  But  personal 
journalism  persists  in  the  country  field. 
What  the  country  paper  says  editorially 
still  is  what  the  editor  has  to  say  about  this 
or  that;  and  everybody  knows  the  editor. 
F.  A.  Hazeltine. 

It  isn't  a  mere  matter  of  printing  what 
is  fit  to  print.  Every  newspaper  must  have 
a  soul. 

C.  A.  Kimball. 

There  is  no  shorter  route  to  the  compre- 
hension and  convictions  of  the  mentally 
inert  voter  than  the  cartoon,  with  its  in- 
finite possibilities  of  simplification  in  por- 
traying the  situation  as  one  wishes  to  por- 
tray it,  and  the  votes  of  the  mentally  inert 
sound  just  as  loudly  as  any  when  they  are 
counted. 

F.  G.  Cooper. 

The  editor  who  is  looking  for  an  office 
is  an  editor  who  is  compromising  with  his 
duty  to  his  newspaper,  which  is  to  be  fear- 
less in  his  editing. 

F.  A.  Hazeltine. 

In  a  few  instances  where  powerful  inter- 
ests, whether  through  ownership  or  other- 
wise, have  dictated  policies  which  were 
against  the  interests  of  common' welfare, 
the  newspapers  thus  controlled  have  lost 
steadily  in  circulation  and  become  useless 
even  to  their  dictators  because  of  lack  of 
influence. 

James  Melvin  Lee. 


IDEALS,  SIDELIGHTS,  AND  HINTS 


887 


A  newspaper  must  lead  its  own  life,  and 
be  greater  than  its  owner.     It  is  a  public 
trust.    It  has  no  business  to  warp  the  facts. 
Frank  S.  Baker. 


It  is  not  necessary  that  an  editor  and 
publisher  should  be  a  pugilist  or  a  duelist, 
but  it  is  necessary  that  he  be  made  of  such 
stuff  that  he  fears  no  one  who  prides  him- 
self on  these  barbarous  characteristics. 

Adolph  S.  Ochs. 

As  the  world  changes,  the  editorial  page 
should  keep  in  advance  of  the  change  and 
try  to  help  it.  The  editorial  writer  should 
feel  the  responsibility  of  his  position.  If  a 
person  does  not  feel  that  he  has  been  divine- 
ly called  into  journalism,  I  sincerely  believe 
that  he  should  turn  his  back  and  walk  no 
more  in  the  paths  of  journalism. 

Fred  R.  Barkhurst. 


If  I  owned  a  big  newspaper  and  had 
plenty  of  money  I  would  certainly  have  one 
man  to  write  funny  news,  and  I  would  put- 
it  on  the  editorial  page.  Our  editorial  pages 
are  all  too  serious.    Every  one  laughs. 

E.  H.  Thomas. 


We  have  something  in  our  paper  every 
week  which  touches  our  neighbors  with 
whom  we  come  in  contact  socially,  and  every 
week,  and  it  grinds  us  and  hurts  us  to 
have  to  publish  something  in  our  papers 
that  places  our  friends  in  an  unfavorable 
light;  yet  it  very  often  happens  that  we 
have  to  do  so. 

Frederick  Omes. 

AUTHORITIES  QUOTED 

[Titles  and  positions  named  are  usually  those  held 
at  the  date  of  the  paper  or  address.] 

Baker,  Frank  S.,  publisher,  Tacoma 
Ledger  and  Tacoma  News-Tribune.  1914. 
The  editorial  viewpoint.  (Univ.  Washington 
Bui.) 

Barkhurst,  Fred  S.,  managing  editor,  St. 
Joseph  Gazette.  1915.  What  the  city  paper 
expects  of  its  editorial  writers.  (Univ.  Mis- 
souri Bui.) 

Barton,  Dante,  editorial  writer,  Kansas 
City  Star.  1913.  The  new  editorial  page. 
(Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Bechdolt,  Jack,  staff  of  Seattle  Post-Intel- 
ligencer. 1915.  Address,  The  feature  story, 
Univ.  of  Washington.  (Univ.  Washington 
Bui.)     . 

Blake,  Henry  W.,  editor  in  chief.  Electric 
Railway  Journal.  1919.  Editing  the  tech- 
nical publication.  (Address  before  the  Con- 
ference of  Business-Paper  Editors;  press 
report.) 


Blanchard,  Frank  Le  Roy,  executive  sec- 
retary Advertising  Club  of  New  York,  for- 
merly editor  of  Editor  and  Publisher,  et  al. 

1914.  Community  service.  (Univ.  Kansas 
News-Bulletin.) 

Blethen,  Joseph,  president  Seattle  Times. 

1915.  Address,  Univ.  Washington.  Prob- 
lems of  management.  (Univ.  Washington 
Bui.) 

Bone,  Scott  C,  editor  in  chief  Seattle 
Post-Intelligencer.  1914.  The  newspaper 
as  an  agency  for  social  service.  (Address, 
Univ.  Washington;  Univ.  Wash.  Bui.) 

Boughton,  A.  C,  St.  Louis  manager  Man- 
ufacturers' Record.  1915.  The  new  era  in 
advertising.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Brundige,  H.  W.,  editor  Los  Angeles 
Tribune,  Los  Angeles  Express.  1914.  The 
editorial  page.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Caldwell,  R.  S.,  Lewis  County,  Mo.,  Jour- 
nal. 1913.  Making  a  newspaper  pay  in  a 
town  of  less  than  500.   (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Callanan,  James  H.,  editor  and  publisher 
Schenectary  Union  Star.  1914.  The  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  in  newspaper  making. 
(Address,  New  York  University.) 

Clark,  Champ,  congressman,  speaker  of 
the  House,  etc.  1915.  Address,  University 
of  Missouri.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Coolidge,  Cafvin.  1920.  Governor's  ad- 
dress to  Editorial  Association.  (Newspaper 
report.) 

Cooper,  F.  G.,  Collier's  Weekly.  1915. 
Address,  The  work  of  the  cartoonist,  Univ. 
Missouri.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Crismas,  Roy  M.  1910.  Thesis,  Is  the 
cartoon  superseding  the  editorial?  (Univ. 
Washington.) 

Daniels,  Josephus,  publisher  Raleigh  News 
and  Observer.  1920.  Reported  by  The 
Fourth  Estate. 

Dillon,  Tom,  managing  editor  Seattle 
Post-Intelligencer.  1915.  The  editorial 
page.  (Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 

Dotter,  Mrs.  T.  E.,  local  editor  Sullivan, 
Mo.,  News.  1913.  Country  journalism  for 
women.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Fenwick,  A.  R.,  editor  Everett,  Wash., 
Tribune.  1916.  The  unethical  public. 
Newspaper  Institute,  Univ.  Washington. 
(Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 

Finn,  Bernard,  editor  and  publisher  Sar- 
coxie.  Mo.,  Record.  1915.  The  editorial  in 
the  country  newspaper.  (Univ.  Missouri 
Bui.) 

Haskell,  Henry  J.,  associate  editor  of 
Kansas  City  Star.  1912.  The  editorial  page: 
what  and  why.    (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 


388 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Hazeltine,  F.  A.,  editor  and  publisher, 
South  Bend,  Wash.,  Journal.  1914.  Fear- 
lessness in  editing  a  country  newspaper; 
1909-10,  Joys  and  opportunities  of  a  coun- 
try editor.    (Univ.  Washington  Buls.) 

Herbert,  B.  B.,  late  editor  and  publisher 
National  Printer -Journalist.  1914.  Educating 
the  newspaper  man.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Hill,  John  A.,  McGraw-Hill  Publishing 
Company;  American  Machinist,  Power,  Coal 
Age,  Engineering  and  Mining,  et  al.  1915. 
Lectures  in  industrial  journalism.  New  York 
University.  (Advertising  and  Selling, 
pubrs.) 

Hooper,  Osman  C,  department  of  jour- 
nalism, Ohio  State  University,  formerly  edi- 
torial writer  Columbus  Dispatch.  1916.  Ad- 
dress, The  editorial  page,  Ohio  State  Univ. 
(Journalism  Buls.,  O.  S.  U..) 

Hunter,  Herbert,  editor  Tacoma  News. 
1915.)  Address,  Accuracy.  (Univ.  Wash- 
ington Bui.) 

Keeley,  James,  managing  editor  and  gen- 
eral manager  Chicago  Tribune  1898-1914, 
editor  Chicago  Herald  1914-1918.  1913.  Ad- 
dress, Newspaper  work.  Newspaper  Insti- 
Univ.  Washington.   (Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 

Kimball,  C.  A.,  Columbia,  Mo.,  Times. 

Lee,  James  Melvin,  director  department 
of  journalism.  New  York  University,  for- 
merly editor  of  Judge,  etc.  History  of 
American  Journalism.  (Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.) 

McDougal,  H.  F.,  Maryville,  Mo.,  Tribune. 

McGraw,  James  H.,  president  McGraw- 
Hill  Publishing  Company;  owner  and  pub- 
lisher' of  Electrical  World,  Engineering 
Record,  etc.,  etc.  1915.  Lectures  in  indus- 
trial journalism.  New  York  University. 
(Advertising  and  Selling,  pubrs.) 

Mattison,  R.  H.,  manager  Exploitation  and 
Industrial  Bureau,  New  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Seattle.  1913.  Address,  The  news- 
paper and  industrial  development.  News- 
paper Institute,  Univ.  Washington.  (Univ. 
Washington  Bui.) 

Nelson,  W.  R.,  late  publisher  of  the  Kansas 
City  Times  and  Kansas  City  Star.  1914. 
(Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Ochs,  Adolph  S.,  owner  Chattanooga 
Times,  publisher  New  York  Times.  1916. 
Address  before  the  National  Editorial  Asso- 
ciation. 

Otis,  General  Harrison  Gray,  late  pub- 
lisher of  The  Los  Angeles  Times. 

O'Day,  T.  J.,  former  editor  Maiden,  Wash., 
Register,  director  of  printing  department 
Washington  State  College.  1916.  News- 
paper individuality.  Newspaper  Institute, 
Univ.  Washington.  (Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 
O'Neill,  Charles  H.,  editor  Walla  Walla 
Valley  Spectator.     1916.     The  public  inter- 


est.   Newspaper  Institute,  Univ.  Washing- 
ton.    (Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 

Ornes,  Frederick,  editor-owner  Mt.  Ver- 
non,    Wash.,     Argus;     Stanwood    Bulletin. 

1915.  (Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 

Payne,  Georgje  Henry,  History  of  Journal- 
ism in  the  United  States.  (D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  1920). 

Patterson,  Wright  A.,  editor  in  chief 
Western  Newspaper  Union,  Chicago.  1913. 
How  the  country  newspaper  may  help  itself. 
(Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Phelan,  Rev.  Father  David  S.,  editor  West- 
em  Watchman.  1915.  Fifty  years  of  church 
journalism.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Powell,  John  B.,  editor  and  manager  Mil- 
lard's Review;  formerly  journalism  staff, 
Univ.  Missouri.  1914.  Building  a  circula- 
tion.    (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Rickey,  H.  N.,  editorial  director  Scripps- 
McRae  League  of  newspapers.  1914.  The 
making  of  a  newspaper.  (Univ.  Missouri 
Bui.) 

Ross,  Charles  G.,  journalism  staff  Univ. 
Missouri.  1913.  The  news  in  the  country 
paper.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Ruffner,  0.  A.,  editor  Seattle  News.  1915. 
Address,  Univ.  Washington.  The  neighbor- 
hood paper.     (Univ.  Washington  Bui.) 

Selvin,  Edwin,  editor  and  publisher  Busi- 
ness Chronicle  of  Pacific  Northwest,  former- 
ly financial  editor  Seattle  Post-Intelligencer. 

1916.  The  editor's  responsibility  to  his  read- 
ers' savings  and  investments.  Newspaper 
Institute,  Univ.  Washington.  (Univ.  Wash- 
ington Bui.) 

Simmons,  E.  A.,  Simmons-Boardman  Pub- 
lishing Company;  Railway  Age,  Railway 
Electrical  Engineering,  Railway  Mechanical 
Engineering,  et  al.  1915.  Lectures  in  in- 
dustrial journalism,  New  York  University. 
(Advertising  and  Selling,  pubrs.) 

Symon,  James  D.,  The  press  and  its  story. 
(Seeley,  Service  &  Co.,  London.) 
'     Thomas,  Miss  Clara  Chapline,  Minneapo- 
lis Tribune  staff.    1913.    City  journalism  for 
women.     (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 

Thomas,  E.  H.  1914.  Newspaper  Insti- 
tute, Univ.  Washington.  (Univ.  Washing- 
ton Bui.) 

Ukers,  W.  H.,  editor  and  publisher  Tea 
and  Coffee  Trade  Journal,  president  New 
York  Trade  Press  Association.  1915.  Lec- 
tures in  industrial  journalism.  New  York 
University.  (Advertising  and  Selling, 
pubrs.) 

White,  Edgar,  article  on  Newspaper 
Ideals,  Inland  Printer,  June  1920. 

Viilard,  Oswald  Garrison,  editor  and  pres- 
ident New  York  Evening  Post,  now  editor 
and  owner.  New  York  Nation.  1914.  Ad- 
dress, Some  weaknesses  of  modern  journal- 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING  389 

ism.     (Univ.  Kansas  News  Bulletin.)  School  of  Journalism,  Pulitzer  foundation, 

Welch,  Charles  B.,  editor  Tacoma  News-  Columbia    University,   staff    of    New   York 

Tribune.      1913.      Address,    Reporters    and  World,  editorial  writer  Philadelph  a  Press, 

reportorial  work,  Univ.  Washington.    (Univ.  etc.   1912.  Reporter's  digest  of  address,  The 

Washington  Bui.)  profession   of   journalism,   Univ.   Missouri. 

Williams,  Dr.  Talcott,  formerly  director  (Univ.  Missouri  Bui.) 


IL     OUTLINE  FOR  STUDY  OF  EDITORIALS 


Students  who,  for  professional  or  other 
reasons,  wish  to  increase  their  intimate  un- 
derstanding of  editorial-writing,  or  to  make 
themselves  proficient  in  its  manifold  appli- 
cations, will  find  help  in  the  following  out- 
line. The  questions  provide  a  means  of 
studying  the  essentials  of  effective  editorial 
presentation  as  found  in  actual  practice  and 
illustrated  by  it.  Though  designed  mainly 
for  use  in  studying  the  editorials  reprinted 
in  this  volume,  they  are  equally  helpful 
when  applied  to  editorials  in  the  current 
journals  and  periodicals. 

OUTLINE 

L  Adaptedness. 

IL  Purpose,  spirit  and  type, 

III.  Sources. 

IV.  Structure  and  development. 
V.  Tone,  style,  and  diction. 

VI.  The   editorial   page. 

L    ADAPTEDNESS 

1.  In  what  paper  does  the  editorial  ap- 
pear ? 

2.  Character  of  this  paper?  Its  edi- 
torial policy?  Agreement  or  conflict  be- 
tween the  news  policy  and  the  editorial- 
page  policy?  Agreement  of  the  particu- 
lar editorial  with  the  paper's  editorial 
policy  ? 

3.  Circulation  of  the  paper?  Is  it  local 
or  more  than  local?  How  extensive  be- 
yond the  local  territory? 

4.  Class  of  readers  aimed  at  by  the  pa- 
per? Their  degree  of  education — high, 
moderate,  or  low?  Their  occupations? 
Their  standards  of  living  and  of  taste? 

5.  Influence  of  the  readers'  standards  on 
the  editorial  in  question?  Does  it  recog- 
nize and  adapt  itself  to  the  capacities  of 
these  readers?  Does  it  show  excessive 
yielding,  or  the  contrary,  to  questionable 
standards  ?     How  ? 

6.  Does  the  editorial  recognize  and 
adapt  itself  to  the  point  of  view  of  these 
readers  ? 

7.  Is  it  well  or  ill  adapted  to  the  "aver- 
age" reader?  Interest  of  the  subject  to 
the  average  reader?  Of  the  thought?  Of 
the  treatment? 

8.  Has  the  writer  shown  sound  judg- 
ment in  determining  the  length  of  the  edi- 
torial with  reference  to  (a)  his  readers  and 


(b)_the  subject  and  theme?  With  refer- 
ence to  _(c)  the  relative  importance  of  the 
ilrafter,  and  the  space  taken,  in  comparison 
with  the  other  editorials  and  the  tot^  space 
assigned  to  editorials? 

9.  Has  the  writer  chosen  the  most  suit- 
able or  effective  aspects  of  the  subject? 
Significance  of  those  chosen?  Their  ap- 
propriateness? Their  interest  and  appeal? 
Can  you  siiggest  better  ones?  \ 

10.  Is  the  editorial  superficial  ?  Insub- 
stantial ?  Does  it  "side-step"  the  signifi- 
cant aspects  of  the  subject? 

IL    PURPOSE,  SPIRIT,  AND  TYPE. 

1.  With   what  purpose  is  the   editorial 
written — to  entertain,  to   instruct,  to  con-' 
vince,  or  to  appeal  to  the  feelings?  j 

2.  To  what  class  of  editorials  do  you 
assign  it  (Part  I,  Chapters  II-XII)  ?  To 
what  sub-class  ?  Give  your  reasons  for 
the  classification?  i 

3.  In  its  attitude,  is  the  editorial  fair?j 
Does  it  reveal  prejudice  or  bias?  \ 

4.  In  presenting  the  matter,  is  the  edi- ' 
torial  honest?  Does  it  suppress,  distort, 
or  misrepresent  facts?  Has  it  been  twisted 
to  agree  with  some  special  purpose  or  par- 
ticular policy?  Is  it  written  too  much 
from  the  viewpoint  of  a  limited  or  distinct  I 
class?     Defend  your  criticism.  ^ 

5.  Does  the  editorial  tend  toward  a 
wholesome  influence?  Does  it  give  the 
impression  of  approving,  excusing,  or  be- 
ing indifferent  toward  wrong?  Does  it 
treat  serious  matters  flippantly  or  frivo- 
lously? Does  it  reveal  sound  taste  and  I 
ideals  ? 

HL    SOURCES. 

1.  Where  or  how  did  the  writer  get  his^s 
first  idea  for  the  editorial? 

2.  Whence  did  he  draw  his  materials? 
From  the  news-columns  ?  magazines? 
records  and  documents?  reference  booksjf 
general  reading  and  information?  inter- 
views or  intercourse  with  authorities  and 
specialists?  personal  experience?  reflec- 
tion? What  is  there  by  which  you  can, 
judge  ? 

3.  What  has  he  done  to  modify  or  adapt 
this  material  in  order  to  fit  it  for  editorial 
presentation  ? 


OUTLINE  FOR  STUDY 


891 


[V.  STRUCTURE  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

1.  To  which  of  the  four  basic  "forms  of 
literature"  does  the  editorial  belong — ex- 
position, argumentation,  narration,  or  de- 
scription? (Cf.  II,  1-2,  above.)  Is  it  sup- 
pressed argument  or  advocacy? 

2.  Does  it  utilize  any  of  the  other  forms 
to  help  out  in  its  development? 

3.  Are  the  introduction  and  connecting 
lip  of  such  parts  skilfully  managed? 

4.  Do  these  parts  agree  with  the  tone 
and  purpose  of  the  editorial?  Do  they  in- 
crease its  effectiveness? 

5.  Does  the  editorial  employ  quotation? 
Does  it  quote  incidentally,  or  is  quotation 
its  chief  dependence?  Is  the  extensive 
quotation  justified? 

6.  Is  the  editorial  long  or  short?     Is  it 
eisurely  in  its  advance,  or  rapid  and  force- 
ful? 

7.  Does  it  depend  upon  any  special 
sources  of  influence  or  appeal,  such  as  hu- 
man-interest, timeliness,  business  or  do- 
mestic significance,  local  importance,  and 
30  on?  Is  the  development  built  upon  this 
element  ? 

3.  Does  the  editorial  set  forth  its  sub- 
ject and  theme  at  the  first,  or  does  it  work 
ap  to  the  announcement  of  them  further 
Dn? 

9.  Is  this  announcement  postponed  to 
;he  end?  Is  the  effect  more  forceful  as  a 
consequence?  Is  the  editorial  able  to 
liold  the  reader's  interest  through  to  this 
postponed  announcement?  Does  the  edi- 
orial  close  with  some  sort  of  surprise- 
effect? 

10.  Does  the  editorial  increase  in  vigor 
and  interest  as  it  proceeds  (i.  e.,  has  it  a 
climactic  rise)  ?  Does  the  treatment  pro- 
duce suspense,  or  forward-grasping  in- 
terest ? 

11.  Do  any  of  the  parts  show  a  climactic 
development  within  themselves? 

12.  Does  the  editorial  consist  of  one 
imple,  unified  thought  from  first  to  last, 

or  is  it  composed  of  several  distinct 
thoughts  built  in  together  to  form  the 
whole  ? 

13.  If  the  development  is  climactic,  by 
what  means  is  the  Climax  built  up? 

14.  Is  the  close  emphatic — strong  and 
impressive?  What  means  is  employed  to 
make  it  so? 

15.  If  the  ending  is  not  of  the  emphatic 
dnd,  is  it  nevertheless  complete  and  effec- 
tive?    Is  this  ending  in  keeping  with  the 
ubject-matter  and  the  method  of  develop- 
ment employed? 


16.  Is  an  effective  stopping-place 
reached  before  the  end?  Is  the  editorial 
justified  in  continuing  beyond  this  stop- 
ping-place? Does  it  reach  another  effec- 
tive stopping-place,  or  merely  trail  on  and 
run  out  ?  How  *  can  this  fault  in  it  be 
remedied?  Is  too  much  being  crowded  into 
the  editorial,  or  are  too  many  phases  of 
the  subject  introduced? 

17.  Is  the  opening  portion  of  the  edi- 
torial either  too  long  or  too  short  compared 
with  the  rest?     The  closing  portion? 

18.  Is  the  editorial  rambling  or  diffuse? 
Too  compressed  to  be  clear?  to  be  thor- 
ough? Does  it  attempt  too  much  for  a 
single  editorial? 

19.  What  is  the  central  or  guiding, 
thought?  Is  it  definitely  stated?  If  not, 
is  it  clearly  evident  from  the  editorial? 

20.  Does  the  editorial  take  up  the  logi- 
cal divisions  of  the  central  thought  one 
after  another,  separately,  in  regular 
order  ? 

21.  If  not,  how  is  the  logical  ordering 
of  the  contents  provided  for?  Is  a  logi- 
cal framework,  or  skeleton,  evident  in  the 
editorial  ? 

22.  Could  the  contents  be  given  a  better 
order  or  arrangement?     Outline  it. 

23.  Is  the  connection  of  each  main  divi- 
sion of  the  editorial  with  the  other  parts, 
made  clear?  The  connection  between  the 
paragraphs?  Between  the  sentences?  Is 
any  insertion  of  connectives  or  transitions 
needed  to  produce  coherence?  Is  there 
any  over-use  of  connectives? 


V.    TONE,    STYLE,    AND    DICTION. 

1.  In  what  mood  and  tone  is  the  edi- 
torial? Are  these  appropriate  to  its  sub- 
ject?    To  its  purpose? 

2.  By  what  means  is  the  tone  produced  ? 

3.  Is  the  editorial  impersonal  in  man- 
ner?    Too  much  so? 

4.  Is  it  authoritative  in  manner?  Pre- 
tentiously or  offensively  so?  Does  it  give 
the  impression  of  a  condescending  or  "su- 
perior" attitude?  Of  lacking  conviction, 
courage,  or  assured  knowledge?  Of  being 
a  re-hash  of  others'  views? 

5.  On  what  does  its  impression  of  au- 
thority depend?  Is  the  writer  qualified  to 
write  upon  the  subject? 

6.  What  evidences  of  scholarship  or 
learning  does  it  show?  Of  the  writer's 
special  study  of  the  subject? 

7.  What  evidences  of  experience,  or  of 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  subject,  on 
the  part  of  the  writer,  does  it  show? 


392 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


8.  What  evidences  do  you  find  in  it  that 
its  writer  is  a  man  of  shrewd,  balanced 
mind,  and   dependable  judgment? 

9.  Does  the  writer  estimate  his  public 
accurately?  Does  he  know  how  to  make 
a  legitimate  appeal  to  readers? 

10.  What  personal  traits,  interests,  and 
sympathies  does  it  indicate  in  its  writer? 

11.  Does  it  reveal  clear,  simple,  and  di- 
rect thinking?  Confused  or  obscure 
thought?  Complex,  intricate,  and  involved 
thinking  ? 

12.  How  many  words  do  the  paragraphs 
average?  How  many  lines  in  type?  Do 
you  find  paragraphs  that  are  too  long  or 
too   short,   judging   by   the    eye? 

13.  Are  the  individual  paragraphs  dis- 
tinct, self-contained,  complete  units  of  the 
thought? 

14.  Are  the  particulars  within  the  para- 
graphs well  ordered  and  clearly  connected? 

15.  At  the  opening  of  the  paragraphs, 
does  the  thought  stand  out  so  as  to  com- 
mand immediate  attention? 

16.  Do  the  paragraphs  round  out  their 
thought  well  at  the  end?  What  propor- 
tion of  them  round  it  out  by  means  of  an 
emphatic  ending? 

17.  What  is  the  longest  sentence?  The 
shortest?  The  average  length  of  the  sen- 
tences ? 

18.  Are  there  too  many  either  of  short 
or  of  long  sentences?  Of  any  one  kind  of 
sentence?     (See  Nos.  24-28.) 

19.  Are  long  and  short  sentences  so  dis- 
tributed as  to  produce  a  pleasing  alterna- 
tion? Is  there  a  tendency  to  use  short 
sentences  to  present  details,  and  longer 
sentences  to  sum  them  up?  Are  sentences 
of  different  constructions  distributed 
through  the  paragraphs  in  a  way  to  pro- 
duce a  pleasing  variety? 

20.  Do  the  paragraphs  begin  with  short 
or  with  long  sentences?  With  which  do 
they  end  ?  Are  the  sentences  used  in  these 
positions  effective? 

21.  Are  the  successive  sentences  so  con- 
structed that  they  "hitch  on"  to  each  other 
closely?     Clearly?     Smoothly? 

22.  Are  any  sentences  long  or  difficult 
enough  to  require  a  second  reading? 

23.  Are  the  sentences  dull,  flat,  color- 
less? Are  they  monotonous  in  structure 
or  tone?  Are  they  so  built  as  to  make 
their  leading  ideas  prominent? 

24.  What  proportion  of  the  sentences 
are  simple?  Compound?  Complex?  Are 
there  clauses  that  contain  a  string  of  sub- 
ordinate constructions  that  depend  on  one 


other  in  a  way  that  is  awkward  or  confus- 
ing— as  in  this  question? 

25.  Are  sentences  of  suspended  thought 
(periodic  sentences)  used?  To  what  ex- 
tent? 

26.  Are  inverted  sentences  used?  To 
what  extent?  Are  the  inversions  made 
for  the  sake  of  a  good  connection  with  the 
preceding  sentence,  or  for  the  sake  of  em- 
phasis or  distinction  in  the  expression? 

27.  Are  there  sentences  of  antithesis, 
or  other  forms  of  "balanced"  or  "parallel" 
construction?  Are  they  numerous?  Do 
they  produce  a  good  effect? 

28.  Are  "loose" .  sentences  unduly  fre- 
quent? Are  there  weak,  straggling,  or 
sprawling  sentences? 

29.  Are  the  sentences  unified,  or  are  un- 
related particulars  joined  in  the  same  sen- 
tence? Are  there  sentences  of  the  string- 
of -sausage-links  kind? 

30.  Do  the  sentences  show  grammatical 
correctness?  Idiomatic  naturalness  and 
vigor  ? 

31.  Is  punctuation  so  used  in  the  sen- 
tences as  to  set  off  their  thought-divisions 
clearly  to  the  eye,  thus  aiding  in  quick  un- 
derstanding  and   accurate   comprehension? 

32.  What  punctuation-marks  are  least 
used? 

33.  Does  the  editorial  lack  conciseness 
of  expression? 

34.  Is  it  too  profuse  in  particulars  and 
details?  Does  it  need  general  compres- 
sion? 

35.  Does  it  employ  hackneyed  expres- 
sions, or  is  it  fresh  and  vital  in  vocabulary 
and  phrasings? 

36.  Are  there  adjectives  or  adverbs  that 
can  be  struck  out  without  loss  to  the 
thought?  With  benefit  to  the  sentence? 
Are  there  longer  modifying  elements  that 
can  be  omitted  to  advantage? 

37.  Does  it  use  phrases  as  modifiers 
where  single  words  would  do  as  well? 
Clauses  where  phrases  or  single  words 
would  be  sufficient? 

38.  Does  it  show  an  over-fondness  for 
superlatives  ? 

39.  Does  it  weaken  its  expression  by 
use  of  the  pa<=sive  voice  where  the  active 
verb  is  available? 

40.  Are  its  verbs  specific?  Its  nouns? 
Its  adjectives  and  adverbs? 

41.  Are  its  words  and  phrasings  chosen 
to  convey  precise  shades  of  meaning?  If 
not,  were  they  chosen  carelessly,  or  rather 


OUTLINE  FOR  STUDY 


393 


to  convey  the  thought  in  a  broader  form 
for  the  sake  of  general  clarity  to  a  larger 
number  of  readers? 

42.  Are  the  words  common?  Familiar? 
Reasonably  understandable  ? 

43.  Are  technical  or  other  unfamiliar 
terms  defined,  or  so  managed  as  to  explain 
themselves  ? 

44.  Do  the  unusual  or  unfamiliar  words 
justify  themselves  in  the  editorial  in  ques- 
tion?    What  is  gained  by  means  of  them? 

45.  To  what  extent  are  words  of  recent 
origin  used?  Slang  and  cant?  Provin- 
cialisms? Colloquialisms?  Do  they  jus- 
tify themselves? 

46.  Is  the  vocabulary  to  be  described  as 
pedantic  ?     Scholarly  ?     Popular  ? 

47.  Do  most  of  the  expressions  state 
the  thought  outright,  or  do  some  of  them 
convey  it  by  implication  or  suggestion  in- 
stead of  by  direct  assertion? 

48.  Point  out  the  words  and  expressions 
that  thus  ''connote"  rather  than  "denote" 
ideas. 

49.  Point  out  the  expressions  that  "con- 
note" elements  of  feeling,  emotion,  imagi- 
nation, and  the  liice. 

50.  Are  figures  of  speech  used?  Are 
they  helpful?  Appropriate?  Are  they 
figures  that  promote  clearness  and  concrete- 
ness,  or  figures  that  promote  force? 

51.  In  general,  is  the  editorial  matter- 
of-fact  in  expression,  or  does  its  diction 
and  manner  have  a  touch  of  the  literary, 
imaginative,  or  artistic? 

VI.    THE  EDITORIAL  PAGE. 

1.  In  what  section  of  the  paper  is  the 
editorial  page?  In  what  part  of  the  sec- 
tion? Is  this  a  prominent  position?  Is 
the  editorial  page  always  in  the  same  place  ? 
What  kind  of  matter  runs  on  the  page  op- 
posite it? 

2.  What  proportion  of  the  page  is  de- 
voted strictly  to  editorials?  Is  a  fixed 
daily  space  allotted  to  editorials?  How 
much?  If  no  space  is  assigned,  how  much 
variation  is  there  in  the  space  they  occupy 
from  day  to  day? 

3.  What  comes  at  the  top  of  column  1? 
Is  it  "standing  matter"?  Is  there  a  pub- 
lisher's-announcement  ?  On  what  part  of 
the  page  ?  What  does  it  contain  ?  Does  it 
differ  from  those  in  other  papers?  Does 
the  page  carry  more  than  one  such  an- 
nouncement ? 

4.  At  the  top  of  column  1  of  the  edi- 
torials, is  there  a  standing  statement  of 
the  editorial  policy  or  "platform"  of  the  pa- 


per? Have  you  seen  this  "flag  nailed  to 
the  masthead"  in  any  other  position  on 
editorial   pages? 

5.  Does  a  weather  editorial,  a  quotation, 
or  something  else  in  the  way  of  a  regular 
"feature,"  lead  the  matter  in.  the  editorial 
columns  ? 

6.  Where  is  the  "leading  article,"  or 
chief  editorial,  placed  among  the  editorials 
of  the  day?  Is  this  also  the  longest  edi- 
torial ?  How  is  the  fact  that  it  is  the  lead- 
ing editorial  indicated  to  the  eye? 

7.  How  are  the  "shorts"  and  "para- 
graphics"  fplaced  with  reference  to  the 
headlined  editorials?  Is  any  filler  per- 
mitted, to  "plug  holes"  at  the  bottom  of 
the  columns  containing  editorials? 

8.  What  is  the  length  of  the  longest 
editorials  printed  without  a  headline? 
What  position  is  given  them  with  reference 
to  the  other  editorial  matter? 

9.  Has  the  paper  any  special  practices 
concerning  its  editorials,  such  as  limiting 
them  to  a  maximum  length,  printing  but 
one  a  day  (of  a  fixed  length),  and  the  like? 

10.  What  size  of  type  is  used?  Are 
some  of  the  editorials  set  in  smaller  type 
than  the  rest?  Why?  Is  the  type  set 
"solid,"  or  is  it  "leaded  out"  to  leave  a 
space  of  white  between  the  lines?  (In 
this  book,  the  text-matter  is  in  10-point 
(long  primer)  solid;  the  reprinted  editorials 
are  in  8-point  (brevier)  solid;  the  comment 
following  the  specimens  in  Part  I  is  in  6- 
point  (nonpareil)  solid.  Is  any  ornamental 
typography  introduced? 

11.  Are  the  editorial  columns  empha- 
sized to  the  eye  by  giving  them  "display" 
— as,  by  leading  out;  by  using  larger  type; 
by  using  a  wider  measure  (i.  e.,  a  wider 
column  with  fewer  columns  to  the  page, 
or  a  line  running  across  two  columns);  by 
using  a  different  type-face,  as  boldface  or 
italic  instead  of  roman;  by  "boxing"  the 
editorial  (printing  it  surrounded  by  lines 
in  the  form  of  a  box)  ? 

12.  Is  all  the  editorial  matter  given 
equal  display,  or  are  some  editorials  given 
increased  display  in  comparison  with  the 
rest  ?  What  reasons  do  you  see  for  empha- 
sizing the  editorial-columns  or  giving  them 
distinction  to  the  eye  by  means  of  mechani- 
cal devices?  Does  it  result  in  a  pleasing 
impression?  Make  the  page  command  at- 
tention? Increase  its  effectiveness?  Sug- 
gest the  relative  importance  of  the  edi- 
torials ? 

13  Are  words  or  passages  emphasized 
within  the  editorial  by  printing  them  in 
italic  or  boldface  type,  or  capital  letters? 


394 


EDITORIALS  AND  EDITORIAL-WRITING 


Do  you  deem  this  good  practice?  Is  the 
emphasis  justified  in  the  editorial  you  are 
considering  ? 

14.  In  what  "style"  are  the  headlines 
printed? — italic  capitals,  roman  capitals, 
boldface  roman  capitals,  boldface  capitals 
and  lower-case  (small  letters)?  Are  the 
headlines  of  the  same  point  and  face  as 
the  body-type  of  the  editorial?  If  not,  is 
the  combination  of  faces  and  sizes  har- 
monious ? 

15.  Are  all  the  heads  the  same  in  style, 
or  is  a  different  style  of  head  used  over 
some  of  the  editorials  ?  Do  you  see  a  rea- 
son for  the  difference?  Are  all  the  edi- 
torials that  carry  the  same  style  of  head 
placed  together? 

16.  Are  headlines  of  more  than  one 
"deck"  or  "bank"  permitted?  (A  deck  is 
a  distinct  unit,  or  division,  consisting  of  a 
separate  line  or  group  of  lines  of  type.) 

17.  Most  editorial  headlines  are  one-line 
one-deckers.  In  the  page  you  are  studying, 
are  the  words  ever  permitted  to  run  over, 
forming  a  two-line  one-decker?  Is  the 
two-line  head  as  pleasing  to  the  eye  as  the 
one-line  head? 

18.  Are  any  of.  the  heads  "cut  in"  heads 
(cut  into  the  body  of  the  paragraph  on  the 
left-hand  side)  ?  Are  any  of  the  cut-in 
heads  boxed?  Do  they  look  as  well  when 
boxed?  Are  boxed  heads  used  above  any 
of  the  editorials?  Over  any  other  kind  of 
matter  on  the  page? 

19.  By  what  typographical  device  is  the 
end  of  the  editorial  and  the  break  between 
it  and  the  next  one,  Indicated?  By  means 
of  "ornaments"?  Of  single  lines  ("rules")? 
Of  parallel  rules?  Of  double  rules  (one 
heavy,  one  light)  ?  Is  the  same  device 
used  throughout? 

20.  Besides  the  editorials  proper,  what 
departments  or  features  appear  regularly 
on  the  editorial  page?  Do  they  appear 
daily,  or  recur  on  stated  days  only?  Are 
literary,  illustrated,  or  art  features  used? 
Are  they  syndicated? 

21.  Is  any  news  printed  on  the  edi- 
trial  page?     Any  advertising? 


22.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  editorial- 
page  departments  and  features?  Do  they 
justify  their  association  on  the  page  with 
the  editorials  proper?  To  what  ex- 
tent are  they  in  the  nature  of  editorial 
writings  ? 

23.  Does  the  page  carry  editorials  quoted 
from  other  papers?  Are  they  carried  as  a 
department,  or  distributed  like  filler  accord- 
ing to  the  space  available? 

24.  Are  cartoons  printed?  Daily?  How 
often?  How  many  columns  wide?  Are 
they  of  the  same  size  every  day?  Always 
by  the  same  cartoonist?  Has  the  paper 
its  own  cartoonist,  or  are  its  cartoons  syn- 
dicated ? 

25.  Is  the  subject  of  the  cartoon  always 
a  news  subject?  How  often  is  it  political? 
Are  human-interest  cartoons  used?  Is 
the  cartoon  usually  editorial  in  its  effect, 
or  does  it  incline  toward  illustration? 

26.  Are  any  other  engravings  ("cuts") 
used  on  the  page?  Are  they  standing 
cuts,  such  as  pictures  of  department  con- 
ductors, designs  symbolizing  the  nature  of 
the  department,  and  the  like? 

27.  Are  letters  from  readers  printed? 
Is  a  regular  department  devoted  to  such 
letters?  Does  it  seem  popular?  How 
much  space  is  given  it?  To  what 
extent  is  controversy  permitted  in  it? 
Are  letters  printed  that  criticize  the  atti- 
tude or  policy  of  the  paper?  Are  the 
letters  printed  without  comment,  or  is  edi- 
torial comment  or  response  sometimes  ap- 
pended? Are  the  headlines  placed  over 
the  letters  fair?  Accurate?  Do  you  dis- 
cover any  indication  of  faked  letters? 

28.  Does  verse  appear  on  the  editorial 
page?  Is  it  a  daily  feature?  Of  what 
character  is  it?  Is  it  timely?  Topical? 
Serious?  Light?  Is  it  always  printed  in 
the  same  position?  Is  it  supplied  by  a 
syndicate  or  direct  from  the  author?  Does 
the  verse  come  regularly  from  a  few  writ- 
ers, or  some  member  of  the  staff,  or  from 
general  contributors? 

29.  Is  the  page  printed  with  an  art  lay- 
out, or  other  spread  of  illustration  or  an 
ornamental  or  showy  make-up  ? 


IRIPPUNG  RHYMES  by  Walt  Ma«)n|ii?;jr5S^'^l3 


glance  wiQ  f»]r.  "IVua  do  roor  SMMraf  cartr,  and  cive'>  'r!l  »-*S 


'i»  ATM  '    -iiTt"  . ;Th«  sexton  lo  hia  rope  w  clitipng.  to  nnf  ta  CI 

^\l'jr.  ^^"^  ~  *•  Z I  Bobs  e  r  v  a  is  t  |  ,  "=  w^is'pw  £!iS^i!>  ^  SJ^'^nvrSiS 


WHERE  ONE  H^LFS  ALL 

A    STRONG    REUGIOUS 
BACKGROUND 

frvmott  PatriolUm 

Strcnftbcn*  Busincu  Moral* 


TTffi  UNITAWiW  CAJffAIGN 

•eeka  $3,000,000  b«l«MO  I 


Avoids  the  heavy,  and  aims  at  easy  readability  and  breadth  of  appeal.  Inclines  to  good-^ 
nature  and  humor  in  its    attitude. —  (Boston    Post). 


THE    sraiKGyrELD    UN'ION:  MONDAV.    NOVEMBER    n.    IWO 


^' About  evenly  balanced  between  editorials,   on    the  whole   of   serious    purport,    and   the 
diverse   correspondence   of  The   People's   Forum.    The  features  give  variety  and  a  leaven 
I  of    lighter    mood.— (Springfield    Union). 


unn-T   KCrVBLICXN!  THUHSPAT,  g|!.KlMIBe.K 


Independent,  cultured  and  scholarly  in  tradition  and  ideals.     Its  standards  are  reflected 

in  the  way  in  which  the  page  is  dressed,  unless  the  cartoon  can  be  regarded  afe  a  departure 

from  consei-vative  restraint.— (Springfield  Republican). 


THE    NEW    YOKK    TIMES.     MONDAY.     NOVEMBER    22,    1920. 


'  Srft"''No?.*lh'^^"i^V''^^^/^^^^  ^"^  ^^^""^^^'  combining  the  older  tone  with  the"  modem 
spirit.     Note  the  division  of  more  cursory  editorials  run  under    the    heading   "Topics    of 

the  Times."— (New  York  Times). 


Compact,  aggressive,  vigorous,  and  aiming  at  both  variety     and  readability.     Like     the 
rimes,    emphasizes    the    editorial    interest   rather  than  the   interest  in  features. — (New 

York   World). 


.  J»CO0flVU.lI.  FIOUEA.  TUUCAt.  KUVt«l»»«  It,  IW. 


THEFLORlDATmES-ViylOfI 


THE   FlORmA   PUBUSHWC    COWAKT 


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SALVATION  OF  VS.  COTTON  SOinU 


A  COMBINATION  FARMER 


cm  ».»  'bo  mo..  I 


PROSPEROL'S  BUT  FIZZLED 


IS  IT  FOR  THE  GENERAL  GOOD) 


FLORIDA  SUNSHINE 


THE  OVERTHROW  OF  WRANCa 


SHORT  TALKS 


p  bva^aM,  CMUm  kriA  r*r*  m»*w  •»otiMI»»,  k 


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Note  typography,  presswork,  and   display  throughout    page,    and    compare    it   in    these 
respects    with    the    next   following    page.    State    and    sectional    matters    are    prominent. 

—  (Florida  Times  Union.) 


^HJ^.LH^..XS?^'^ 


THK   DAILY    XEW8.    TUESDAY.   NOVEMBEII    10.   1»20. 


COUPERUS  AND  OTHERS 

STOKY  OP  -A  MAfI  WHO  LOVES  HIS  CAKE 


'js^c-x- 


<g.  Ir-rr 


mHITlTiHET-Jit.iMi 


Emphasizes  features.    Crowding  is  offset  to  some  extent  by  drawings  and  ornamental  heads. 
Features  and  "reading-interest"  are  prominent. — (Chicago  News). 


nn-WAtTCgK  HEynyFt..   mospay.   November   i«.   i»«) 


TkaCarrccI  Buu. 


lU   T>Ul    I^t   >   1.W   WO.CII     1. 


WouM  B«r  Mr.  I 


t  FuiMn-  Wma. 


TOLD  BY  SEWTIWEL  FILES-  | 


A  balanced  and  neat-appearing  page.     Observe  how  it  is  dressed  to  proportion  by  dis- 
tribution  of   boxed   heads,   illustration,   and  wide-measure. — (Milwaukee  Sentinel). 


THE    KANSAS    CITY  .STAR 


i,'K,j::re.a 


jyjsgajg 


Well  known  f o  r  individuality    and    general     high    quality.      Adheres    to    conservative 
tvooo-raDhv  and  make-up.  A  thread  of  news-interest  runs  through  most  of  its  three-state 
^^  "     ^  notes  and  comment.— (Kansas  City  Star). 


THU  WICHITA  EAahR.  THURSDAY  MOHMSG.  XOV EMBER  2.>.  1020 


home-subject  tTottVnoo7-twiZ  E^I^T'"^  ''"*"     """'  '"^^ 


LEADING  NEWSPAPER  OF  THE  CXJAST 


»rjn)A.T.     50TEXBEB     14.    !»»• 


Individual    in    display   and   balance    scheme.     Note  news  cartoon.     Study  the  somewhat 

ornamental   dress    of   the   page,   and    the    use  of  2-column,  single-column,   and  2-  to  3- 

column  measures. —  (San  Francisco  Chronicle). 


Ki^Sfci^^^ 


'W^V^ 


^^:^^ 


■M^ 


OP  ASSESSED  FOR  P^>^^  ^HE  PENALTY 
;TI  increase  to  50CENTS^  ^^^^^„  ^,, 
DAY  AND  TO  $t-0« 
OVERDUE. 


3lM 
3  1954 


Li)21-l00m-7.'40  (6936s) 


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YC  01420 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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